“The story ended perfectly and literally, so no, I don't care if it's good or bad. For me, it's over.”
It is an astonishing passion that has revealed Quentin Tarantinowhile he was a guest on the podcast Club Random hosted by American presenter Bill Maher. Discussing the difficulty of making a perfect trilogy from A to Z with a satisfying conclusion for the audience, the director of Kill Bill gave some examples of perfection. He begins with Sergio Leone's Dollar Trilogy, starring Clint Eastwood as The Man with No Name in For a Fistful of Dollars, A few dollars more And The Good, the Bad and the Uglythen, cites an animated saga: Toy Story.
According to him, the first three films are so good on their own that he doesn't feel the desire to see the fourth part that came out a few years ago. The “trilogy” concluded in 2010 with Toy Story 3in which Andy, the happy owner of these animated toys since 1995 – the year of the first part – has grown up and decides to get rid of them. Woody, Buzz and the others end up in a daycare and have no desire to stay there. Ready to do anything to find the young boy who has become a man, they end up accepting their destiny. A new life opens up before them and this one is called Bonnie. A moving conclusion for all these toys that have rocked the childhood of many spectators, and which is rewarded with the Oscar for best animated film.
At that time, Tarantino already considered this film the best of the year. Fourteen years later, nothing has changed:
“I'm a huge fan of the Toy Story trilogy. (…) The third one is just beautiful, and it's one of the best movies I've ever seen, and if you watch the other two, it's heartbreaking. But the problem is, three years later, or something, they made a fourth movie, and I have no desire to see it. The story literally and perfectly ended, so no, I don't care if it's good or not. For me, it's over.”
Not three years later as the filmmaker claims, but almost a decade later, the toys set off on a new adventure in Toy Story 4. Woody is gradually abandoned by Bonnie who, at school, has made herself a new companion from a plastic cutlery: Forky. The latter has a hard time getting used to his new status. So, taking advantage of a weekend in a camper van, Woody hopes to convince Forky to become a toy. But he disappears… The search begins and allows us to meet emblematic characters again.
Focusing on Woody and his inner quest, this fourth installment failed to reach the stakes of the first ones, but still convinced the public and the Academy by bringing back the Oscar for best animated film and more than a billion dollars at the international box office. Arguments weighing little in the Tarantino scale.
While a fifth Toy Story is in preparation and will deal with digital versus traditional toys, there is no doubt that this one will not be in the watch list from the director.
Toy Story 5 has a release date