Toy Story 5

The second movie in my animation double feature last night was Toy Story 5 and, even though we probably didn't need another installment in this franchise, I loved it!  When Bonnie (Scarlett Spears) receives a tablet named Lilypad (Greta Lee), Jessie (Joan Cusack) worries that she is spending too much time online and is feeling neglected.  Jessie confronts her by saying that Bonnie is losing opportunities to find friends so Lily connects her to some of her classmates online.  However, when Bonnie is ridiculed by these new friends, Lily feels guilty and finds a way to be donated.  Meanwhile, Jessie and Bullyeye are inadvertently sent to the home of their first owner and meet Blaze (Mykal-Michelle Harris), the little girl who lives there now.  She thinks that Blaze would be a good friend for Bonnie so she enlists the help of Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), Woody (Tom Hanks), and some of Blaze's toys but eventually realizes that she needs Lily to connect them.  Jessie also realizes that it is natural for children to outgrow their toys when she learns how much she meant to her first owner, Emily.  There are several fun sub-plots involving Buzz trying to work up the courage to ask Jessie to marry him and a group of Hi-Tech Edition Buzz Lightyears who crash land on a deserted island stuck in demo mode and aid Jessie when they attempt to reach Star Command (the scenes in which they engage in covert missions are incredibly amusing).  I loved this because it is funny (with lots of hilarious interactions between all of the toys, both old and new), compelling (with a powerful message about finding a healthy balance between imaginative play and technology), and quite poignant (the scene in which Bonnie is cyberbullied brought tears to my eyes and so did the scene in which Jessie finds Emily's box of memorabilia).  I loved Jessie's character arc as she comes to terms with being abandoned by Emily (Cusack is wonderful and gives a highly emotional performance) and I enjoyed the bickering between Woody and Buzz but I sometimes felt like there were too many characters who either don't add much to the story (especially Smarty Pants, voiced by Conan O'Brien) or are little more than cameos (I still liked seeing my favorite character Duke Caboom, voiced by Keanu Reeves).  Nevertheless, I think this is a worthy addition to the franchise and I highly recommend it.

Note:  I love the song "I Knew It, I Knew You" by Taylor Swift even more now that I've heard it in context!