Curate, connect, and discover
I’ve never gotten into this conversation before, but since Toy Story 5 was just announced, I’ve been thinking about how bad Toy Story 4 was and feel like ranting.They ruined Woody’s character for the sake of making him run off with Bo Peep.
Some people justify Woody abandoning Bonnie AND his toy family because he was no longer Bonnie’s absolute favorite toy and she didn’t play with him anymore, so that somehow means he no longer has a purpose being with her. And they say he had a connection with Andy but not Bonnie, so it’s okay to leave her. What? The movie literally started out on the wrong foot with the beginning flashback of Woody trying to leave with Bo Peep until Andy comes out looking for him. Woody would never abandon Andy to go off with Bo Peep, so to imply he’d even ATTEMPT that is bullshit. It was literally never like that in the first three movies. It’s not in his character to abandon all the other toys, especially Buzz, who Woody said would be there to keep him company to infinity and beyond.
People also exaggerate Bonnie “ignoring” Woody. From what we know, it was only super recently that she hadn’t played with him (3 times in a week, not “It’s been several weeks since she’s last played with me” or even a month since she last played with him). We also see Bonnie playing with Forky AND Woody during the roadtrip, proving that she didn’t ignore Woody. What matters at the end of the day is that she still plays with him. Just b/c she was recently obsessed with Forky and didn’t played with Woody for 3 days doesn’t mean Woody had served his purpose and should abandon everybody. It also doesn’t mean Bonnie doesn’t care about Woody anymore. And the time between TS3 and TS4 was only like a year. Why is Woody so ready to give up? Andy told Bonnie that Woody will never give up on you and will always be there for you. He entrusted her with his all-time favorite toy, yet Woody wants to go off on his own just like that despite Andy’s final choice. He was literally fine with being in the attic if Andy had wanted that, so…
It’s not like Andy himself hadn’t gone through a Buzz Lightyear phase and put Woody more on the back burner for a bit. And Woody had a nightmare about Andy not wanting to play with him anymore. We had 3 movies of lessons and character growth, yet Toy Story 4 regresses all that development as an excuse for him to run off with Bo, which nobody asked for. Remember, the writers thought it was logical for Woody to abandon even ANDY for Bo until he was interrupted. So I’m really curious about Toy Story 5 and if these mistakes can be undone.