Review: Toy Story 2 (1999)

'You never forget kids like Emily, or Andy, but they forget you.'

★★★★

Here we have, yet again, another great sequel. "Toy Story 2" is considered by many to be a great Disney-Pixar film, and a great sequel, as I mentioned earlier. As an adult, you tend to forget about your toys, unless you're a collecter and keep the toys of a certain film series you enjoy or waiting to pass down your original toys to your future kids. Regardless, this film can remind even the oldest of people what toys really are and what it refers to. It refers to a child's feelings of affection, pity, and remorse toward a cherished object. A doll, action figure, or even a Pokemon are as much yours as a pet. It all depends on you. It misses you. It cannot do anything on its own. It needs you and is distressed when you are not present.

To children, the film will simply be another source of fun. It may also continue to instill in children the worry that their toys will come to life when they are not present. Any new film, like "Toy Story 2," will get kids excited about new toys that their parents may or may not buy for them. I'm sorry to all the parents who have to deal with their crying children whenever you tell them "no." I may have been like that at one point. But hey, at least we can all laugh about it now and enjoy this wonder film that turns 25 this year. Just like Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace.

Woody, like in the previous film, is central to the story. But in this picture, he's no longer a jerk; he's become good friends with Buzz. However, they are now faced with a new challenge. Andy has gone to "Cowboy Camp" by himself. He had intended to take Woody with him, but he accidently tore his arm. His mother offered repairing him along the road, but Andy decided it wasn't worth it. He was worried he would break Woody even more. While Andy was gone, a toy collector and businessman noticed Woody and expressed an interest in purchasing it. Andy's mother disagrees, so a man named Al kidnap Woody, and it is Buzz's responsibility to save him. It turns out that Al, if "Al's Toy Barn" was a huge fan of "Woody's Roundup Gang," an old TV show that got cancelled before it's final episode. Woody is a rare doll, and it seems like he was the only one ever produced. Woody also meets his old friends, that were part of the show. A cowgirl named, Jessie, a horse named Bullseye, and another doll, "Stinky Pete." All three tell Woody about his past and what Al plans to do with all of them. This puts Woody at a crossroads. He can either stay and go to Japan to be put in a museum, or return home to Andy.

The best part of this movie is the morals. Woody originally decided to go to Japan to be behind glass for the rest of his life. Buzz contends that being loved for the duration of a childhood is preferable to being adored forever behind glass in a museum. This is what Woody taught Buzz in the first film. It's great to see how much Buzz has grown since the last film. This arguement was able to convince Jessie and Bullseye. Jessie believed that kids will forget their toys after some point, which is why she was on board to be behind glass. Stinky Pete, on the other hand, is just a nasty doll. He refuses to believe anything Buzz says, or believe the idea of being loved by a child. Probably because he hasn't been outside his box since he was made by the toy company.

The film, directed by John Lasseter, the creator of the original "Toy Story," returns to the delightful three-dimensional feel of Pixar's computer-generated animation. The story of this picture is almost as dramatic as Woody's fate: it was originally planned as a low-budget direct-to-video release, but the early scenes performed so brilliantly that Pixar retrenched and began afresh with a theatrical movie. In other words, this isn't a made-for-video version that they decided to release in theaters, but rather a version designed from the start to be theatrical. This is significant since it indicates that the animation contained more information and intricacy.

I love this movie. Not only is it a great kids film, but it's a great film for adults as well because it's really about something; it's about friendship, loyalty, and about a parent being able to let go. It's a great adult story. It's overall, a great family film. It's hard to believe that lighting can be struck twice in a bottle. "Toy Story 2" is just as enjoyable as it's predecessor. The perfect amount of humor, drama, action, and timeless lines are all present. It's in my best of 1999 list, and my list of best sequels ever made. It's a film worth watching if you've only seen the first.