Toy Story 2

Voices of: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Annie Potts, Kelsey Grammer, Wayne Knight, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, John Morris, Laurie Metcalf, Estelle Harris, R. Lee Emery, Andrew Stanton, Frank Welker (uncredited)
Directed by: John Lasseter, Ash Brannon
Rating: G
Genre: Animated
1999

Times Seen:
Tim: 3

Summary: Toy cowboy Woody (Tom Hanks) is stolen by a toy collector. Now, space ranger Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) must lead Andy's toys out to save him before it is too late.

Review:

Tim: I'm on record saying that I would be ecstatic about countless Toy Story sequels until the end of time. This first sequel proves my point that these characters are so enjoyable that sequels and more sequels is an excellent idea. While this is a good movie and quite fun, it is just ever so slightly worse than the original. We are talking about just the slightest of margins here, so it is nothing to be concerned about. This is probably due to the original film offering up groundbreaking and revolutionary computer animation, so this film only continues that tradition, rather than vastly improving upon it. This is a beautiful film to watch, though.

Tom Hanks and Tim Allen both do their voice work in superb fashion. They are so fun together as Woody and Buzz, and they seem to genuinely enjoy the process of bringing these characters to life. I sincerely hope both these stars will sign on to Toy Story sequels in the future. The cast is rounded out with newcomers Joan Cusack and Kelsey Grammer, both of whom do good jobs with their characters. Wayne Knight adds in a good performance and he was perfectly cast in his role.

Toy Story 2 manages to give us a good story, without seeming stale. It follows the typical route of switching situations with its main characters, but it works here. The story many not be quite as strong as the original, but it is still loads of fun to watch. This is a very enjoyable movie, and at its conclusion, I couldn't help but hope that Disney and Pixar will grant us the joy of seeing Toy Story 3.

*Update- So, since my original review of Toy Story 2, Pixar has granted my wish as we got the excellent Toy Story 3 and I'm writing this on the verge of Toy Story 4 hitting theaters. It was a lot of fun to go back and visit Toy Story 2. It's funny because my original review had this film slotted just below the original in terms of quality. I suppose I still feel that way, although this time around, there were things I really appreciated more about this movie. In the original film, Woody spends most of the film alienated from his friends. I really appreciated he was back as part of the gang in this one. It was much more fun to see the toys all united, rather than the divisions in the original. Although I enjoyed the story of Prospector and the collectors item toys, it felt like this was slightly less effective than Sid in the original. It was still a great focus and I love how it highlighted another aspect of toys, but maybe just a bit below how relatable a kid who breaks toys was. Zurg felt like a weaker character, especially the ridiculous conclusion with Buzz (although I appreciate the homage, it didn't make a lot of sense). Still, this is an incredibly effective, entertaining movie. My four year-old son loved it. It's been fun to watch him enjoy these movies. He really likes Buzz, which I find entertaining because I'm a bigger Woody fan. It's impressive to see Pixar's longevity here- this movie is as effective 20 years later as the day it was released.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 7.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Toy Story, The Polar Express