Toy Story 2
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| Toy Story 2 | |
|---|---|
| Image:Movie poster toy story 2.jpg Toy Story 2 movie poster | |
| Directed by | John Lasseter Ash Brannon Lee Unkrich |
| Produced by | Karen Robert Jackson John Lasseter Helene Plotkin |
| Written by | Story: John Lasseter Pete Docter Ash Brannon Andrew Stanton Screenplay: Andrew Stanton Rita Hsiao Doug Chamberlain Chris Webb |
| Starring | Tom Hanks Tim Allen Joan Cusack Kelsey Grammer Don Rickles Wallace Shawn Jim Varney John Ratzenberger Wayne Knight |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Distribution |
| Release date(s) | November 24, 1999 |
| Running time | 92 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $90 million |
| Gross revenue | Domestic: $245,852,179 Worldwide: $485,015,179 |
| Preceded by | Toy Story |
| Followed by | Toy Story 3 |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Toy Story 2 is an Academy-Award nominated CGI animation film, the sequel to Toy Story, and the third Disney / Pixar feature film, which featured the adventures of a group of toys that come to life when humans are not around to see them. Like the first film, Toy Story 2 was produced by Pixar Animation Studios, directed by John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich and Ash Brannon, and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution in the United States on November 24, 1999, in Australia on December 2, 1999 and the United Kingdom on 11 February 2000.
The movie keeps most of the original characters and voices from the first movie, including Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn and John Ratzenberger. They are joined by new characters voiced by Joan Cusack, Kelsey Grammer, Wayne Knight and Estelle Harris.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The movie begins with scenes of a Buzz Lightyear adventure, which turns out to be a video game Rex is playing. The game ends with him being defeated by Evil Emperor Zurg, much to Rex's dismay. Some time after the events of the first Toy Story, presumably about three months later, Andy is preparing to leave for Cowboy Camp with Woody.
While playing with him and Buzz, Andy accidentally rips Woody's arm, leaving him unable to take his doll to the camp. Woody is placed on a shelf, where he finds the toy penguin Wheezy, who has a broken squeaker and is about to be thrown away. Woody falls into a nightmare where Andy abandons him, only to wake up and discover that Andy's family is holding a yard sale and Wheezy ends up being sent off to be sold. Woody manages to rescue him, but ends up in the yard sale himself. He is seen by Al McWiggin, an obsessive toy collector who has been searching for Woody. Al tries to buy Woody from Andy's mother, but she refuses to sell him. After failing to negotiate a sale, Al creates a distraction and steals Woody, causing Buzz to take action. He slides down the gutter into the yard sale, and sees Al getting into his car after packing Woody in the trunk. Buzz managed to get to the car as Al's is driving away, but by the time he opened the trunk, Buzz loses his grip from the car and Al escapes. However, Buzz recognizes several clues as the car speeds away: a feather from Al's trunk lands in front of him, and the license plate on Al's car. When Buzz informs the bad news to the toys, he encourages the other toys to launch a rescue mission using the clue as a basis for their search. Buzz, recalling a television advertisement for "Al's Toy Barn", discovers the mascot and the number plate to be those of Al himself, and set off to Al's Toy Barn to search for Woody
Woody is taken to Al's apartment, where he is greeted by a yodeling cowgirl named Jessie, an affectionate steed named Bullseye, and Stinky Pete the Prospector (an unsold toy still in its original box). They reveal to Woody that he is a vintage "Sheriff Woody" collectible doll and the star of a forgotten children's TV show, Woody's Roundup. He also learns that Woody was the final piece missing in Al's collection of Woody's Roundup merchandise, which Al intends to sell to a museum in Japan. Woody refuses to go to Japan and abandon Andy. A suddenly depressed Jessie tearfully tells Woody of how she once had an owner that loved her, but eventually outgrew and abandoned Jessie at a charity toy drive. Pete warns Woody that he faces the same fate as Andy ages. Woody agrees to go with the "Roundup Gang" to the museum.
Buzz and the gang end up in the Toy Barn itself. There Buzz encounters a "next-generation" Buzz Lightyear toy, who, like Buzz in the first movie, doesn't realize he's a toy and believes that he is still out to hunt down his arch enemy, the evil Emperor Zurg. Andy's Buzz is shut up in a box to await a "court-martial". The new Buzz sets off with the other toys for Al's apartment, the toys believing that he is the real Buzz and he himself genuinely believing that he is attempting to rescue a hostage from Zurg. The original Buzz frees himself and follows them to the apartment, but while exiting the store, he accidentally frees an Emperor Zurg toy, who follows to destroy him.
When they reach the apartment it is already the night in which Al is set to fly off to Japan with the merchandise. Woody tells them he doesn't want to be rescued and intends to go with his new friends to Japan, since he's now a "collector's item". In an ironic reversal of a scene from the first movie, Andy's Buzz reminds him "you are a child's plaything... you are a toy!" Woody (figuratively and literally) turns his back on Buzz, and Buzz's group leaves without him.
However, Woody notices a video of an old Woody's Roundup live show in which Woody plays the film's "You've Got A Friend In Me" theme song. Realizing that he will be far happier watching Andy grow up than just be stuck in a museum, Woody has a change of heart and, after calling Buzz and the group back, invites the "Roundup Gang" to come home with him. Jessie and Bullseye are willing, but the Prospector - still holding a grudge against the "space toys" like Buzz who drove cowboy toys like them out of fashion - locks them in the room, saying that the museum trip is his first chance (since he was never sold) and won't have Woody messing it up for him.
Al returns and packs the Roundup Gang, and the rest of the toys give chase, but are interrupted by the sudden appearance of the Emperor Zurg toy. In a showdown mimicking a similar scene from The Empire Strikes Back, Zurg reveals himself to be Buzz Lightyear's father, shortly before finally being defeated by Rex. The other toys resume the rescue mission and find an unattended vehicle (a Pizza Planet delivery truck) and drive it to the airport. The second Buzz remains behind with Zurg, playing father and son games.
After arriving at the airport, Buzz and his group manage to free Woody and Bullseye from the suitcase. The Prospector has other plans though and he re-tears Woody's arm (he had it fixed earlier while at Al's), threatening to harm him more if he doesn't comply. Buzz and his group, however, come to Woody's rescue, and stick the Prospector in a little girl's backpack so he can "learn the true meaning of play-time". The Prospector is terrified to learn that the little girl likes to draw on all of her toys. But Jessie finds herself in trouble and remains trapped in the suitcase. Woody and Buzz ride Bullseye in order to rescue her from being taken to the museum on her own.
Woody manages to find Jessie inside the plane but just when they're about to escape, the door closes and the plane heads for the runway. Woody finds another way out of the plane, through a small hatch which leads down to the landing gear wheel, and as they are doing so, he slips but Jessie catches him. When the plane is at the main runway, Woody knows that time is running out. In true "Woody's Roundup" style, he uses his pull string to swing him and Jessie down to safety on Bullseye's back - just seconds before the plane takes off. Their mission accomplished, the toys now make their way home.
At home, Jessie (with whom Buzz becomes a bit smitten) and Bullseye are adopted into Andy's toy family. Woody's ripped arm is repaired by Andy himself. The events of the airplane's cargo hold have a terrible (and hilarious) consequence for Al. After Hamm fails at the Buzz Lightyear video game, he flips through the channels and sees Al in an Al's Toy Barn commercial, crying since he lost his precious luggage and the money he was going to get for it, which is why in the commercial he is selling everything for, as Al says in the chicken suit, "For a Buck, Buck, Buck".
While Al is crying, Hamm says a somewhat humorous remark about Al and his scheme ("Well, I guess crime doesn't pay."). Meanwhile, a fixed Wheezy sings "You've Got A Friend In Me", and Buzz asks Woody if he was still worried about Andy giving him up. Woody replies that he isn't worried anymore, and that when it is all over, he has Buzz to keep him company, for "infinity and beyond".
[edit] Setting
The movie is set in the Pixar fictional city of Tri-County, New York (Real city of Watertown) (Has three sections, Drewland, Aeroburg, and Buntler Ruke) in August 1994.
[edit] Voice cast
[edit] Songs
Randy Newman wrote two new songs for Toy Story 2:
- "When She Loved Me" - performed by Sarah McLachlan: Used for the flashback montage in which Jessie experiences being loved, forgotten, and ultimately abandoned by her owner, Emily. The feel of the flashbacks is very similar to the scenes that take place for Woody in "Strange Things", during the first movie. This song was nominated at the Oscars in 2000 for Best Song, though the award went to Phil Collins for "You'll Be In My Heart" from Disney's Tarzan.
- "Woody's Roundup" - performed by Riders in the Sky: Theme song for the "Woody's Roundup" TV show. Also end-credit music.
The film also includes two new versions of "You've Got A Friend In Me", the theme from the first film. The first is performed by the puppet Woody (Hanks) "on guitar" as part of the "Woody's Roundup" show. The second is a Vegas-style finale production number sung by Wheezy (singing voice provided by Robert Goulet).
[edit] Soundtrack Listing
- Woody's Roundup - Riders In The Sky
- When She Loved Me - Sarah McLachlan
- You've Got A Friend In Me (Wheezy's Version) - Robert Goulet
- Zurg's Planet
- Wheezy And The Yard Sale
- Woody's Been Stolen
- Chicken Man
- Woody's Dream
- Jessie And The Roundup Gang
- Woody's A Star
- Let's Save Woody
- Off To The Museum
- Talk To Jessie
- The Cleaner
- Al's Toy Barn
- Emperor Zurg Vs
- Use Your Head
- Jessie's In Trouble
- Ride Like The Wind
- You've Got A Friend In Me (Instrumental Version)
[edit] Box office and business issues
Toy Story 2 made over $245,000,000 in its initial US theatrical run, far surpassing the original, and in fact, every other animated movie to that date except for The Lion King, though both were later eclipsed by another Pixar movie, Finding Nemo.
Toy Story 2 was not originally intended for release in theaters. Disney asked Pixar to make a direct-to-video sequel for the original Toy Story with a 60 minute running time. When Disney executives saw how impressive the in-work imagery for the sequel was, they decided to create a theatrical movie, and the plot was reworked to be much more epic and cinematic in scope and duration of the movie was extended to just over 90 minutes.
Pixar and Disney had a five-film co-production deal and Pixar felt that with its change in status, Toy Story 2 should count as one of the pictures in the deal. Disney, however, felt that since the production of Toy Story 2 was negotiated outside of the five-picture deal, it should not count. This issue became a particularly sore spot for Pixar, leading to a falling out between Pixar CEO Steve Jobs and Disney CEO Michael Eisner, concluding in Pixar's 2004 announcement that it would not extend its deal with Disney and would instead seek other distribution partners. With Eisner's departure and Pixar's ultimate purchase by Disney, however, these problems have been overcome.
The movie was first broadcast on pay-TV in the UK on The Disney Channel on December 8, 2001 but like Toy Story, the transition of the movie from pay-TV to antenna TV was extremely slow and eventually first appeared on terrestrial TV on BBC One on December 25, 2005.
The film was received extremely well by critics, earning a rare 100% rating at Rotten Tomatoes, also being the only film to have over 100 positive and no negative reviews (121 as of December 24, 2007).[1]
It received an 87/100 Universal Acclaim on Metacritic.
[edit] Trailers
One Pixar tradition is to create trailers for their films that do not contain footage from the released film. In one trailer, released theatrically with Doug's 1st Movie, the green alien toys come up to a center with the claw coming down. First the claw was carrying down Toy Story with the aliens doing their trademark "Oooh." Second the claw brings down a "2" and with the aliens turning around and looking at the audience and saying "Twoooo." Then Woody appears and is swiftly disappointed when Buzz shows up as well. He expresses his annoyance that Buzz is in the sequel. Buzz replies, "Excuse me, pull-String boy, What would Toy Story 2 be without Buzz Lightyear?". "A good movie." counters Woody.
[edit] Attached short film
Theatrical and video releases of this film include Luxo Jr, Pixar's first short film released in 1986, starring Pixar's mascot, Luxo.
[edit] Video game
A briefly popular video game for the PC, Playstation, N64 and Dreamcast was released shortly after the film's release in the UK. The game featured original cast voices and clips from the movie as introductions to levels. According to Disney interactive tradition, once earned, these clips could be viewed at the player's discretion. Toy Story 2: Action Game was the final Disney game to include this feature.
[edit] References
- ^ Rotten Tomatoes Top 100 of All-Time. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2007-12-24.
[edit] External links
- Disney's official Toy Story 2 site
- Toy Story 2 at the Internet Movie Database
- Toy Story 2 at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- Toy Story 2 at Rotten Tomatoes
- Toy Story 2 at Metacritic
Pixar Animation Studios | |
|---|---|
| Feature films | Toy Story (1995) • A Bug's Life (1998) • Toy Story 2 (1999) • Monsters, Inc. (2001) • Finding Nemo (2003) • The Incredibles (2004) • Cars (2006) • Ratatouille (2007) • WALL-E (2008) • Up (2009) • Toy Story 3 (2010) |
| Short films | Luxo Jr. (1986) • Red's Dream (1987) • Tin Toy (1988) • Knick Knack (1989) • Geri's Game (1997) • For the Birds (2000) • Mike's New Car (2002) • Boundin' (2003) • Jack-Jack Attack (2005) • One Man Band (2005) • Mater and the Ghostlight (2006) • Lifted (2006) • Your Friend the Rat (2007) |
| Related works | The Adventures of André and Wally B. (1984) • Tiny Toy Stories (1995) • To Infinity and Beyond!: The Story of Pixar Animation Studios (2007) |
| People | John Lasseter • Ed Catmull • Steve Jobs • Pete Docter • Andrew Stanton • Brad Bird • Lee Unkrich • Joe Ranft |
| See also | Pixar Image Computer • List of Pixar staff • List of awards won or nominated by Pixar • List of Disney theatrical animated features |
| Preceded by Shakespeare in Love | Golden Globe: Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy 1999 | Succeeded by Almost Famous |
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