Toy Story 5 review: Technically polished but creatively depleted
By
Peter Bradshaw
A second-rack bagel that's nearly first-rack. Tasty stuff.
Summary
The review criticizes Toy Story 5 as a technically polished but creatively hollow entry in the franchise. While the animation is slick and glitchless, the film lacks jeopardy, novelty, passion, and the emotional depth that made earlier installments powerful. The theme of mortality feels underpowered, and the film's central conflict—a tech moral battle between traditional toys and a sinister new tablet—is handled timidly, losing its nerve. The review suggests the franchise has run out of creative steam despite its high production values.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledAs a piece of family-entertainment content it has the unblemished sheen of a brand new smartphone. But at heart, it has gone dead.
For all the intensive, high-energy creative work that has clearly gone into this film's every frame, the jeopardy, the novelty, the ideas and the passion are lacking
the crucial Toy Story theme of mortality feels underpowered, and the film even calamitously loses its nerve with its own big idea
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