I recently watched Toy Story 4 and it is possibly the saddest and most tragic movie I have ever seen, even given the fact that it’s and animation. I saw the other three films over my lifetime and thought that after a hard day at work a light-hearted film like the Toy Story I hadn’t seen would be nice. Now I think someone needs to check on the writers of the film.

Early on in the film Bo Peep is given away and Woody is quite expectedly upset by this. It’s easily understandable that the writers may have wanted to display new relationships in different ways that were somehow restricted by Bo so a tragic moment for the sake of the plot.

Woody’s new owner Bonnie who is a little girl that can’t make friends at school so with Woody’s help creates a friend from a spork, it’s nice in its way but look at the upset little girl who still doesn’t really know anyone and has to play alone. The spork toy named Forky believed it was trash so wanted to return to where it was comfortable but was prevented from doing so to be forced into living by someone else’s world view, this really isn’t nice.

What about a gang of creepy dolls that want to tear out Woody’s voice box so they can give their leader the function she desires. Add in the kidnapping of Forky and Woody having to surrender and trade his voice box because his friends have abandoned him just for the doll leader to still get rejected makes an incredibly tragic series of events where no-one really comes out happy.

Pretty much all of the toys we meet are abandoned in some way or another but the worst of these are Bo Peep who was sick of being left on the shelf so just went to live as a sort of wild man . Plus the motorbike riding action figure who was thrown out for not being as exciting as the adverts showed.

Worst of all is that Woody is depressed. He has been used, Andy is gone and he isn’t played with. The sheriff is unfulfilled and his badge is often handed to his friend Jessie, his existence has become pointless. Eventually he resolves it all by becoming a lost toy and living in the wild with Bo Peep but seeing him and Buzz hug and walk away then hearing Buzz say “He’s not a lost toy, not anymore.” is the saddest thing ever. Woody could only be happy by leaving everything he knew and loved behind.

The last ten minutes of the movie are a bit nicer with the characters all finding what makes them happy but overall I have never seen something so sad and tragic. My dad joked about me crying over it (I didn’t) but it was definitely the closest I’ve come with a movie. It’s a great film but not the cheer up I was hoping for after the day I’d had.