Toy Story 2 (1999)

Movie Info

Take us home, please?

Andy is headed to Cowboy Camp and Woody is planning for the big day.  When Woody’s arm tears, Woody finds himself banished to the shelf instead of headed off.  A yard sale threatens the toys, and Woody finds himself snatched up by a ruthless toy collector named Al McWhiggin.  Woody is the important part of a set of classic toys from Woody’s Roundup, and Al hopes to sell Woody, Jessie, Stinky Pete, and Woody’s horse Bullseye to a collector overseas.  It is a rescue mission led by Buzz Lightyear, but will Woody agree to return to Andy and his friends?

Directed by John Lasseter, Toy Story 2 is the hit follow-up to the game-changing Toy Story from 1995.  The movie was Pixar’s first sequel and a box office smash despite productions problems.  The movie was nominated for Best Music—Original Song (“When She Loved Me”).

The day Woody went crazy and ripped into Buster…spilling his insides

I actually prefer this Toy Story to the previous entry.  While the first movie was loaded in sentimentality, the sequel was more of an action/adventure in addition to being a family comedy.  I think this movie clears up some of the problems of the first film and improves on the ideas.

I had a problem with the first Toy Story in that it was very derivative of the 1986 Jim Henson holiday special The Christmas Toy.  The basic concept and even the characters were almost identical.  Here, the story is original and fun.  It also doesn’t try to shove the sentimentally down your throat and (aka it gets rid of a lot of Randy Newman music that was too prevalent in the first film).  In reducing the forced sentimental film, sequences like Jessie’s abandonment by Emily stand out more (some have also hypothesized that Andy’s mother was Jessie’s owner…I don’t see that).

I am your father!!!

Pixar and Disney always hire good voice actors for their films, and Toy Story 2 is no exception.  Tom Hanks and Tim Allen are strong as the leads and the always amusing Joan Cusack is added as Jessie with Kelsey Grammer voicing Stinky Pete.  Wallace Shawn’s Rex gets more screentime along with Don Rickles and Estelle Harris as the Potato Heads.  Jim Varney plays Slinky Dog for the last time and Pixar alum John Ratzenberger returns as Hamm.  Entertainer Robert Goulet sings for Wheezy and R. Lee Ermey provides the voice of Sarge with Annie Potts as Bo Peep.  Human actors including Laurie Metcalf as Andy’s mom and Wayne Knight as Al.

Stinky Pete learns his fate!

Toy Story was known for bringing feature length computer animation to a feature film.  I feel Toy Story 2 actually improved the animation without making Toy Story look bad.  The crispness of the first film is there, but more and more detail is present.  I still prefer traditional animation over computer animation in most cases, but Toy Story 2 begins to show the power of the art.

Toy Story 2 might be the “forgettable” Toy Story since it doesn’t have the distinction of being the first in the series nor the acclaim of the third film.  I think it might actually be the most fun of the series because it is less heavy and more kid friendly than Toy Story 3.  If you haven’t watched Toy Story 2 in a while check out this “middle child” and enjoy.  Toy Story 2 was followed by Toy Story 3 in 2010.

[easyazon-block align=”center” asin=”B0030IIZ56″ locale=”us”]

Related Links:

Toy Story (1995)

Toy Story 3 (2010)

Toy Story of Terror! (2013)

Toy Story That Time Forgot (2014)