download the new version for iphoneToy Story 4

Woody, Buzz and the rest now live with Bonnie (Madeleine McGraw), who’s nervous about starting kindergarten. Never say never in sequel-happy Hollywood hence this installment, which was directed by Josh Cooley from Andrew Stanton and Stephany Folsom’s script. In “Toy Story 3” (2010), the boy who owned Woody (gently voiced by Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and their colorful playtime cohort, is headed to college and gives his toys to a new child, milestones that seemed to bring the series to a decisive, narratively rounded end. Those movies haven’t generated sequels, but serialization in and of itself isn’t the problem with “Toy Story 4.” It’s that this long-running franchise (the first film opened in 1995) already felt over and done by its last installment.

The fault lies with the studio, which has trained us to expect greatness, partly by making movies as seemingly inimitable as “Inside Out” and “ Wall-E.” It seems almost greedy to want something better, less familiar. In other words, the movie is exactly what you expect - not more, not less - from an estimably well-oiled machine like Pixar. The animation is striking, the jokes amusing and the story sweet, though this being Pixar, the tale is also melancholic enough that the whole thing feels deeper than it is.

Download the new version for iphoneToy Story 4