The latest installment in the Toy Story franchise, Toy Story 5, presents a novel argument for better parenting practices: having children cling to their toys for as long as possible. The movie suggests that the secret to raising well-adjusted children lies in surrounding them with plastic action figures and worn ragdolls.
The film asks viewers to make distinctions between old-fashioned, analog toys that spark imagination and high-tech devices that induce a state of zombielike stupefaction. While it's encouraging to see Hollywood advocating against the ubiquity of screens in modern childhood, the argument oversells the importance of toys in the grand scheme of life.
As a film critic, it's essential to take the Toy Story series seriously, especially when it appeals to the sentiments of parents who are its target audience. The movie's nostalgic portrayal of old-time toys may resonate with those who remember them, but is it healthy for adults to wallow in nostalgia for toys?
The more pressing question is whether Toy Story 5 is worth seeing, either for children or their parents. Unfortunately, the movie is a preachy, one-note affair that fails to engage its audience. Director Andrew Stanton's preoccupation with illustrating the melancholic condition of discarded toys detracts from the story's impact.
An early scene shows a landfill for Buzz Lightyears, while a flashback presents a girl playing with the ragdoll Jessie in the Before Times. The movie comes close to regarding the eventual abandonment of toys as a tragedy, despite acknowledging that growing up involves putting away childish things.
In time, Jessie passes into the possession of another girl, Bonnie, who links her loneliness with her attachment to her toys. The movie's ill-advised move involves Bonnie's parents buying her a high-tech device, Lilypad, which she uses to make "friends" but ultimately rejects in favor of playing with toys.
The toys eventually find themselves having been conveyed to a ranch occupied by a horse, a pig, and new humans, including a girl who has a shelfful of horse figurines. The movie takes the side of Bonnie and her toys, but they are hardly a disinterested party – they resent being abandoned by children who outgrow them.
The movie's argument against electronic junk is not even sincere, as it eventually conscripts Lilypad to form a friendship between Bonnie and another girl. Toy Story 5 is a movie that favors infantilism, wishing to keep children in a state of dependency on their toys and perpetually nostalgic viewers in a state of dependency on the franchise itself.
Real toys may be better than high-tech devices, but both are poor substitutes for growing up. The movie's advice is to put away the toys and read something more substantial, like Black Beauty. In the end, Toy Story 5 is a film that fails to engage its audience and promotes a narrow, nostalgic worldview.
