Excellent movie alone or as a sequel to the original-- A rare thing!

Rating: 10/10 (28 November 1999)

This rare sequel is a great movie unto itself. That is so uncommon with sequels, it should get an Oscar in a new, special category-- just for being as good as the original. Moreover, it intelligently portrayed the characters and the movie's "world" in a truly sequence fashion. That is, in a plausible universe where situations develop and grow, "Toy Story 2" actually shows what one might expect a few months later (from the supposed time of of events in "Toy Story," the first movie).
So often sequels smell like desperate movie business deals-- adding in ridiculous and artificial complications and dangers, and emphasizing "shtick" that the producers think the audience loved about the original. This shtick-- tag lines and quirky mannerisms-- then become fodder for billions of fast-food drink cups, and endless TV commercials that grind every last bit of potential pleasure that might have been gleaned from the movie into the dirt and dust. So often, a sequel only manages to undo the pedigree of the original.
Not so here-- "Toy Story 2" is a great movie, with or without the first; yet it also adds value and enjoyment to the first film. In the future (a "Toy Story 3"?), the two flicks will definitely become a treasured boxed set of DVD's, to be seen and enjoyed together. I gave this a "10."