Trailer

WARNING: The following review may or may not contain spoilers from the film. If you haven’t seen the movie and you don’t want it ruined, I suggest watching the movie before continuing.

Toy Story 2 was supposed to be among the many, many straight-to-video sequels produced by Disney. However, Mr. Lasseter and Pixar ultimately decided to release it in the hundreds and thousands of movie theaters across the globe. Boy, it was worth it because Toy Story 2 is one of the very few times where the sequel is not worse than the original, but is at the very least on par with the original, if not even better. I mean, it has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, JUST LIKE THE ORIGINAL! Some even say it’s better, and I can certainly see why. Toy Story 2 is not a direct rehash of the original, but it’s a movie that continues the original story and expands upon it. How does it do that? Well, after opening with an awesome Buzz Lightyear opening sequence that is eventually revealed to be a video game, Andy (voiced again by John Morris) goes to summer camp. Unfortunately, he is unable to bring his favorite toy Woody (voiced again by Tom Hanks) with him after accidentally ripping his arm. While Andy is out, his mom holds a garage sale, and after Woody rescues a fellow broken toy penguin named Wheezy (the late Joe Ranft), he gets stolen by a greedy toy collector named Big Al (Wayne Knight), owner of the local toy store. So, Woody’s best friend Buzz Lightyear (voiced again by Tim Allen) and most of the other toys set out to rescue him, coming across a series of hilarious events. These include when Rex the pitiful dinosaur (voiced again by Wallace Shawn) is obsessed with the Buzz Lightyear video game from the opening finds a how-to guide, or when Buzz realizes how deluded he was from the first movie when he encounters another Buzz Lightyear action figure who also thinks he’s the real deal. Meanwhile, at Big Al’s apartment, Woody realizes that he was actually quite famous: he is a toy based on the star of a classic children’s television show called Woody’s Roundup, and he meets up with his “co-stars”, consisting of a wacky cowgirl named Jessie (Joan Cusack), a prospector named Stinky Pete (Kelsey Grammer), and a dog-like horse named Bullseye (a horse or a puppy, I guess?). Big Al plans to send Woody and his gang into a Japanese toy museum, so Woody has to decide whether to go back to Andy or stay with his gang and last forever. What’s amazing is how the audience gets to both consider and more or less agree with both the “heads” and the “tails” of Woody’s conscience. If Woody stays with the gang and heads to the museum, he’ll be celebrated by so many people, but at the same time, he’ll never see Andy or his other friends again. On the other hand, if he chooses to go back with Andy, he’ll eventually have to face Andy maturing and going off to college and pursuing his own lifestyle, and eventually loneliness. That is a fantastic moment in not only a Pixar or Disney film, but in a family film in general. And Toy Story 2 is full of great dramatic and comedic moments that I believe were stronger than the original’s, and the original was already perfect. Another great scene is when Jessie reveals her past through flashback sequences and a tearjerking song by Sarah McLachlan. Like Woody, she used to have an owner, but was eventually abandoned, and yes, thrown into storage. Heartbreaking indeed. Speaking of Jessie, she is a beyond fantastic addition to the Toy Story franchise. I love the energy she has, but I also love the character development that she has, considering that she went through her heartbreaking past and still managed to have a cheerful, cowgirl attitude. Plus, like Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, I cannot imagine anybody but Joan Cusack for the voice. Stinky Pete (and yes I am giving spoilers) is a great Pixar villain. Maybe it’s because I love the “twist villain” trope, but I like the initial kindness that he seemed to have. Also, he was the one who made Woody realize that Andy may outgrow him, which I will say again is one of the best moments in the film. Big points to the fact that Woody develops in the same way that Buzz did in the first movie in that they discover more than what they think they are. While Buzz found out he was a toy after thinking he was the real deal, Woody basically found out that he was the real deal after thinking he was just a toy. Pixar’s first sequel also introduces Buzz’s arch-nemesis, the evil Emperor Zurg (Andrew Stanton), who is revealed to be a complete satire of science fiction villains like Flash Gordon’s Emperor Ming and especially Darth Vader. It’s also funny how he also believes that he is the real deal. Even Barbie appears in this film as a tour guide with the voice of Jodi Benson, which is interesting because Mattel did not allow the Barbie property to appear in the first film. Somehow they changed their mind for the second film, which is pretty awesome because that Tour Guide Barbie was hilarious. Once again, the animation is fantastic, and actually improves upon the predecessor (considering how the first one was released in 1995 and this was released in 1999). Yes, the toys and the locations look great, but the humans are the biggest improvement. Overall, Toy Story 2 is one of the best movie sequels of all-time (until Toy Story 3, which I’ll review later) with same “freshness” as the original, a great story, fantastic characters, improved animation, but most of all, the heart is back. Whether it’s better than the original or not, I’ll have to flip a coin on that because the original was already perfect, and to decide whether the first or the second Toy Story is better is like trying to decide which one of your children is your favorite because both stand out individually.

10/10