Toy
Story 4 4K
(2019/PIXAR/Disney 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-rays)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B+ 1080p Picture: B Sound: B+/B Extras:
C+ Animated Film: B-
When
the original Toy
Story
arrived in 1995, CGI animated feature films were still a novelty and
so new that almost all the major releases were guaranteed to make
money. Of all the early hit films, it was a stand out like Cars,
Shrek
and a few others that helped make this leg of animation history that
made CGI a permanent part of that cinema artform and not just a side
novelty. When the sequels to some of the films started surfacing,
many groaned thinking it was the end of creativity, artistic freedom
and would have the films fall into the same trap as too many a live
action franchise. Toy
Story
could be the exception and after almost being relegated to
straight-to-home-video-status for any sequels (which would have been
an all-time mistake), the sequels have been better than expected.
Toy
Story 4 4K
(2019) might have been a dud or throw-away production, but instead,
is much better than you would think with a new adventure centered in
both a carnival and antiques shop, including some very funny moments
and a few dark ones. This might be too much of a throwback for
younger viewers, but it works extremely well as Woody (Tom Hanks) and
Forky (Tony Hale) go out for fun only to have them get in trouble,
including a doll from the time Woody was produced wanting to trade
her warped toy voice box for Woody's still in perfect working order.
Even
when this gets dark and offers more suspense than most 'adult,
mature' horror films can muster these days, it is still funny,
colorful and has interesting moments that show the writers were all
working extra hard to pull this one off. The duo gets some help from
Bo Peep (the great Annie Potts), Tim Allen is back as Buzz Lightyear,
Keanu Reeves voices a Canadian Evel Knievel-like toy named Duke
Kaboom, some other regulars are back and the team of Ducky
(Keegan-Michael Key) and Bunny (now expert horror filmmaker Jordan
Peele) mess with a captured Buzz, then deliver maybe the funniest
sequence in the whole film.
The
talent and energy more than keep up with the expanded color and
increase in detail and depth that still manages to have the look of
the previous films without betraying them. Director Josh Cooley is
able to handle all of this well and we'll see what he does next, but
the film is a success enough all around and that makes it one of the
entire year's better films.
Though
some presentations in some theatrical engagements were in Dolby
Vision, the 4K disc here is offered in a 2.35 X 1, 2160p HEVC/H.265,
HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image that
is still very impressive, color rich and is one of the few CGI
animated features that seems to be native in 4K. That makes this as
fine looking as any 4K CGI release we've seen to date, including
Sing,
Secret
Life Of Pets
and The
Grinch.
Guess they'll save Dolby Vision for another time, but this has a
bunch of demo moments and almost got a higher rating. The 1080p 2.35
X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on the regular Blu-ray is
also fine, but misses the better color, detail and overall density
that makes the 4K like entering the world of the characters.
As
for sound, the 4K has a decent Dolby Atmos 11.1 (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 for
older systems) that has some great moments, but sometimes feels held
back on some level at times, a (minor?) complaint some Disney 11.1
titles have had leveled at them. The Blu-ray offers a slightly
lesser DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 7.1 lossless mix that is still pretty
dynamic, but cannot match the Atmos tracks, even with a limitation
here and there.
Extras
are not on the 4K disc, but include Movies Anywhere digital code, the
first Blu-ray with the full film on it adds a feature length audio
commentary
track by Director Josh Cooley and Producer Mark Nielsen that is to be
heard after seeing the film, plus featurette clips Bo
Rebooted
and Toy
Stories.
A Bonus Disc with more extras (making this a 3-disc set) add five
trailers, about a half-hour of Deleted Scenes and more brief
featurettes: Anatomy
of a Scene: Playground,
Let's
Ride with Ally Maki,
Woody
& Buzz,
Carnival
Run,
View
from the Roof
and Toy
Box.
That all makes this one of the nicest 4K CGI releases to date.
For
more on the previous three films, also being issued on 4K disc, try
our coverage of the trilogy from this Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray 2D set at
this link...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11252/Toy+Story+(1995)+++Toy+Story+2+(1999)+++T
-
Nicholas Sheffo
