Buzz and Woody are Back in Pixar's Toy Story 2

Pixar released Toy Story, the first full length computer animated movie, in 1995. The movie was very successful and set the standard for future computer animated movies. In 1999, Pixar released a sequel to Toy Story, Toy Story 2.

Andy’s mom decided to have a yard sale while Andy was away at camp. While attempting to rescue another toy from the yard sale, Woody was stolen by Al, a toy collector and owner of a local toy story. Woody met Jessie the cowgirl, Stinky Pete the prospector and Bullseye the horse in Al’s apartment. They were all valuable collectable toys and had been characters on an old television show. Jessie and Pete were happy to see Woody because it meant Al could sell his collection to a toy museum. Woody didn’t want to go to a museum and talked about getting back home to Andy which really upset Jessie. Pete and Jessie managed to raise some doubts for Woody while Buzz Lightyear, Rex, Hamm, Slinky Dog, and Mr. Potato Head were attempting a rescue mission.

It wasn’t clear how much time had passed since the end of Toy Story when Toy Story 2 started. I don’t think that much time had passed. The plot of this movie built on what had been established in the first movie while still managing to be different. I do think that People could see this movie and follow what was happening if they hadn’t seen the first movie. Certain things would make more sense if the movies were watched in order. The plots did have some similarities since Buzz was leading a rescue attempt and in the first movie Woody ended up rescuing Buzz from a situation. This movie did add more development to Woody by sharing the fact that he had been a character on a television show. The movie also added another dimension to the idea of toys being alive by exploring how collectable toys were treated. Some of what happened was predictable but there was some action in a few scenes as well as one or two surprises.

Toy Story 2 contained a lot of humor like the original movie did. The characters were in new situations that made me laugh several times. Rex had become obsessed with a Buzz Lightyear video game instead of worrying about being scary. His little fits over the game made me laugh. Several of the toys ended up inside the toy store that Al owned where they met Tour Guide Barbie. Buzz encountered another Buzz Lightyear action figure that thought he was a real space ranger. It was funny to see Buzz deal with that since he’d been the same way in the first movie. The animators created some very funny outtakes featuring different characters in the movie. On my DVD, the outtakes are with the extras.

In the few years since Toy Story was made, Pixar improved their animation greatly for Toy Story 2. The animation was much better than it had been in the first movie and there were improvements over what had been done in A Bug's Life as well. The toy characters did still look basically the same. The improvements were with the human characters and the outside settings. The people still didn’t really look realistic, but they did look better than they had in the first movie. The backgrounds didn’t look as static as they had in the first movie and there was movement in them. The attention to detail in the scene when Woody was being cleaned was amazing. The animation in the movie was beautiful and still holds up very well today. It is better than the animation in some newer movies.

The same main characters returned for Toy Story 2. Buzz and Woody were a bit more developed than the other characters since they had received more attention in the first movie. They were friends which was why Buzz was determined to rescue Woody. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen did the voices for the characters again. Rex did seem more confident, though he had a few fits related to the video game he was obsessing over. Mr. Potato Head had a wife since Andy’s little sister had gotten a Mrs. Potato Head. All of the original voice talent returned, which kept things consistent. Andy, his mother, and his little sister well all briefly shown along with their dog. Andy’s father wasn’t around and he wasn’t even mentioned. I don’t remember him being mentioned in the first movie either. This isn’t the first animated movie to only have one parent, but it has usually been the mother that has been missing.

In addition to the returning characters, a few new characters were introduced. Al was the owner of a local toy store and a toy collector. He recognized that Woody was a very valuable collectable toy and grabbed him, thinking of all the money he was going to make by selling an entire set of toys to a museum. Jessie, Stinky Pete, and Bullseye were the other collectable toys that Al had and they wanted to go to the museum. They had been in storage for a long time while waiting for Woody to turn up. Jessie especially was very upset when she thought she was going to have to go back into storage. The new characters weren’t as developed as the returning characters, which is normal. Kelsey Grammer and Joan Cusack joined the cast of voice talent to provide voices for Stinky Pete and Jessie. The voices fit their characters.

Voice Talent

Tim Allen - Buzz Lightyear
Jodi Benson - Tour Guide Barbie
Joan Cusack - Jessie
Kelsey Grammer - Stink Pete
Tom Hanks - Woody
Estelle Harris - Mrs. Potato Head
Wayne Knight - Al
Laurie Metcalf - Andy’s Mom
John Morris - Andy
Annie Potts - Bo Peep
John Ratzenberger - Hamm
Don Rickles - Mr. Potato Head
Wallace Shawn - Rex
Andrew Stanton - Evil Emperor Zurg
Jim Varney - Slinky Dog

John Lasseter - Director

DVD Information

I have had Toy Story 2 on DVD for several years. The version I have has only one disc and not very many extras. The movie can be watched in either full screen or widescreen formats. An animated short called Luxo Jr that was nominated for an Oscar was included. The only other extra was the outtakes that the animators created with the different characters. The outtakes are very funny and Pixar has developed a habit of creating them for their movies. There is a two disc DVD available that has a lot more extras.

Toy Story 2 is another wonderful movie from Pixar that is worth watching for children and adults both. People that enjoyed the first movie or other Pixar movies should check this one out.

Pixar Movie Reviews
A Bug's Life ~ Cars ~ Finding Nemo ~ The Incredibles ~ Monsters, Inc. ~ Ratatouille ~ Toy Story ~ Up ~ WALL-E ~

Other Animated Movie Reviews
Beauty and the Beast ~ Brother Bear ~ Chicken Little ~ The Emperor's New Groove ~ Home on the Range ~ Hoodwinked ~ Ice Age ~ Ice Age: The Meltdown ~ Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius ~ Lilo & Stitch ~ Looney Tunes: Back in Action ~ Madagascar ~ Over the Hedge ~ The Polar Express ~ Robots ~ Shark Tale ~ Shrek ~ Shrek 2 ~ Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas ~ Sleeping Beauty ~ Tim Burton's Corpse Bride ~ Treasure Planet ~ Valiant ~ Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit ~ The Wild ~