The Pixar Perspective: #3 - Toy Story 2 (1999)

An ongoing series looking back at the feature films from Pixar Animation Studios

As many people may already be aware, Toy Story 2 was originally designed to be made especially for home viewing, which was all the range with Disney during that period (and would thrive in the mid 2000s). But with the change to theatrical release and an entire change to the film's plot - add to nearly losing the entire film - in a limited time span, the film should have been a complete failure. Other upgraded or troubled productions such as Planes or Men in Black 3 have been critical failures, but Toy Story 2 was, if anything, more successful than its predecessor. However, whilst the film is excellent, it isn't as good as the 1995 classic.

An improvement from the last film is the expanded story for the supporting characters, namely with Andy's other toys. In the original, they were there mainly to accuse Woody (again voiced brilliantly by Tom Hanks) for hitting Buzz (Tim Allen, also brilliant with both Buzzes) out of the window. Here, whilst a handful of them - namely Bo Peep - do stay at home, Buzz brings the likes of Hamm (the ever present John Ratzenberger) and co. in his quest for Woody, which allows the audience to know more about these characters. It allows a lot more gags and makes worthwhile viewing for the Buzz scenes. However, bar Jessie, the newer characters are a bit meh. Bullseye is mute, and only adds humour to a small handful of scenes, whilst Stinky Pete, despite being voiced by the great Kelsey Grammer, is very much sidelined until the third act. 

The humour is still on high levels of comedy, focusing less on the adult jokes from the original and more on the classic film references (Jurassic Park, Star Wars just to name a few). The references succeed by managing to blend in, whilst the original jokes are still laugh inducing. The plot itself is enjoyable, but does lag slightly in the middle as we're left with Woody discovering himself and Buzz and the gang wandering about.

Toy Story 2 is not as good as its predecessor, with new characters sadly lacking full development and a villain who only materialises in the third act. But with its every-lovable cast, high levels of humour and higher-pristine animation, it's still a great film. 9/10.

Next Time: There is nothing more dangerous than a human child...