(Toy Story 2) Ultimate Pixar Tribute- Movie #3: Toy Story 2

by Nick DeVito

Plot: When Woody tries to rescue a toy that’s been put in a yard-sale, he is stolen by an evil toy collector named Al, who is shipping his toy collection to a Tokyo museum. At Al’s apartment Woody finds that he is a rare toy, and that he had a huge merchandise line, an old TV show, and three members of his “round-up gang”: Jesse the Yodeling Cowgirl (Joan Cusack), Stinky Pete the Prospector (Kelsey Grammer), and his horse Bullseye.

Meanwhile, Buzz Lightyear and the gang set on an adventure to rescue Woody and bring him back to Andy’s house. When Woody realizes that his new friends will go into storage if he leaves, he decides to stay realizing that Andy will grow up and eventually forget about him anyways. When his old friends come to rescue him, he changes his mind and decides to take his new friends with him to Andy’s, but Stinky Pete reveals himself as the villain and forces them into the boxes.

The toys eventually rescue Woody, Jessie and Bullseye while Stinky Pete is given to a little girl. Andy returns home to find all of the new toys waiting for him.

Well: As one of the best sequels of all time (even to be compared to “The Godfather: Part 2”, or “Terminator 2”) Toy Story 2 was a smash-hit, and it won the Golden Globe for Best Picture. The thing is that Pixar didn’t want to do a sequel at all.

While still recovering from the huge success of A Bug’s Life, Disney “persuaded” Pixar into making a half-hour TV special starring the toys, which eventually turned into the production for a feature. Lasseter soon realized that the film’s story wasn't good enough to be released in the condition it was in,so he decided to abandon the project and start over; making it into a Pixar-approved full-length movie for theatrical distribution.

It’s a good thing they made this decision, because Toy Story 2 achieved more money and applause than their two previous films, and as of 2004, RottenTomatoes.com listed Toy Story 2 as the best reviewed movie of all time. It was a perfect blend of humor and heart (Pixar’s trademark in all of their features).

The funniest scenes came mostly from the outtakes during the credits, which I believe to be funnier than those from A Bug’s Life and the upcoming Monsters Inc.

The heart mostly came from Pixar’s decision to take the ideas of Red’s Dream and make a truly sad scene. I’m talking about the now infamous “When She Loved Me” scene, in which Jessie sings a tear-wrenching song about how she went from being her owner’s best friend to being abandoned into storage (and don’t tell me you don’t recognize the scene, because if you say you don’t then you are lying).

An excruciatingly large amount of effort was put into about three minutes of one of Pixar’s most famous moments, and the highlight of this film. This reason led to people’s believability in the characters more than in previous Pixar pictures. Here, these weren’t just pixels represented by numbers and coding on a computer to make human-like shapes, these were real people with lives of their own.

The best line comes from Stinky Pete when he says: “Andy’s growing up, and there’s nothing you can do about it.” I believe that Buzz Lightyear had a much stronger role here than in the original movie, and shows himself to be a more fleshed out character (instead of just the reason for Woody’s jealousy).

Easter-Eggs:
• John Ratzenberger: returns as the voice of Hamm the piggy-bank.
• Pizza Planet truck: Like the first film, the Pizza Planet truck is not hidden in any way, as Buzz and the toys use it to drive to the airport.
• A113: As in the first film, A113 is on Andy’s Mom’s license plate; there is also a moment when the toys first enter the airport where the announcer says: “Lasset Air, Flight A113. (Lasset Air is a reference to director John Lasseter).
• During the first scene of the movie, a Luxo lamp is formed out of a constellation of stars.
• During Buzz’s POV shot in the opening scene, he makes Darth Vader’s breathing.
• We hear a TIE-fighter blast sound when Buzz shoots a droid.
• When Buzz reaches for Zurg’s battery, a lightsaber “swish” sound is heard.
• An “A Bug’s Life” calendar is in Andy’s room.
• The red Luxo lamp, starred ball, and short film titled books are still in Andy’s room.
• Wheezy the penguin is based off of the Linux mascot, Tux.
• When Hamm flashes through the TV channels, scenes from all of the Pixar shorts including the 1980’s logo are seen.
• The Etch-a-Sketch map to Al’s Toy Barn is the address to Pixar Studios.
• When Buzz whacks some leaves, Heimlich is crawling on the top branch.
• The toy-cleaner is Geri from Geri’s Game; when he opens his drawers some chess pieces are seen.
• A Luxo ball is seen in Al’s Toy Barn.
• Dot, Heimlich, Dib, and the roly-poly twins from A Bug’s Life are all toys in Al’s Toy Barn.
• In the airport, the announcer mentions “Leon Rich’ (Lee Unkrich was the co-director).
• Flik and Heimlich are seen during the outtakes.

Final Thoughts: There’s not much else to say about Toy Story 2, other than I wish I had seen it in theaters. With a great story, fun new characters, and the infamous song scene (of which was nominated for an Oscar), Toy Story 2 became the 3rd biggest movie of 1999 (behind The Sixth Sense and Star Wars Episode I). Lasseter was eager to take a break from directing, as the torch was given to writer Pete Docter (who went on to direct Up). While the story is better then it’s predecessor, it wasn’t quite as revolutionary; I give Toy Story 2 three and a half delicious hot schmoes out of four. ***1/2