Review: Toy Story 4 – Home Video

Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 4 is available on Home Video in various disc and digital formats including 4K.    Toy Story 4 arrived in theaters in the summer of 2019 about nine years after the last film and twenty four since the original.  The film picks up where Toy Story 3 left off with Woody and the gang being part of Bonnie’s toys now.   In this film they set off on a summer road trip of adventure and self-discovery.  Along the way making new friends, finding old friends and overcoming obstacles and new foes.    For a full review of the film here is Arianna’s review from the theatrical release back in June.

This initial home video offering features over an hour of bonus features plus a full length commentary on the film.  The bonus features are a traditional assortment of short featurettes, deleted scenes and promotional material.   For a full listing of the features here is the initial Toy Story 4 Home Video Press Release.

I was sent the Blu-ray and Digital combo to review and clicked through/watched features on both.  My first impressions of some of the bonus features:

• Let’s Ride with Ally Maki (5:39) – Ally Maki, the voice of Giggles McDimple, learns about Pixar’s dialog process. This piece highlights the number of teams and the amount of time involved in the dialog process for these animated films.  It is a very involved and iterative process.  This condensed look at a scene was great to see.  I would have liked to have seen it extended a bit more with some more detail.
• Anatomy of a Scene – There are two available, the Prologue (5 min) and the Playground (10 min) both feature members of the creative team watching the scene and talking about some of what went into it. I really enjoy these extended looks and the small details and backstories that are shared during them.  It is really like a director’s cut/extended edition of the audio commentary focused on a single scene.
• Audio Commentary – Full film length commentary shares quite a few Easter eggs and details that you may have missed while watching the film. It is a real time commentary so the film does not pause, which means they could not really go in depth with comments/stories.  I thought the details they pointed out added to the experience.
• Toy Box – 5 featurettes taking a look at the new characters and cast members who voice them in the film. These were very traditional in format and gave a little more insight into the character.
• Deleted Scenes (6 on disc plus 1 digital exclusive – 35 minutes total) – All the scenes featured an introduction by the director and were shown in storyboard form. I found it interesting to see some from early iterations of the film with different characters and a different story even.
• Toy Story 4 Toy Views – A look around two sets.. The Carnival Run and Roof View of the Carnival. It was interesting to see the sets from the character’s perspective but I thought the feature could have used some context.  An introduction or commentary would improve this feature.

I was expecting some retrospective pieces giving the franchise is nearing 25 years old.  I would think something from the cast and technology perspective would be really interesting to see.    Also something about the influence on the parks with Toy Story Lands (or sections) open at all the resorts.  I was also very surprised not to see anything about the upcoming Forky series of shorts that will be on Disney+.

Overall the assortment and quality of the bonus features for this first release of Toy Story 4 were entertaining.    I found the Anatomy of a Scene and Ally Maki pieces to be the most interesting of the offerings.   If you are a fan of deleted scenes you will love this offering with a half dozen totally over 30 minutes of running time including introductions.

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