No sequelitis for the Pixar mob.

Rating: 9/10 (7 August 2012)

Directed by John Lasseter, Ash Brannon. With the voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Kelsey Grammar. Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Jim Varney and Wayne Knight.
When Woody is stolen by a toy collector, Buzz and the gang set about rescuing him. However, after meeting Jessie the Cowgirl and Stinky Pete the Prospector, Woody learns of something from his past that is now impacting greatly on his new found friends. Decisions will have to be made and someone is going to be hurt......
After the roaring success of the ground breaking Toy Story (1995), news of a sequel was perhaps met with hardly any surprise. What may have surprised many was that it is every bit as good as the first film, even going a bit darker in the theme department, making it a precursor of Pixar movies to come later down the line. Pixar understand
That a golden rule of a good sequel is to not only jack up the action, but also to expand the characters at the same time, and they do this in spades. There's more chases, clashes and all round malarkey, the effects imagery is obviously better four years down the line, while the toy town take on certain other blockbuster movies rewards the film fan considerably. The grim thematics of mortality and abandonment are brilliantly written into the plot, with some of the character interactions worthy of bigger budgeted highbrow dramas, and the set pieces are terrifically mounted, especially for the thrilling last quarter.
It was a tough act to follow, but the Pixar crew have done everything one can reasonably expect with Toy Story 2. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's better than its predecessor, but it certainly is its equal, and that is still the highest of praises. 9/10