Toy Story 2
| Toy Story 2 | |
|---|---|
 Toy Story 2 movie poster | |
| Directed by | John Lasseter co directed by: Lee Unkrich, Ash Brannon |
| Written by | story by: John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Ash Brannon, Andrew Stanton screenplay by: Andrew Stanton, Rita Hsiao, Doug Chamberlain, Chris Webb |
| Produced by | Karen Robert Jackson Helene Plotkin |
| Starring | Tom Hanks Tim Allen Joan Cusack Kelsey Grammer Don Rickles Wallace Shawn Jim Varney John Ratzenberger Wayne Knight |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Distribution |
Release date | November 19 1999 |
Running time | 92 min |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $90,000,000 (estimated) |
| Box office | Domestic: $245,852,179 Worldwide: $485,015,179 |
Toy Story 2 is a CGI animation film and the sequel to Toy Story, and the third Disney/Pixar feature film, which featured the adventures of a group of toys that come to life when humans are not around to see them. Like the first film, Toy Story 2 was produced by Pixar Animation Studios, directed by John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich, and Ash Brannon, and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution in the United States on November 19 1999, in Australia on December 2 1999, and the United Kingdom on 11 February 2000.
The movie also keeps most of the original characters and voices from the first movie including the likes of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn and John Ratzenberger. They are joined by new members, voicing the new characters such as Joan Cusack, Kelsey Grammer and Estelle Harris.
The movie is also the all-time-best reviewed film on RottenTomatoes.com with a score of 100% of 105 reviews.
Voice cast
Plot synopsis
The movie begins with scenes of a Buzz Lightyear adventure, which turns out to be a video game that Rex is playing. The game ends with him being defeated by Evil Emperor Zurg. Some time after the events of the first Toy Story, presumably about three years later, Andy is preparing to leave for Cowboy Camp with Woody. While playing with him and Buzz, Andy accidentally rips Woody's arm, leaving him unable to take his doll to the camp. Woody is placed on the shelf, where he finds another broken toy, the penguin Wheezy, and begins to fear he'll soon be thrown away. When Wheezy is set out for a yard sale, Woody tries to rescue him, but ends up in the yard sale himself. He is seen by Al McWiggin, an obsessive toy collector and proprietor of "Al's Toy Barn". Al tries to buy Woody from Andy's mom, but she refuses to sell him. After failing to negotiate a sale, Al creates a distraction and steals Woody, causing Buzz to launch a rescue mission, with the help of four other toys.
Woody is taken to Al's apartment, where he is greeted by a yodeling cowgirl named Jessie, his trusty steed Bullseye, and the Prospector (an unsold toy still in its original box). They reveal to him that he is part of a set and the star of a forgotten children's TV show, Woody's Roundup. Now that Al has a Woody doll, he has a complete collection and intends to sell the toys to a museum in Japan. Woody initially insists that he has to get back to Andy, but Jessie reveals how she was forgotten and eventually abandoned by her owner as she grew up. The prospector warns Woody that he faces the same fate as Andy ages. Woody agrees to go with the "Roundup Gang" to the museum.
Buzz and his friends search for Al at Al's Toy Barn, where Buzz gets into a scuffle with another Buzz Lightyear doll, who, like Buzz in the first movie, doesn't realize he's a toy. The new Buzz sets off with the other toys for Al's apartment, believing it to be a genuine rescue mission from his arch-enemy, Emperor Zurg. The original Buzz frees himself and follows them to the apartment, but while exiting the store, he accidentally frees an Emperor Zurg toy, who follows him.
When they reach the apartment, Woody tells them he doesn't want to be rescued and intends to go with his new friends to Japan, since he's now a "collector's item". In an ironic reversal of a scene from the first movie, Buzz reminds him "you are a child's plaything... you are a toy!" Woody (figuratively and literally) turns his back on Buzz, and Buzz's group leaves without him. However, Woody soon has a change of heart and, after calling Buzz and the group back, invites the "Roundup Gang" to come home to Andy with him. Jessie and Bullseye agree, but the Prospector locks them in the room, saying that the museum trip is his first chance (since he was never sold) and won't have Woody messing it up for him. Al returns and packs the Roundup Gang, and the rest of the toys give chase, but are interrupted by the sudden appearance of the Emperor Zurg toy. In a showdown mimicking a similar scene from The Empire Strikes Back, Zurg reveals himself to be Buzz Lightyear's father, shortly before finally being defeated by Rex. The other toys resume the rescue mission and find an unacompanied vehicle (the Pizza Planet deliverey truck) and drive it to the airport. The second Buzz remains behind with Zurg, playing father and son games.
After arriving at the airport, Buzz and his group manage to free Woody and Bullseye from the suitcase. The Prospector has other plans though and he re-tears Woody's arm. Buzz and his group, however, come to Woody's rescue, and stick the Prospector in a little girl's backpack so he can "learn the true meaning of play-time". But Jessie finds herself in trouble and remains trapped in the suitcase. Woody and Buzz ride Bullseye in order to rescue her from being taken to the museum on her own.
Woody manages to find Jessie inside the plane but just when they're about to escape, the door closes and the plane heads for the runway. Woody finds another way out of the plane, through a small hatch which leads down to the landing gear wheel, and as they are doing so, he slips but Jessie catches him. When the plane is at the main runway, Woody knows that time is running out. In true "Woody's Roundup" style, he uses his pull string to swing him and Jessie down to safety on Bullseye's back - just seconds before the plane takes off. Their mission accomplished, the toys now make their way home.
At home, Jessie (whom Buzz becomes a bit smitten with) and Bullseye are adopted into Andy's toy family. Woody's ripped arm is repaired by Andy himself. Meanwhile, a fixed Wheezy sings "You've Got A Friend In Me", and Buzz asks Woody if he was still worried about Andy giving him up. Woody replies that he isn't worried anymore, and that when it is all over, he has Buzz to keep him company, for "infinity and beyond".
The events of the airplane's cargo hold have a terrible (and hilarious) consequence for Al. After Hamm fails at the Buzz Lightyear video game, he flips through the channels and sees Al in an Al's Toy Barn commercial, crying since he lost his precious luggage. While Al is crying, Hamm says a somewhat humorous remark about Al and his scheme ("Well, I guess crime doesn't pay.").
Crew
Songs
Randy Newman wrote two new songs for Toy Story 2:
- "When She Loved Me" - performed by Sarah McLachlan - used for the flashback montage in which Jessie experiences being loved, forgotten, and ultimately abandoned by her owner, Emily. This song was nominated at the Oscars in 2000 for Best Song, though the award went to Phil Collins for "You'll Be In My Heart" from Disney's Tarzan. Much to the dismay of those who have wanted to obtain this single track from iTunes Music Store, it is currently available only if the entire album is purchased - which has galled many potential buyers; covers of this song are available, however, by other artists.
- "Woody's Roundup" - performed by Riders in the Sky - theme song for the "Woody's Roundup" TV show. Also end-credit music.
The film also includes two new versions of "You've Got A Friend In Me", the theme from the first film. The first is performed by the puppet Woody (Hanks) "on guitar" as part of the "Woody's Roundup" show. The second is a Vegas-style finale production number sung by Wheezy (singing voice provided by Robert Goulet).
Soundtrack Listing
- Woody's Roundup - Riders In The Sky
- When She Loved Me - Sarah McLachlan
- You've Got A Friend In Me (Wheezy's Version) - Robert Goulet
- Zurg's Planet
- Wheezy And The Yard Sale
- Woody's Been Stolen
- Chicken Man
- Woody's Dream
- Jessie And The Roundup Gang
- Woody's A Star
- Let's Save Woody
- Off To The Museum
- Talk To Jessie
- The Cleaner
- Al's Toy Barn
- Emperor Zurg Vs
- Use Your Head
- Jessie's In Trouble
- Ride Like The Wind
- You've Got A Friend In Me (Instrumental Version)
Box office and business issues
Toy Story 2 made over $245,000,000 in its initial US theatrical run, far surpassing the original, and in fact, every other animated movie to that date except for The Lion King, though both were later eclipsed by another Pixar movie, Finding Nemo.
Toy Story 2 was not originally intended for release in theaters. Disney asked Pixar to make a direct-to-video sequel for the original Toy Story with a 60 minute running time. When Disney executives saw how impressive the in-work imagery for the sequel was, they decided to create a theatrical movie, and the plot was reworked to be much more epic and cinematic in scope and duration of the movie was extended to just over 90 minutes.
Pixar and Disney had a five-film co-production deal and Pixar felt that with its change in status, Toy Story 2 should count as one of the pictures in the deal. Disney, however, felt that since the production of Toy Story 2 was negotiated outside of the five-picture deal, it should not count. This issue became a particularly sore spot for Pixar, leading to a falling out between Pixar CEO Steve Jobs and Disney CEO Michael Eisner, concluding in Pixar's 2004 announcement that it would not extend its deal with Disney and would instead seek other distribution partners. With Eisner's departure and Pixar's ultimate purchase by Disney, however, these problems have been overcome.
The movie was first broadcast on pay-TV in the UK on The Disney Channel on December 8, 2001 but like Toy Story, the transition of the movie from pay-TV to antenna TV was extremely slow and eventually first appeared on terrestrial TV on BBC One on December 25, 2005.
The film was received extremely well by critics, gaining a rare 100% rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
It recieved a 87/100 Universal Acclaim on metacritic. However it was lower than Toy Story compared to it's 91/100 on metacritic.
References to Other Films
- Toy Story 2 references Star Wars when Zurg says he's Buzz's father. This takes a humorous turn when the cloned Buzz stays behind the group to bond with his father.
- At the beginning of the film, during the short segment where you are inside Buzz's helmet, his breathing sounds identical to Darth Vader's in the Star Wars films.
- During Woody's cleaning scene, the man is the same one from the Pixar short Geri's Game. This is further referenced when he briefly pulls open a drawer filled with chess pieces.
- When Ham was flickering through the channels, If you watch it in slow motion, you can see Pixar short films such as Knick Knack, Tin Toy and Luxo Jr.
- When Tour Guide Barbie is giving the toys a tour in Al's Toy Barn, the dinosaur falls back and starts chasing the car. This is a clear reference to the movie Jurassic Park in which the Tyrannosaurus Rex chases the car and can be seen in the rear view mirror.
- When the toys are about to cross the street to Al's toy barn, Slinky the dog says, 'I may not be a smart dog, but I know what roadkill is,' which may be a reference to Tom Hanks (Woody) film, Forrest Gump, where Forrest says, 'I may not be a smart man Jenny, but I know what love is.'
- The pizza planet truck from the first Toy Story is driven to the airport to save Woody; the aliens are also from the first Toy Story.
Attached short film
Main article: Luxo Jr.
Theatrical and video releases of this film include Luxo Jr, Pixar's first short film released in 1986, starring Pixar's mascot, Luxo.
Trailers
One Pixar tradition is to create trailers for their films that do not contain footage from the released film. In one trailer, the green alien toys come up to a center with the claw coming down. First the claw was carrying down "Toy Story" with the aliens doing their trademark "Oooh." Second the claw brings down a "2" and with the aliens turning around and looking at the audience and saying "Twoooo." Then Woody appears and is swiftly disappointed when Buzz shows up as well. He expresses his annoyance that Buzz is in the sequel. Buzz replies, "Well of course! What would Toy Story 2 be without Buzz Lightyear?" "A good movie," counters Woody.
Trivia
- After seeing the toys other than Woody who is at Al's apartment on their way to Al's Toy Barn, the National Anthem plays with an American flag waving, as is an ident for signing off networks when Buzz was still talking. Once Buzz leaves, the camera zooms out to the television and the screen turns black and white because it is a black and white TV. An announcer says "And that concludes our broadcast day" and then the static on the screen appears.
See also
- Toy Story
- Toy Story 3
- A113
- Geri's Game - (The character Geri from the short film "Geri's Game", was featured in "Toy Story 2" as the toy renovator.)