Toy Story 2
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Movie_poster_toy_story_2.jpg
Toy Story 2 movie poster
Toy Story 2 is a computer-generated imagery (CGI) animation film and the sequel to Toy Story, which featured the adventures of a group of toys that come to life when no one is around to see them. Like the first film, Toy Story 2 was produced by Pixar Animation Studios, directed by John Lasseter, and released to theatres on November 18, 1999 by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution.
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Voice Cast
- Sheriff Woody - Tom Hanks
- Buzz Lightyear - Tim Allen
- Jessie ("the yodlin' cowgirl") - Joan Cusack
- The Prospector (Stinky Pete) - Kelsey Grammer
- Al - Wayne Knight
- Rex - Wallace Shawn
- Hamm - John Ratzenberger
- Mr. Potato Head - Don Rickles
- Slinky Dog - Jim Varney
- Tour Guide Barbie - Jodi Benson
- Bo Peep - Annie Potts
- Wheezy the Penguin - Joe Ranft
- Evil Emperor Zurg - Andrew Stanton
- Geri the Cleaner - Jonathan Harris
Plot Synopsis
Some time after the events of Toy Story, presumably the following summer, Andy rips his Woody doll while playing with him and Buzz. Woody is placed on the shelf, where he finds another broken toy, the penguin Wheezy, and begins to fear he'll soon be thrown away. When Wheezy is set out for a yard sale, Woody tries to rescue him, but ends up in the yard sale himself, where he is stolen by Al, an obsessive toy collector and proprietor of "Al's Toy Barn". Buzz and several other toys set out to rescue Woody.
Woody is taken to Al's apartment, where he is greeted by Jessie, Bullseye, and the Prospector (an unsold toy still in its original box). They reveal to him that they are toys based on a forgotten children's TV show, Woody's Roundup. Now that Al has a Woody doll, he has a complete collection and intends to sell the toys to a museum in Japan. Woody initially insists that he has to get back to Andy, but Jessie reveals how she was forgotten and eventually abandoned by her owner as she grew up, and the prospector warns Woody that he faces the same fate as Andy ages. Woody agrees to go with the "Roundup Gang" to the museum.
Buzz and his friends search for Al at Al's Toy Barn, where Buzz gets into a scuffle with another Buzz Lightyear doll (who, like Buzz in the first movie, doesn't realize he's a toy), and the new Buzz sets off with the other toys for Al's apartment, believing it to be a genuine rescue mission. The original Buzz frees himself and follows them to the apartment.
When they get there, 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". Buzz reminds him "you are a child's plaything... you are a toy!" (ironically, Woody says exactly the same thing to Buzz in the first film) Woody is unconvinced and Buzz's group leaves without him. But Woody then has a change of heart and invites Jessie, Bullseye, and the Prospector to come home to Andy with him. The first two agree, but the Prospector 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 takes the toys to the airport, where Buzz and his group manage to free Woody and Bullseye from the suitcase, and stick the Prospector in a little girl's backpack so he can "learn the true meaning of play-time". Jessie remains trapped in the suitcase, and Buzz and Woody ride Bullseye to rescue her from the plane's cargo hold.
At home, the toys are greeted by a fixed Wheezy, who regales them with a concert. Buzz asks Woody if he's still worried about his eventual fate. Woody replies "it'll be fun while it lasts. And when it's all over, I'll have Buzz Lightyear to keep me company... for infinity and beyond."
The events of the airplane's cargo hold have a terrible (and hilarious) price 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.
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.
- "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 sung by the puppet Woody on the television 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)
Commentary & Trivia
Critical response to Toy Story 2 was overwhelmingly positive. The Rotten Tomatoes site lists 130 reviews for the film, all of them positive. Many even claim the film is superior to the original, a rare feat for a sequel.
Hanks' salary for portraying Woody in the original Toy Story was USD$50,000. His fee for Toy Story 2 was $5,000,000.
Before the toys are due to cross the road to Al's Toy Barn, Slinky Dog says "I may not be a smart dog, but I know what roadkill is". This may be a reference to a phrase in another Tom Hanks film, Forrest Gump, "I may not be a smart man, Jenny, but I know what love is".
A Life magazine in Al's apartment features Woody riding Bullseye on its cover. It is dated January 12, 1957 (which is John Lasseter's birth date). Its price is 25 cents and the headlines on the cover read:
- "Children television. Saturday's favorite cowboy 'Woody'"
- "Sputnik - First photos revealed" (note that the surprise Sputnik 1 launch occurred on October 4, 1957)
- "Doctors say 'Americans don't eat enough fat'"
The dust in the scene where Woody meets Wheezy set a record for number of particles animated for a movie by computer.
In the opening sequence, when Buzz is on an alien planet, and ultimately battles the evil Emperor Zurg, many of the sound effects are directly from the original Star Wars trilogy, including lightsaber sound effects, the torture droid's hum, and the scraping metal noise the AT-AT's make as they lumber across the plains of Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back.
The scene where Zurg identifies himself as Buzz's father is, of course, a reference to The Empire Strikes Back. John Ratzenberger, who plays Hamm, had a small part in The Empire Strikes Back, as Major Derlin.
The floating platforms Buzz Lightyear hops on play "Thus Spake Zarasthustra", the theme to the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
When Buzz says goodbye to the second Buzz he gives him the Vulcan salute, a Star Trek reference.
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 almost didn't make it to the theaters, however. Disney asked Pixar to make a direct-to-video sequel for the original Toy Story (like most Disney sequels). When Disney executives saw how impressive the in-work imagery for the sequel was, they decided to release it theatrically.
Pixar and Disney had a five-film co-production deal and with Pixar's string of successes, the company looked to renegotiate a new deal that would give it a bigger cut of the box-office take. However, Disney argued that as a sequel Toy Story 2 should not count as one of the five films in the deal. This issue became a particularly sore spot for Pixar, leading to a fallout 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.
See also
- Toy Story 3
- A113
- Geri's Game - featuring Geri, the toy cleaner in Toy Story 2
External links
- Disney's official Toy Story 2 site (http://www.toystory2.com/)
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- UpcomingPixar (http://upcomingpixar.blogspot.com)