Toy Story 4 Review: 8 Ups & 2 Downs

6. The Emotional, Mature Storytelling

The film's thoughtful script doesn't simply retread the series' prior themes but also introduces some provocative new ones.

In addition to Forky's aforementioned identity issues, it asks audiences both young and old to consider the mystery of existence, and the sheer miracle of being alive.

Elsewhere, the series' exploration of the heartbreaking relationship between toys and their owners heads in fascinating new directions, largely thanks to the presence of the movie's foil, Gabby Gabby (Christina Hendricks), indicating to the audience that Woody's time with Andy was one of immense privilege so rarely afforded to most toys.

The real beauty of the Toy Story franchise has always been its ability to operate on multiple levels and mean many things to different people, and that's brilliantly, perceptively in tact here once again.

By engaging with both age-old issues of existential dread and more current social concerns of self-identification, Toy Story 4 feels remarkably fresh and even ahead-of-its-time for family-friendly animated escapism.