Toy Story 2 Review
by Mandy Rose Owston - Feb 15, 2000

After waiting for months to see Toy Story 2, I finally got out to see it Sunday night.  I originally thought, "Well, I liked the first one.  Disney sequels aren't always wonderful, but they are amusing for awhile."  But when the movie first came on, I was captivated.  Not only were the characters incredibly realistic and believable, and the effects were, of course, spectacular, but I was totally engrossed by the story.  I really cared about each character!  Which is something I CAN'T say about Star Wars episode 1.  But in Toy Story, I came to love and care about all the toys, and how everything would work out.  I didn't glance at my watch once, nor did I wonder "Is it almost over yet?".  But besides the great visual effects, the humor was fantastic!  My dad and I laughed OUT LOUD (and I do mean loud!) at the Star Wars and Jurassic Park jokes, as well as the "outtakes" at the end.  All in all, I loved Toy Story 2 even better than the first one.  Great job, Disney!!! ~ Mandy Rose Owston

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The following review contains spoilers (some major)...

Toy Story 2 Review
by Eric Lurio

Directed By:
John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich and Ash Brannon

Great sequels are rare in the cinema, sure, this is one of them.

The film apparently begins in outer space. Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), the character, not the toy, is landing on a planet that he thinks is the headquarters of Emperor Zurg (Andrew Stanton), and low and behold, he destroys his badness' armies and confronts the chief bad guy himself, before.....we discover it's a video game played by Rex (Wallace Shawn) the plastic dinosaur.

Having been given a glimpse Buzz's back-story, we get to delve into Woody's (Tom Hanks). Andy (John Morris) is going to cowboy camp for the summer and Woody is going to go with him, that is until he's ripped accidentally by Andy, so he's put on the shelf.

Soon after, Andy's mom (Laurie Metcalf) decides to have a yard sale, and when the toys discover one of there number is going to be sold, Woody effects a rescue, only to wind up on the table himself, where he is noticed by Al Wiggens (Wayne Knight), the owner of the Al's Toy Barn chain and a collector of antique toys. After Mom refuses to sell the doll to Al, he creates a diversion and steals Woody.

Buzz recruits Mr. Potato Head (Don Rickles), Slinky Dog (Jim Varney) and Hamm (John Ratzenberger) to go out into the bush to rescue Woody, who is brought up to Al's office where the rest of the complete set of "Woody's Roundup" licensed merchandise is on display. Woody meets his fellow characters from the '50s TV show: Jessie the Cowgirl (Joan Cusack), Bullseye the horse (David Ogden Stiers), and Stinky Pete the Prospector (Kelsey Grammer), the last of whom is still in his original box.

They're thrilled to see Woody because now they won't get put back into storage, [it's cold and dark in those packing crates] but instead be sent to a museum in Japan where they will be looked at by children forever. After lots of dickering and a musical sequence performed by Sarah McLauchlan, he decides not to escape.

Meanwhile Buzz and the gang manage to get into Al's Toy Barn where they finally get to meet Barbi (Jodi Benson) and Buzz gets defeated by the only one who can do it, himself.

This being a sequel, the whole gang from the first movie is back. Annie Potts and R. Lee Ermey reprise their roles as Bo Peep and the Green soldier commander respectively, and Jonathan Harris voices Gerri, who was in the Oscar winning short "Gerri's Game," and saves the digital modelers tons of work.

These modelers and the digital puppeteers do a brilliant job bringing this film to life. But the whole thing would have been worthless had it not been for Ash Brannon, Andrew Stanton, Rita Hsiao and Chris Webb's script. They have produced a full-blooded story which further develop the already beloved characters. If your kids don't drag to it, you should drag them, or at least drag yourself.

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