The reviews for Toy Story 4 are in, and at least one critic finds the movie “disablist” and lacking in diversity.
Pixar Studios released Toy Story 4 on Friday — the first franchise to get as many entries in the company’s history. Fans have been dying for the latest adventure from Woody, Buzz Lightyear and friends, but critic Stella Duffy did not enjoy it. In an interview on the BBC’s Radio 4 Saturday ReviewShow this weekend, she condemned the movie for having “no black lead characters.”
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“Seriously, it’s 2019! What on Earth are Disney doing having a film that has no leads that are black characters?” Duffy said, according to a report by The Daily Mail. “Yes, there are black actors, but they are yellow and they are green and they are plush! How can they possibly think that it’s alright now?”
Duffy may have been referring to Kegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, the beloved comedy duo who joined the movie to play Ducky and Bunny, two carnival prize toys.
In her review, Duffy also called the movie “disablist” several times, although she did not elaborate on the point much, perhaps to avoid spoilers. The criticism refers to media that is prejudiced against differently abled people, although these days many prefer the term “ableist.”
Another problem Duffy pointed out was the movies representation of women, decrying Bo Peep’s storyline as “white feminism.” She argued that the doll’s arc represented surface level feminist representation without a real empowering message for young viewers.
“She’s still going to fall in love, she’s still going to have the happily ever after, that’s not feminism! It’s a woman who kicks off her skirt to reveal bloomers,” Duffy said.
Duffy received a lot of backlash to her review, which is unsurprising considering Toy Story 4‘s massive success this weekend. The move made over $135 million in ticket sales, and will likely continue to dominate in the coming weeks.
“What does this mean,” one fan wrote on Twitter. “Are you saying it’s anti-feminist to fall in love?”
“Omg get over yourself, they are toys!” sniped another.
“OMG stop being offended by everything,” a third person tweeted.
With the critiques of Duffy and a few others aside, reviews for Toy Story 4 have been generally favorable. The movie has a 98 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes with a 95 percent rating among audience members. So far, few are ranking it above previous entries in the Toy Story franchise, but it seems to meet the expectations most fans have set for Pixar.
Toy Story 4 is in theaters now.
