A central part of the Toy Story 4 news was that director of the first two movies, John Lasseter, is return to helm the new sequel. This sounds like a cause for celebration, but when you think about it, it's not that big a deal; it's not exactly like Lee Unkrich did a bad job with Toy Story 3. The problem really is that Lasseter can get so wrapped up in his own child-like joy he can miss the big picture. Just look at his track record outside of Toy Story. He may have been a key hand in creating Pixar and turned Disney around after a decade in the mud, but as a film-maker he's not always the most astute. He is, after all, the director of Cars 2, the studio's only critical failure. With that film, as with Toy Story 4, he stated it was motivated from a creative, not financial, mindset. And to him that's true - listen to any interview with the man and it's clear he has a real passion for all his films - which is the real problem. Cars 2 is on a fundamental level a flawed film, with an unlikeable protagonist and plot that makes no sense. But Lasseter didn't (and probably still doesn't) realise that because he loved the characters so much. What's to say we haven't got the same problem here?
