Bravo

Rating: 9/10 (29 December 1999)

Maybe I'm permanently deluded, but I'm not nearly close to full-brimming from the delight I get from the brilliant mind of John Lasseter and the can-you-top-this crew at Pixar. I went into seeing Toy Story 2 with reserved anticipation, a little uncertain how my eyes would respond to TI's fully digital film-less film projection, and, admittedly, slightly besmirched from the plot-spoiler-laden trailers I was unfortunate enough to see during the last few months. Woody's lost, the gang is sent to rescue him, resplendent with fleeting yet chronological shots of all the major venues of action along the way (the busy street, the toy store, the elevator shaft, etc.). Didn't I already know how the plot would unfold? I mean, this wasn't like reading a Peanuts strip before seeing Citizen Kane (which, I admit, happened to me), but it was damned near close. At the end, the trailer DID reveal quite a bit, probably more than I would have preferred to know. But I didn't care. And that, to me, is the true beauty of this movie.
It's not just the toy gags, the deliberate pot-shots at other films, or the lavishly gorgeous animation and fluidity of character detail and movement, but how everything comes together so tidily and so satisfyingly so. Plus, you could do far worse than the well-cast, and well-meshed voices in giving a pulse and quirky facial english to the beautifully rendered toys. I laughed out loud...many times in fact.
If the first Toy Story sent a message on the importance of friendship, the sequel takes it one step further, exploring our complicated and often tenuous perception on the people and things we love as we grow up. As we mature, we often abandon and discard objects (clearly, the toys are symbols for real people) or friends for inexplicable and often petty reasons. The underlying message: relationships change, people change, but as much as it's important to think hard about who and what you hold dear, sometimes you have to let others go, based on their choices instead of your own. Where I have been reveling in irreverence and maniacally original visions for the past few months, Toy Story 2 was a wonderfully entertaining way to reacquaint me with the cliche of tried-and-true.