Originally
scheduled as a direct to video film, TOY STORY 2 got the go-ahead from
Disney for theatrical feature status when they saw how much work John
Lasseter and the rest of Pixar were devoting to it. The
result
was a film that may even be better than its groundbreaking predecessor.
Unlike so many sequels, TOY STORY 2 isn't just a rehash or a
cheap ripoff, but rather a film that stands by itself and can be
completely enjoyable even without seeing the original. In
this
film, Cowboy Woody, voiced again by Tom Hanks, accidentally winds up in
a yard sale and is stolen by an avaricious toy salesman to complete his
now-valuable collection of old "Woody's Roundup" toys. Space
Cadet
Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) calls upon all the other toys to track down
Woody and bring him home safely. Along with most of the toys
from
the first film, several new toy characters are introduced in TOY STORY
2 including
cowgirl Jessie (Joan Allen), Stinky Pete the Prospector (Kelsey
Grammer) and Wheezy the Penguin, the abandoned squeeze toy
whose
broken squeaker
now sounds like a severe case of asthma. Best of all is a
second
Buzz Lightyear, fresh out of the box and as innocent and self-deluded
as the original Buzz was back in TOY STORY.
It may not have been a
necessary sequel, but it's hard to quibble
about the results. - JB
Orginal review written by Steve Bailey at the time of the film's original release.
As an antidote to the
Pokemon phenomenon, whose sole point is to see how many of the cards
you can collect, comes TOY STORY 2 with the timely question, What's the
point of collecting toys if you can't enjoy them?
This sequel succeeds at so many levels, it comes off
as the anti-Pokemon. Even if the movie's sound were turned off,
the detail in its computer animation would be reason enough to see it.
The attention to everything from the fluid movement of the toys
to the smudges on the face of an old play doll marks a quantum leap
from even the first movie.
Then there's the script which, as in all of the best
sequels, is so finely tuned that you can enjoy the story even if you
haven't seen the first movie. The main plotline is that the
cowboy doll Woody (again voiced by Tom Hanks) is kidnapped by an evil
toy dealer ("Seinfeld's" Wayne Knight) who wants to cash in on the
toy's nostalgia value.
While Woody's toy friends go to elaborate lengths to
rescue him, Woody is astounded to discover that he was the star of a
kids' TV show called "Woody's Roundup," which also featured a cowgirl
named Jessie (Joan Cusack) and a prospector named Stinky Pete
("Frasier's" Kelsey Grammer)--all of whom are now treasured mostly for
being in mint condition.
Most movies would be satisfied to be as believable
and touching as TOY STORY 2, which also manages to score some of the
year's biggest laughs. The first movie's toy characters are back,
and some welcome new additions are a doting Mrs. Potato Head (Estelle
Harris, another "Seinfeld" vet), and Barbie, who is as irrelevantly
cheery as you always thought she'd be.
The "performances" here put a lot of the year's
flesh-and-blood movie work to shame. Of the returnees, the best is Tim
Allen as space hero Buzz Lightyear, stripped of all his pomposity and
quite happy to serve as a child's toy. (Some of the best laughs
come when Buzz unwittingly unwraps another Buzz toy who is as clueless
as he used to be.)
And Joan Cusack, who is reason enough to watch any
movie she's in, beautifully conveys Jessie's enthusiasm at being
appreciated in whatever way she can, as a treasured toy or a valued
museum piece.
That you can appreciate these computer-created
images as heartfelt characters says volumes about how well TOY STORY 2
has been thought out. It doesn't just make the first movie's
then-current technology look dated; it makes most of this year's
"human" comedies look just as irrelevant. - SB
Copyright © 2010 Steve Bailey. All Rights Reserved. Used by special permission.