Looking back over the dozens of movie sequels released in the past 15 years, you'll find an extraordinarily high ratio of junk to quality, as well as a lot of pictures which never should have been made in the first place. Was there really an audience out there demanding "The Karate Kid 4," "Species 2," "The Cannonball Run II," "Porky's Revenge" or "Return to the Blue Lagoon"? If so, you couldn't prove it by the box office receipts on any of these fiascoes.
But it's safe to say a fair amount of the moviegoing public will be interested in the further adventures of Woody the cowboy doll and Buzz Lightyear, the stoic and slightly pompous action figure, the characters who enchanted audiences of all ages in "Toy Story" four years ago. Happily, "Toy Story 2" is a truly worthwhile follow-up, a technically dazzling movie which delivers on both the action and comedy fronts, yet still doesn't lose sight of its heart.
Hollywood has two schools of sequels: the ones which are merely louder, flashier repetitions of bits that worked before (for instance, the wholly unnecessary "Lethal Weapon 4"); or the second installments which try to probe the darker sides of the characters (as in "Babe: Pig in the City" or the ultra-downbeat "Back to the Future, Part 2"). But director John Lasseter has seen to it "Toy Story 2" doesn't fall into either category. You need not have seen the original to enjoy this adventure, although if you saw this one first, you would probably be inspired to rush to the video store to grab a copy of the first movie.
All the familiar voices of "Toy Story" are back, including Tom Hanks as Woody (who's faced with a daunting moral dilemma this time around), Tim Allen as Buzz, Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head, John Ratzenberger as Ham the piggy bank, Jim Varney as the Slinky Dog and Annie Potts -- too briefly -- as the saucy Bo Peep. They're joined by new additions Joan Cusack as Jessie the Yodelin' Cowgirl and Kelsey Grammer as a prospector doll with the unenviable name of Stinky Pete. You couldn't ask for a brighter array of vocal talent, and the screenplay gives them a surplus of good lines to deliver.
Picking up a couple of years after the original left off, "2" finds Woody in the hands of unscrupulous toy dealer Al (Wayne Knight) after a mix-up at a yard sale. The tireless Buzz leads Rex, Hamm, Slinky Dog and Potato Head -- who has packed his "angry eyes" just in case he needs them -- on a journey to Al's Toy Barn megastore, but that turns out to be just the beginning of a wild and woolly yarn that manages to address some bittersweet truths about friendship, sacrifice and growing up, while still providing a steady stream of jokes and exciting moments.
"Toy Story 2" prominently features some hilarious parodies (including an opening sequence with Buzz which brilliantly blends together "2001: A Space Odyssey," "Star Wars," "Tron" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind") and sassy asides, such as when Tour Guide Barbie (Jodi Benson), while showing off the aisles of Al's Toy Barn to guests, notes of the Buzz Lightyear figures on the shelves "back in 1995, short-sighted retailers did not order enough to meet demand."
Like its predecessor, "Toy Story 2" builds to a series of increasingly tense climaxes, only pausing along the way to welcome back those sycophantic Martian dolls who've now stopped worshipping "the claw" and have found instead an unlikely new deity. There's a surprising amount of suspense in the movie's last 15 minutes, which is so splendidly handled it should have viewers young and old teetering on the edges of their seats. A friend recently told me he considers "Toy Story 2" to be "The Godfather, Part 2" of animated movies; he may very well be right. James Sanford
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