As frustrating as Disney’s major announcement yesterday was, this is the moment that dragged our heads into our hands. Pixar have confirmed that Toy Story 4 will be arriving in 2017.
This franchise began with the original, Pixar’s feature debut, in 1995. This was the very first entirely CG animation and completely changed the game for cinema (spawning a an era devoted to Shrek, Kung Fu Panda and Frozen) but this theatrical revolution produced Woody and Buzz, one of the most beloved duos of all time and true generational icons. This was undoubtedly the brainchild of director John Lasseter. The follow up was the significantly less successful A Bug’s Life before the toys, and Lasseter, returned for 1999’s masterful sequel Toy Story 2 – the Jessie/Emily montage being the most shockingly emotional scene in the series so far.
2001’s Monster Inc was the first in a decade of brilliance: Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, WALL-E and Up, the only slight blips being the unfairly maligned Cars and Ratatouille (which I still have issues with). Lee Unkrich succeeded Lasseter as director of the brilliant reunion of characters that was Toy Story 3, gaining Pixar’s second Best Picture nomination after Up. It’s alleged that Pixar peaked here as their next release was the disastrous merchandise cache-in Cars 2 but I think 2012’s Brave was a worthy entry.
Cars 2, based upon one of their less popular properties, should have been a pointer that sequels shouldn’t have been touched with a bargepole, The Incredibles being the only exception, but Monsters University was a well executed but frankly generic prequel which ditched the jazz-age, screwball comedy vibe of the original. This were looking up with their future schedules with three new imaginative concepts: Inside Out would delve into the mind as personify a young girl’s battling emotions; The Good Dinosaur would explore an alternate reality; Dia Di Los Muertos would take a darker route analysing The Day of the Dead festival. The confirmation of another sequel, Finding Dory, was heartbreaking but this is a step way over the line.
Lasseter will direct Toy Story 4, as if that’ll prove that it’ll be worthy. The unusual writing combo of indie comedy Celeste and Jesse Forever’s writers and stars Rashida Jones and Scott McCormack have been hired to scribe. Although no one is signed on yet, there’s no doubt that Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan, The Green Mile, Cast Away, Road to Perdition, Catch Me If You Can, Apollo 13, Captain Phillips), Tim Allen (Galaxy Quest, Home Improvement) and Joan Cusack (School of Rock, Working Girl, Say Anything) will reprise their roles as Woody, Buzz and Jesse.
This announcement seems to have produced a universal slump. This is the death toll of what was once an imaginative and pioneering studio now plainly following numbers. I think we better appreciate the three year countdown to the dreaded day that all respect for them is shed. One of Toy Story 3’s key themes was moving on from something you love and its beautiful ending managed to do that for the fans. To reopen that vein is hypocritical and cruel.
Inside Out – July 24th 2015
The Good Dinosaur – November 27th 2015
Finding Dory – July 29th 2016
Toy Story 4 – June 16th 2017
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