Toy Story 2
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| Toy Story 2 | |
|---|---|
 Toy Story 2 movie poster |
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| Directed by | John Lasseter Lee Unkrich (co-director) Ash Brannon (co-director) |
| Produced by | Karen Robert Jackson Helene Plotkin |
| Written by | John Lasseter Peter Docter Ash Brannon Andrew Stanton |
| 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(s) | November 19, 1999 |
| Running time | 92 min |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $90,000,000 (estimated) |
| Gross revenue | Domestic: $245,852,179 Worldwide: $485,015,179 |
| Preceded by | Toy Story (1995) |
| Followed by | Toy Story 3 (2010) |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
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 106 reviews.
Contents |
[edit] Voice cast
[edit] 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 Toy Story, presumably the following summer, 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. As the other toys resume the rescue mission, the second Buzz remains behind with Zurg, playing father and son games.
Al takes the toys to the airport, where Buzz and his group manage to free Woody and Bullseye from the suitcase. The Prospector has other plans, though, re-tearing 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 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.").
[edit] 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 beautifully poignant 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.
- "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).
[edit] 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)
[edit] 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 very very well by critics, gaining a rare 100% rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
[edit] Crew
| Crew Position | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | John Lasseter |
| Co-Directed by | Ash Brannon Lee Unkrich |
| Produced by | Helene Plotkin Karen Robert Jackson |
| Executive Producer | Sarah McArthur |
| Original Story by | John Lasseter Pete Docter Ash Brannon Andrew Stanton |
| Screenplay by | Andrew Stanton Rita Hsiao Doug Chamberlin & Chris Webb |
| Music by | Randy Newman |
| Story Supervisor | Joe Ranft Dan Jeup |
| Film Editors | Edie Bleiman David Ian Salter Lee Unkrich |
| Supervising Technical Director | Galyn Susman |
| Director of Photography | Sharon Calahan |
| Production Designer | William Cone Jim Pearson |
| Supervising Animator | Glenn McQueen |
| Character Designer | Ash Brannon Randy Berrett Colin Brady Jill Culton Dan Lee Bud Luckey Nathaniel McLaughlin Ken Mitchroney Jim Pearson |
| Associate Technical Directors Modeling Supervisor Layout Supervisors Set Dressing Supervisor Shading Supervisor Lighting Supervisor Rendering Supervisor |
Oren Jacob Larry Aupperle Eben Ostby Rikki Cleland-Hura Ewan Johnson David Eisenmann Brad West Jean-Claude Kalache Don Schreiter |
| Sound Designer | Gary Rydstrom |
| Production Manager | Graham Walters |
[edit] 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.
[edit] Trailers
One Pixar tradition is to create trailers for their films that do not contain footage from the released film. Trailers for this film include:
- 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.
[edit] See also
- Toy Story
- Toy Story 3
- A113
- Geri's Game - featuring Geri, the toy cleaner in Toy Story 2
[edit] External links
- Disney's official Toy Story 2 site
- Toy Story 2 at the Internet Movie Database
- Toy Story 2 at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- Toy Story 2 at Rotten Tomatoes
- Toy Story 2 at Metacritic
- Toy Story 2 at Box Office Mojo
- Pixar Fan Forum
Feature Films: Toy Story (1995) • A Bug's Life (1998) • Toy Story 2 (1999) • Monsters, Inc. (2001) • Finding Nemo (2003) • The Incredibles (2004) • Cars (2006) • Ratatouille (2007) • WALL-E (2008) • Toy Story 3 (2010)
Short Films: Luxo Jr. (1986) • Red's Dream (1987) • Tin Toy (1988) • Knick Knack (1989) • Geri's Game (1997) • For the Birds (2000) • Mike's New Car (2002) • Boundin' (2003) • Jack-Jack Attack (2005) • One Man Band (2005) • Mater and the Ghostlight (2006) • Lifted (2006)
People: John Lasseter • Glenn McQueen • Joe Ranft • Brad Bird • Andrew Stanton • Pete Docter • Lee Unkrich • Jan Pinkava • John Ratzenberger • Ed Catmull • Steve Jobs
See also: The Adventures of André and Wally B. • List of Disney theatrical animated features
| Preceded by Shakespeare in Love |
Golden Globe: Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy 1999 |
Succeeded by Almost Famous |
