Toys with character, and so much more...

Rating: 10/10 (20 February 2001)

I am a huge fan of the first Toy Story, I thought that movie was just brilliant, although there was something lacking, I don't know what that was, but there was something not quite complete about it. That's where the next installment comes in.
This next Story is mostly about Woody. When Andy's mother decides to get rid of Woody because his arm is "broken", he is picked up by a toy collector who recognizes him as a collector's item from way back. Woody is "kidnapped" by the collector and the rest of the toys decide to undertake an expedition to rescue him. Fairly straightforward up until now.
But that's where the movie starts to pick up the pace and with rollercoaster speed the story unfolds and with it the characters blossom. It felt like watching The Empire Strikes Back all over again after having loved Star Wars so much. The characters all seems to become these living figures with problems and worries. Woody has to come to terms with his past, Buzz has to battle himself and find out that there are loads and loads more like him, Mr. Potato Head is married now, Rex has his quest with the Buzz Lightyear video game ("My claws are too short!!!") etc etc. Even the aliens are coming to reprise their role. Too much to tell here.
But the most wonderful thing in part two are the additions. Woody's forgotten rooting-tooting wild west gang is hilarious. Jessie, in particular, is fantastic. With the voice of Joan Cusack as her backbone she becomes the one to make Woody realize that without him the gang is doomed to spent another lifetime "in storage". Her song, written by Randy Newman and sung by Sarah McLaughlin, about her former owner losing interest in her was heart-breaking. Woody's horse is the new comic-relief, and plays this part to excellence. Stinky Pete (with the voice of Kelsey "Frasier" Grammer) is wonderful in his own devious kind of way. Another "addition" to the story is Zurg, already glimpsed in the original movie in text, now he becomes "flesh and blood" and has a terrible secret to reveal to one of the other Buzzes. Wayne Knight (Newman from Seinfeld) gives just the right frantic toy-collector nerdy feel to Al, owner of the toyshop and abductor of Woody to complete his collection of Woody's gang to sell them to someone in Japan. All in all a lot of new wonderful characters that you can feast your eyes on.
The worst thing that happened to me while watching this movie was that the performances were so convincing, by the gang in particular, that I started to feel guilty about myself having toys (Star Wars) still inside the packaging. A horrible feeling crept over me, and I almost wanted to go home and rip open all the packaging and set the toys free from storage. I managed to restrain myself just in time not to ruin my valuable collection (horrible me).
I absolutely love and adore this movie, I want everybody who has a shred of human decency and love in their body to go out and rent this gem (although it is mandatory that you watch the first to set up the characters). A must see for everybody.
10/10
PS. Please stay for the credits, these are hilarious. To think Pixar went out of their way to make bloopers is fantastic (or buy the DVD for full screen bloopers).