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Toy Story 2

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Toy Story 2 is an American computer-animated film, the third Pixar feature film, directed by John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich, and Ash Brannon, produced by Pixar Animation Studios, and released by Walt Disney Pictures, and Buena Vista Pictures Distribution on November 24, 1999.

The entire cast from the first film reprise their roles and includes new characters voiced by Joan Cusack, Estelle Harris, Joe Ranft, Jodi Benson, Wayne Knight, and Kelsey Grammer.

Plot[]

The film begins with scenes of Buzz Lightyear on an adventure in outer space, which ends with him being destroyed by the Evil Emperor Zurg. It turns out to be a video game Rex has been playing. He is upset about losing at the game, mostly because of his small arms. In 1997, some time two years after the events of the first film, Andy is an eight-year old boy is preparing to leave for Cowboy Camp with Woody.

Unfortunately, during his playtime (five minutes before departure), Andy accidentally rips Woody's arm, and is unable to take him to camp. After being placed on the shelf, Woody watches Andy leave without him. He later has a nightmare of Andy coming home from camp early and throwing him into a trash can because of his torn arm. The next morning, Woody finds another broken toy, Wheezy the Penguin, and begins to fear he'll soon be thrown away. When Wheezy is set out for a yard sale, Woody manages to rescue him, but ends up in the yard sale himself. He is seen by Al, an obsessive, greedy toy collector and proprietor of Al's Toy Barn. He tries to buy Woody from Andy's mother, but she refuses to sell him. After failing to negotiate a sale, Al creates a distraction and steals Woody, prompting Buzz to take action. He slides down the gutter into the yard sale and sees Al getting into his car after packing Woody in the trunk. Buzz manages to get to the car as Al is driving away, but by the time he opens the trunk, Buzz loses his grip from the car and Al escapes.

However, a clue is presented to Buzz as the car speeds away: a feather from Al's trunk lands in front of him. Buzz informs the bad news to the toys, who try to investigate the culprit. However, Buzz is trying to type the license plate number that he briefly saw on Al's car to track it and whoever he was, and the rest of the toys, including Etch A Sketch, were having problems doing an identity portrait of Al. When Mr. Potato Head gets fed up with Buzz trying to investigate the number with Mr. Spell and irritably tells the others to "leave Buzz to play with his toy," the word "toy" causes Buzz to decipher what the license plate said: "Al's Toy Barn" and consequently order Etch to draw the man in the chicken suit. They later had to try and locate an Al's Toy Barn commercial to trace a map to the shop. Buzz then heads out to Al's Toy Barn with Rex, Potato Head, Hamm, and Slinky Dog to rescue Woody.

Meanwhile, Woody is taken to Al's apartment, where he is greeted by a yodeling cowgirl named Jessie, an affectionate steed named Bullseye, and Stinky Pete the Prospector, an unsold toy still in its original box. They reveal to Woody that he is a vintage Sheriff Woody collectible doll and the star of a forgotten children's TV show, Woody's Roundup. Along the way, Woody discovers that his show has been cancelled due to the launch of SPUTNIK and children finding more interest in space than the Wild West. Now that Al has a Woody doll, he has a complete collection and intends to sell the toys to a museum in Japan. Woody refuses to go to Japan and abandon Andy. Later, Al arrives and rips off Woody's torn arm completely by accident, making Woody attempt to recover his arm and then return to Andy which he fails. Al then gets a repairman who fixes Woody's arm (and paints over the word "Andy" on his boot). After that, a suddenly depressed Jessie tearfully tells Woody of how she once had an owner that loved her, but eventually outgrew and abandoned Jessie at a charity toy drive. The Prospector warns Woody that he faces the same fate as Andy grows up. Woody agrees to go with the "Roundup Gang" to the museum, now believing that all toys eventually get discarded by their owners.

At the same moment, Buzz and his friends search for Al at Al's Toy Barn. After Buzz orders his friends to split and look for Al. He discovers an aisle full of newer Buzz Lightyears and gets in a scuffle with a new Buzz Lightyear, who, like the real Buzz in the first movie, does not realize he is a toy. The real Buzz then ends up being tied up and repackaged in a box and set on the shelf for sell by the Deluded Buzz who then sets off with the other toys for Al's apartment, genuinely believing that he is attempting to rescue a hostage 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 to destroy him. When the toys reach the apartment, Woody tells them he does not want to be rescued and intends to go with his new friends to Japan. After the original Buzz arrives, in an ironic reversal of a scene from the first movie, he reminds Woody "You're a child's plaything. You... are... a toy!". Woody (figuratively and literally) turns his back on Buzz, telling him that he intends to go to museum with his Roundup gang and that Buzz has wasted his time coming over to the rescue. Disappointed that they came a long way for nothing, Buzz's group leaves without Woody, but not before Buzz says a rather upset farewell to Woody, warning him that he will end up spending the rest of his life watching kids from behind glass and never being loved again, and leaves him to contemplate his decision.

However, Woody soon has a change of heart, realizing that Buzz is right, 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 escapes from his box and locks them in the room, desperately wanting to go to the museum, since he was never sold, he will not have Woody mess 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. The second Buzz battles him, and in a showdown mimicking a similar scene from The Empire Strikes Back, Zurg reveals himself to be Buzz's father, shortly before his defeat at Rex's hands. The other toys resume the rescue mission and find an unattended vehicle (a Pizza Planet delivery truck) and drive it to the airport, along with three Aliens. The second Buzz remains behind with Zurg, playing father and son games and the original Buzz bids farewell.

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, even though it still works. However, Buzz and his group come to Woody's rescue, and stick the Prospector in a little girl's backpack so he can "learn the true meaning of playtime". The Prospector is terrified to learn that the little girl likes to draw on all of her toys. Woody then concludes, "Happy trails, Prospector." Jessie, however, 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 on tar, but Jessie catches him. When the plane is on 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.

Just then, Andy returns home from Cowboy Camp. He sees Jessie, Bullseye and the Squeeze Toy Aliens and and decides to add them to his toy collection. However, Buzz becomes a bit smitten with Jessie. Woody's ripped arm is repaired by Andy himself. 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 the Roundup gang and the money he was going to get for the delivery, which is why in the commercial he is selling everything for as Al says in the chicken suit, "For a Buck, Buck, Buck". While Al is crying over his loss of money, Hamm says a somewhat humorous remark about Al and his scheme ("Well, I guess crime doesn't pay."). Mrs. Potato Head adopts the aliens to Mr. Potato Head's dismay, while a fixed Wheezy sings a Frank Sinatra-style version of "You've Got a Friend in Me" as Buzz asks Woody if he is still worried about Andy giving him up. Woody replies that he isn't worried about Andy discarding him anymore and that when it is all over, he will have old Buzz Lightyear to keep him company, for "infinity and beyond".

Characters[]

Characters Introduced[]

Cast[]

Additional voices[]

  • Rachel Davey
  • Carly Schroeder -

Errors[]

  • RC's eyes are blue. However, in this movie, they are colored black.
  • In the beginning of the movie, the Buzz Lightyear video game that Rex is playing appears to be a 3D game and for a gaming platform similar to the Nintendo SNES circa 1990-1997. In real life, Nintendo's first gaming 3D platform was the Nintendo 64 released in 1996.
  • Utility Belt Buzz is seen missing his utility belt for a brief moment (mistakenly making him regular Buzz) right before the toys find Woody in the air vents.
  • When Mrs. Potato Head put Mr. Potato Head's angry eyes in his back compartment the eyes are connected. If the viewer looks in the back while Mrs. Potato Head is holding them, the stems are slanted than straight. This was definitely an animation mistake because Mr. Potato Head's angry eyes are later seen in the movie and are not connected.
  • When the gang reached Al's Toy Barn, Slinky mentioned that it's closed and Mr. Potato Head said, "We're not preschool toys, Slinky. We can read.". But in the first Toy Story, Mr. Potato Head mentioned that he came from Playskool, which is a company that produces toys for preschool-aged children.
  • Towards the end, when the toys are in the dog crate at the airport, Mr. Potato Head's angry eyes no longer look angry after they spill out of his hatch, along with his spare feet.
  • When Buster sniffs Roly Poly Clown and the Toddle Tots fire truck, RC can be seen at the Lincoln log house but when Buster runs over there, RC is not seen.
  • In Toy Story 2, Mr Shark's color has changed from blue to gray.
  • When Hamm turns off the TV, his and Rex's reflections are not seen in the TV.
  • In the first film, Mr. Spell's voice is lower, but in this film, his voice is higher.
  • During the second half of the film, Al wears a green shirt. However, he is seen wearing his red shirt for the time of one shot while he is driving to the airport with the toys chasing him.
  • The inscriptions on the poster behind the Rock-em-Sock-em Robots change between two shots. When Slinky Dog addresses the two toys, the bottom of the poster reads "Big Robots, Little Robots, and more!". When the same poster is seen when Al is talking to Mr. Konishi, this is replaced by a block of text.
  • When Andy sees Jessie and Bullseye for the first time, he acknowledges them as new toys and starts to play with them. However, he never acknowledges the Aliens as new toys, nor even plays with them.
  • When Woody turns Stinky Pete's box round to ask him if he wants to join the gang, the television has already been turned off in the background.
  • The word "Andy" on Woody's boot is on different sides in random parts of the film.
  • Al's Toy Barn was mentioned in a commercial with an aisle of Buzz Lightyear action figures in the first move, and now both are seen again in this film for real. Even though the toys are newer versions.

Production[]

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 99-minute running time. The task was turned over to a secondary production team at Pixar while the primary team focused on the production of A Bug's Life. When Disney executives saw how impressive the in-work imagery for the sequel was, and due to pressure from the main characters' voice actors Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, they decided to convert Toy Story 2 into a theatrical film.

However, many of the creative staff at Pixar were not happy with how the sequel was turning out. John Lasseter, upon returning from European promotion of A Bug's Life, watched the development reels and agreed that it wasn't working. Pixar met with Disney, telling them that the film would have to be redone. Disney, however, disagreed, and noted that Pixar did not have enough time to remake the film before its established release date. Pixar decided that they simply could not allow the film to be released in its existing state, and asked Lasseter to take over the production. Lasseter agreed, and recruited the creative team behind the first film to redevelop the story. Over the course of a weekend, the script was completely rewritten. To meet Disney's deadline, Pixar had to complete the entire film in nine months. Some animators got repetitive strain injuries rushing to complete the film, which taught the Pixar managers to arrange breaks between each project from then on.

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 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 Frank Wells, concluding in Pixar's 2004 announcement that it would not extend its deal with Disney and would instead seek other distribution partners. The problems were eventually resolved following Eisner's departure from Disney, with new CEO Bob Iger negotiating Disney's purchase of Pixar in 2000.

Music[]

Randy Newman wrote two new songs for Toy Story 2 as well as the complete original score:

  • "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 another Disney animated film Tarzan.
  • "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 (Tom 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).

Release[]

Theatrical Release[]

Toy Story 2 opened over the November 13, 1999, and was Hugly Sucessful.

Video games[]

Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue,a video game for the PC, PlayStation, Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast was released. The game featured original cast voices and clips from the film as introductions to levels. Once earned, these clips could be viewed at the player's discretion. Another game was released for the Game Boy Color.

Sequel[]

A sequel Toy Story 3 was released on June 18, 2010. Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, John Raztenberger, Estelle Harris, and Jeff Pigeon Reprise their roles as Woody the Cowboy, Buzz Lightyear, Jessie the Cowgirl, Mr. Potato Head, Hamm the Piggy Bank, Mrs. Potato Head, and The Aliens Also Annie Potts did reprise their roles as Bo Peep And Joe Ranft who voiced Wheezy and with Pinto Colvig voiced Lenny love along with Jim Varney as Slinky Dog. In January 1, 2000 before TS3 was released. He is voiced by Blake Clark.

Reception[]

Box Office[]

Toy Story 2 came in at #1 to a three-day tally of $57,388,839 from 3,236 theaters averaging $17,734 per theater over three days, making $80,102,784 since its Wednesday launch, and staying at #1 for the next two weekends. It eventually made $245,852,179 domestically and $239,163,000 overseas for a total worldwide gross of $485,015,179, becoming the third highest grossing film of 1999, and far surpassing the original, and in fact, every other animated film to that date except for Fantasia, even though both were later eclipsed by the CGI films.

Reviews[]

Toy Story 2 received universal acclaim. Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 100% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 147 reviews, with an average score of 8.6/10. The critical consensus is: Entertaining characters and eye-popping animation make this sequel an instant classic. Toy Story, Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3 are all Pixar's highest-rated films to date. It is currently #1 on Rotten Tomatoes' list of best rated films. It currently holds a 100% approval from critics, and 92% from the community, while the original holds a 96% community rating and the best rated animated film. The film also holds an 88 out of 100 on Metacritic. It joins the rare number of sequels judged to be "as good as or better than the original." Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a half stars out of four and said in his print review "I forgot something about toys a long time ago, and Toy Story 2 reminded me." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said "Toy Story 2 may not have the most original title, but everything else about it is, well, mint in the box." Entertainment Weekly said "It's a great, IQ-flattering entertainment both wonderful and wise."

Transcript

View the episode's transcript here.

Gallery

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Click to view the gallery for Toy Story 2.

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