Toy Story 2
USA 1999
Reviewed by Kim Newman
Synopsis
Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.
The Tri-County Area, the US, the present. When his shoulder is injured, the cowboy toy Woody is left behind when his young owner Andy goes off to cowboy camp. While rescuing Wheezy the Penguin from a yard sale, Woody is spotted and stolen by Al, a toy-store manager. Woody is actually a merchandising tie-in for Woody's Roundup, a television puppet show from the 50s. He will complete a set along with Jessie the cowgirl, Bullseye the horse and the still-boxed Stinky Pete the Prospector, all of whom Al wants to sell for a fortune to a Japanese toy museum.
Buzz Lightyear, another of Andy's toys, organises a rescue party which tracks Al to his store. There Buzz is boxed up and replaced by a new Buzz Lightyear model. Woody is persuaded by Jessie, who was donated to charity when her owner hit puberty, to stay with the collection. But when the first Buzz and rescuers find him, they convince Woody to return to Andy. Stinky Pete, however, is determined to go to the museum and sabotages the rescue. The second Buzz stays behind to forge a relationship with his father. The toys follow Al to the airport and spring the others during baggage handling. Stinky Pete is tucked into the rucksack of a little girl, while Woody saves Jessie from the plane's cargo hold with Buzz and Bullseye's help. Andy returns and Jessie and Bullseye are adopted into his toy family.
Review
Although a triumph of cutting-edge technology, demonstrating fully the possibilities of computer animation, Toy Story has become such a much-loved film because of its profound, almost old-fashioned humanity. Woody, Buzz and the toy gang, down to the merest walk-on sight gag, are alive in the way all great cartoon creatures are alive (in no small part thanks to canny voice casting that exactly matches the character design). Like this sequel, the first film has an extremely sophisticated, surprisingly melancholy understanding of the importance, resonance and tragically brief shelf-life of the average plaything.
The follow-up may be inevitably less fresh and misses the freakish presence of Sid's mutant toys (the three-eyed grab-machine aliens from the first film, however, have a nice cameo), but it makes a few minor, effective upgrades. Randy Newman's musical numbers, for example, are integrated so as to serve the plot points. Toy Story 2 focuses even more tightly than the first film on the plight of creatures who are only 'alive' so long as they can retain the attention of their quixotic owners. Their in-built obsolescence is ultimately as poignant as the tiny lifespans of the Blade Runner replicants.
So while the plot sets up Woody's rescue from the loathsome Al, affording the opportunity for all manner of extravagant action scenes - a road-crossing set-piece, with the toys hiding under traffic cones and achieving their end while causing human-level chaos they don't notice, and a splendid, protracted peril ride through the airport at the finale - the script takes care to show the downside of toy life. Jessie, for instance, sings about the loss of her owner's love, signified by the junking of cowgirl ephemera in favour of make-up and pop records. The toy villain, one of those sad but valuable items who remains pristine in his original 50s box, yearns for a life in a museum, but Woody and the film finally recognise that toys have no real value, no life, unless they are played with.
Of course, any film with this message that comes (albeit at one remove) from Walt Disney and with an attendant merchandising blitz, has to cope with an ironic bite. Those in the know, especially exasperated parents, will love the cynical gags about the toy business: Rex the dinosaur discovers a Buzz Lightyear video game can't be won without the purchase of a tie-in manual; in the store Tour Guide Barbie explains an aisle-load of Buzz figures by noting that "in 1995, short-sighted retailers understocked." Barbie's licensees refused to allow her to appear in the original, which means she comes in for some hilarious joshing here and generally comes off as an airhead next to the spunkier Bo Peep and Jessie.
Al, the discount-toy entrepreneur, comes in for a lot of criticism, but the film takes advantage of his obsessions to fill in the backgrounds of its own inventions. Video games and the Star Wars franchise are parodied as the film delves into the relationship between Buzz and Zurg, while it also perfectly evokes the ramshackle charm - represented by Howdy Doody in the US and Muffin the Mule here - of vintage 50s puppet television, with an attendant panoply of lunch-boxes, toy gramophones, cereal promotions ("Cowboy Crunchies") and snake-in-the-boot jack-in-the-boxes. Like The Iron Giant, the film revisits the 50s for much of its inspiration, rediscovering in the era the dawn of marketing. But a full measure of Toy Story 2's success can be gauged by its undeniable appeal for children who have never seen a Western television show or played with a cowboy toy.
Credits
- Director
- John Lasseter
- Producers
- Helene Plotkin
- Karen Robert Jackson
- Screenplay
- Andrew Stanton
- Rita Hsiao
- Doug Chamberlin
- Chris Webb
- Original Story
- John Lasseter
- Pete Docter
- Ash Brannon
- Andrew Stanton
- Director of Photography
- Sharon Calahan
- Editors
- Edie Bleiman
- David Ian Salter
- Lee Unkrich
- Production Designers
- William Cone
- Jim Pearson
- Music
- Randy Newman
- ©Disney Enterprises Inc/Pixar Animation Studios
- Production Companies
- Walt Disney Pictures presents a Pixar Animation Studios film
- Executive Producer
- Sarah McArthur
- Production Office Co-ordinator
- A.J. Riebli
- Director of Computer Operations
- Greg Brandeau
- Production Manager
- Graham Walters
- Post-production Supervisor
- Paul Cichocki
- Senior Manager of Editorial/Post-production
- Bill Kinder
- Casting
- Ruth Lambert
- Mary Hidalgo
- Additional ADR Voice:
- Mickie McGowan
- Story Supervisors
- Dan Jeup
- Joe Ranft
Additional Story Material- Dan Jeup
- Jeff Pidgeon
- Joe Ranft
- Lee Unkrich
- Jim Capobianco
- Colin Brady
- Jimmy Hayward
- Steve Boyett
- Elias Davis
- David Pollock
- David Reynolds
- Story Artists
- Jim Capobianco
- David Fulp
- Matthew Luhn
- Ken Mitchroney
- Max Brace
- Jill Culton
- Rob Gibbs
- Jason Katz
- Bud Luckey
- Ricky Nierva
- Sanjay Patel
- Bob Peterson
- Jeff Pidgeon
- Jan Pinkava
- Bobby Podesta
- Nathan Stanton
- Mark A. Walsh
- Additional Storyboarding
- Don Dougherty
- Davey Crockett Feiten
- Stephen Gregory
- Kirk Hanson
- Steven Hunter
- Charles Keagle
- Jorgen Klubien
- Angus MacLane
- Max Martinez
- Jon Mead
- Floyd Norman
- Karen Prell
- John Ramirez
- Tasha Wedeen
- Story Department Managers
- Renee Jensen
Susan E. Levin- Story Department Co-ordinator
- Lee Cruikshank
- Camera Department Manager
- Perrin Cutting
- Camera Supervisor
- Louis Rivera
- Camera
- Software/Engineering
- John Hee
- Soo Lee
- Matthew Martin
- Drew TTV Rogge
- Camera Technicians
- Don Conway
- Jeff Wan
- Lighting Department Managers
- Terry McQueen
- Molly Naughton
- Lighting Department Co-ordinator
- Tom Kim
- Master Lighting
- Lauren Alpert
- Cho Jun Han
- Cynthia Dueltgen
- Danielle Feinberg
- Deborah R. Fowler
- Christian Hoffman
- Jesse Hollander
- Rob Jensen
- Ann Lacaze
- Ken Lao
- Joyce Powell
- Kimberly White
- Lighting Supervisor
- Jean-Claude Kalache
- Modelling/Shading Co-ordinators
- Mark Nielsen
- Vanessa Ross
- Modelling Artists
- Mark Adams
- Paul Aichele
- Lauren Alpert
- Stephanie Andrews
- James Bancroft
- Lawrence D. Cutler
- Ruieta DaSilva
- Cynthia Dueltgen
- Damir Frkovic
- Christian Hoffman
- Rob Jensen
- Stephen King
- Michael Krummhoefener
- Kelly O'Connell
- Eileen O'Neill
- Guido Quaroni
- Dale Ruffolo
- Don Schreiter
- Gary Schultz
- Skeggi Thormar
- Patrick Wilson
Modelling Supervisor- Eben Ostby
- CG Painters
- Randy Berrett
- Robin Cooper
- Yvonne Herbst
- Glenn Kim
- Laura Phillips
- Supervising Animator
- Glenn McQueen
- Directing Animators
- Kyle Balda
- Dylan Brown
- Animation Department Co-ordinator
- David Orecklin
- Animation Managers
- Jenny Head
- Kori Rae
- Animators
- Nicolas Alan Barillaro
- Stephen Barnes
- Bobby Beck
- Michael Berenstein
- Ash Brannon
- Jennifer Cha
- Scott Clark
- Brett Coderre
- Melanie Cordan
- Tim Crawfurd
- David Devan
- Mark Farquhar
- Ike Feldman
- Andrew Gordon
- Stephen Gregory
- Jimmy Hayward
- Tim Hittle
- Steven Hunter
- Ethan Hurd
- John Kahrs
- Nancy Kato
- Patty Kihm
- Karen Kiser
- Shawn Krause
- Bob Koch
- Peter Lepeniotis
- Wendell Lee
- Angus MacLane
- Dan Mason
- Jon Mead
- Billy Merritt
- Karyn Metlen
- Valerie Mih
- James Ford Murphy
- Peter Nash
- Mark Oftedal
- Michael Parks
- Bret Parker
- Sanjay Patel
- Bobby Podesta
- Jeff Pratt
- Karen Prell
- Brett Pulliam
- Rich Quade
- Mike Quinn
- Roger Rose
- Robert H. Russ
- Gini Cruz Santos
- Anthony Scott
- Alan Sperling
- Ross Stevenson
- Doug Sheppeck
- Doug Sweetland
- David Tart
- Warren Trezevant
- Mark A. Walsh
- Tasha Wedeen
- Adam Wood
- Christina Yim
- Kureha Yokoo
- Fix Animators
- Paul Mendoza
- Andrea Schultz
- Animation Fix Co-ordinator
- Jenni Tsoi
- Animation Software Development
- Director:
- Darwyn Peachey
- Team Leaders:
- Tony DeRose
- Kurt Fleischer
- Peter Nye
- Arun Rao
- Wayne Wooten
- Software Engineers:
- John Alex
- Brad Andalman
- David Baraff
- Ronen Barzel
- Malcolm Blanchard
- Mike Cancilla
- Bena Currin
- Thomas Hahn
- Kitt Hirasaki
- Jisup Hong
- Michael B. Johnson
- Steve Johnson
- Michael Kass
- Chris King
- Eric Lebel
- Bruce Perens
- Chris Perry
- John Singh Pottebaum
- Sudeep Rangaswamy
- Drew TTV Rogge
- Michael Shantzis
- Heidi Stettner
- Robert W. Sumner
- Dirk Van Gelder
- Karon Weber
- Andy Witkin
- Audrey Wong
- Rendering Software Development
- Director:
- Anthony A. Apodaca
- Software Engineers:
- Phil Beffrey
- Sam 'Penguin' Black
- Loren Carpenter
- Rob Cook
- Tom Duff
- Larry Gritz
- David Laur
- Dan Lyke
- Shaun Oborn
- Matt Pharr
- Tien Truong
- Mark Vandewettering
- Eric Veach
- Rendering Supervisor
- Don Schreiter
- Effects Department Manager
- Kelly T. Peters
- Effects Technical Artists
- John B. Anderson
- Lawrence D. Cutler
- Lisa Forssell
- Michael Fu
- Leo Hourvitz
- Jeffrey Jay
- Ewan Johnson
- Stephen King
- Bill Polson
- Guido Quaroni
- Brad Winemiller
- Additional Effects
- David Baraff
- Andrew Kinney
- Brian M. Rosen
- Eliot Smyrl
- Andy Witkin
- Layout Supervisors
- Rikki Cleland-Hura
- Ewan Johnson
- Layout Department Manager
- Molly Naughton
- Layout Department Co-ordinator
- Heather Field
- Sequence Lead
- Shawn Brennan
- Jeremy Lasky
- Patrick Lin
- Gregg Olsson
- Senior Layout Artist
- Craig Good
- Layout Artists
- Robert Anderson
- Wade Childress
- Roman Figun
- Craig McGillivray
- Stephen Moros
- Mark Sanford
- Adam Schnitzer
- Derek Williams
- Additional Layout
- Stephanie Andrews
- Christine Z. Chang
- Kevin Edwards
- Ross Stevenson
- Matt Uhry
- Layout/Set Dressing TD
- Brad Winemiller
- Daniel Campbell
- Second Editor
- Robert Grahamjones
- Additional Editing
- James Austin Stewart
- Ken Schretzmann
- Richard Halsey
- Mildred Iatrou
- Editorial Co-ordinator
- Anne Pia
- Editorial Department Manager
- Lindsey Collins
- Art Department Co-ordinator
- Jen Kinavey
- Art Department Manager
- Matt White
- Shading Supervisor
- Brad West
- Art Director - Shading
- Bryn Imagire
- Shading Artists
- John B. Anderson
- David Batte
- Kirk Bowers
- Kevin Edwards
- Mark Fontana
- Michael Fu
- Larry Gritz
- Ben Jordan
- Michael R. King
- Stephen King
- Andrew Kinney
- Ana Lacaze
- Daniel McCoy
- Eileen O'Neill
- Keith Olenick
- John Singh Pottebaum
- Mitch Prater
- Guido Quaroni
- Brian M. Rosen
- Steve Upstill
- David Valdez
- John Warren
- Additional Modelling/Shading
- Michael Fong
- Patrick James
- Steve May
- Steve McGrath
- Tim Milliron
- Cynthia 'Kiki' Pettit
- James Rose
- Human Team Lead TD
- Lisa Forssell
- Mitch Prater
- Human Modelling/Shading Team
- Jason Bickerstaff
- Lawrence D. Cutler
- Mark Fontana
- Ben Jordan
- Leo Hourvitz
- Sonoko Konishi
- Michael Krummhoefener
- Guido Quaroni
- John Warren
- Kimberly White
- Adam Woodbury
- Sketch Artists
- Randy Berrett
- Mark Holmes
- Dan Lee
- Nathaniel McLaughlin
- Paul Mica
- Laura Phillips
- Jeff Sangalli
- Gary Schultz
- Bud Thon
- Set Dressing Supervisor
- David Eisenmann
- Sculptures
- Norm DeCarlo
- Jerome Ranft
- New Character Designs
- Randy Berrett
- Ash Brannon
- Colin Brady
- Jill Culton
- Dan Lee
- Bud Luckey
- Nathaniel McLaughlin
- Ken Mitchroney
- Jim Pearson
- Visual Development
- Sean Hargreaves
- Dave Gordon
- Harley Jessup
- Title Design
- Susan Bradley
- Optical Titles
- Buena Vista Imaging
- Orchestrations
- Jonathan Sacks
- Ira Hearshen
- Randy Newman
- Additional Arrangements
- Bruno Coon
- Executive Music Producer
- Chris Montan
- Music Production Director
- Andrew Page
- Music Production Manager
- Tom MacDougall
- Music Production Co-ordinator
- Deniece LaRocca
- Supervising Music Editor
- Bruno Coon
- Music Editor
- Lisa Jaime
- Temp Music Editors
- David Slusser
- Barney Jones
- Music Recordist/Mixer
- Frank Wolf
- Additional Recording
- Greg Reely
- Soundtrack
- "Woody's Roundup" Theme Song by Randy Newman, performed by Riders in the Sky; "When She Loved Me" by Randy Newman, performed by Sarah McLachlan; "You've Got a Friend in Me" by Randy Newman, performed by (1 - 'Wheezy's Version') Robert Goulet, (2 - instrumental version) Tom Scott
- Sound Design
- Gary Rydstrom
- Sound Supervisors
- Gary Rydstrom
- Tom Myers
- Additional Dialogue Recording
- Bob Baron
- Bill Higley
- John McGleenan
- Brian Reed
- Re-recording Mixers
- Gary Rydstrom
- Gary Summers
- Original Dialogue Mixer
- Doc Kane
- Re-recordist
- Ronald G. Roumas
- Mix Technicians
- Jurgen Scharpf
- Juan Peralta
- Supervising Sound Editor
- Michael Silvers
- Temp Sound Editor
- Rona Michele
- Sound Effects Editors
- Teresa Eckton
- Shannon Mills
- Foley
- Artists:
- Dennie Thorpe
- Jana Vance
- Recordist:
- Frank 'Pepe' Merel
- Mixer:
- Tony Eckert
- Editors:
- Mary Helen Leasman
- Susan Sanford
- Supervising Technical Director
- Galyn Susman
- Technical Directors
- Associates:
- Oren Jacob
- Larry Aupperle
- Voice Cast
- Tom Hanks
- Woody
- Tim Allen
- Buzz Lightyear
- Joan Cusack
- Jessie
- Kelsey Grammer
- Stinky Pete the Prospector
- Don Rickles
- Mr Potato Head
- Jim Varney
- Slinky Dog
- Wallace Shawn
- Rex
- John Ratzenberger
- Hamm
- Annie Potts
- Bo Peep
- Wayne Knight
- Al McWhiggin
- John Morris
- Andy
- Laurie Metcalf
- Andy's mom
- Estelle Harris
- Mrs Potato Head
- R. Lee Ermey
- Sarge
- Jodi Benson
- Barbie
- Jonathan Harris
- The Cleaner
- Joe Ranft
- Wheezy
- Andrew Stanton
- Emperor Zurg
- Jeff Pidgeon
- aliens
- Jack Angel
- Bob Bergen
- Mary Kay Bergman
- Sheryl Bernstein
- Rodger Bumpass
- Corey Burton
- Rachel Davey
- Debi Derryberry
- Jessica Evans
- Bill Farmer
- Pat Fraley
- Jess Harnell
- John Lasseter
- Nicolette Little
- Sherry Lynn
- Mickie McGowan
- Andi Peters
- Jeff Pidgeon
- Phil Proctor
- Jan Rabson
- Carly Schroeder
- Madylin Sweeten
- Hannah Unkrich
- Lee Unkrich
- additional voices
- Certificate
- U
- Distributor
- Buena Vista International (UK)
- 8,527 feet
- 94 minutes 45 seconds
- Dolby digital surrounf EX/Digital DTS sound/SDDS
- In Colour
- Prints by
- Technicolor