Toy Story 5 Review

The animation is the least arguable thing here. Lilypad's screen glow bounces off plastic and carpet in a way the series has never had the horsepower to render, the toy scale gags are staged with the old precision, and Bonnie's room holds more texture in a single frame than the first film managed in its whole eighty minutes. Jessie carries more of the picture than before and the voice work is warm without coasting. The reason critics stop short of the top rank is the writing.

The film has a thesis about children and devices and states it repeatedly, in dialogue, rather than letting a scene make the case, and the last act resolves the conflict by softening the antagonist instead of testing anyone. A handful of reviewers went further and called the whole enterprise unnecessary after the fourth film closed Woody's story cleanly. They have a point, and the film half concedes it by keeping him at the edge of the frame. What survives the argument is what always survives. These characters are funny and specific and worth a hundred minutes, and the ending lands even when you can see it coming.