Very Funny!

Rating: 9/10 (21 December 2005)

Despite the baby who screamed in back of me for the entire "Toy Story 2" (so much for picking an evening showing to try and avoid that), I adored this follow-up.
The references to "Star Wars" are very very funny (though not a single other person in the audience of very young children with their parents got them).
Randy Newman's music is not as good as the original, except for a beautiful ballad sung by Sarah McLaughin. I did expect more from the Riders in the Sky (I'm a big fan of theirs) involvement of cowboy songs, but then none of the audience got the references to boomer TV shows either as the parents in the audience were way younger than me.
Kelsey Grammar was mis-voice cast as the old prospector; he's best as Sideshow Bob on "The Simpsons;" I don't know why they didn't pick a wily Western voice instead of snobby Eastern voice. Joan Cusack was a live wire as a cowgirl. Wayne Knight was as terrific a villain like in "Jurassic Park."
But the animation was fun and the story quite clever. I figure the theme of playing and loving toys rather than saving them for collectors benefits Disney in the long run, as they encourage people to buy two of each!
The "outtakes" at the end are also funny satires.
(originaly written 1/16/2000)