The original Toy Story is considered to be one of the most revolutionary movies of all time. Despite being released in 1995(oh so very long ago), its graphics and animation still look far better than most CGI movies of today. Is it because it's far easier to give toys life since they already come complete with that plastic look CGI is famous for?

Toy Story 2 is the logical follow up to the story set forth in the first one. It asks the question "What would happen to toys when a kid finally grows up?" Of course it never really answers that question, but it stands to reason that this movie is just a touch more heartwarming than the first. Of course the real meat of this movie is the jokes. Toy Story 2 is one of the earliest Disney movies to use pop culture references. And boy do they come fast and thick, along with nice little funny touches like Buzz Lightyear finding dozens of copies of himself and wondering how he could've been that delusional.

Of course now we come to my dilemma. Is Toy Story 2 really superior to the first? While Toy Story 2 is certainly funnier than the first, pop culture reference type jokes tend to date themselves. Toy Story, on the other hand, works more on the narrative level. It doesn't seem as funny as it was all those many years ago, but it was a great buddy tale. I guess it's really not fair to compare the two. They both work well and are both very clever, entertaining movies.

This is the best sequel I have ever seen, compared to the worst Shrek 2. Anyways, the story flowed and contributed and coexisted with the first, unlike other sequels.

I personally thought the dog was stunning. And Woody's dream was so funny, especially because the cards were all aces of spades. A funny line was (WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILER)"You're out of your box!".

All and all, I hope Toy Story 3 will be as good.

Ah yes- The peak of all sequels, Toy Story 2 is just a blip short of a godsend. Finally: a sequel that is in fact better than the original.
The returning cast is very welcoming, and the new members were fabulous. Every character was true to the original, and the new additions kept the spirit and pace of the film up.
The animation is usual Pixar quality. There's no real reason for me to rant on about how great it is, because you already know.
The music and songs were wonderful, and actually memorable! How many memorable songs have you heard in a movie in the past, I dunno, eight years? Very few, if any at all. Jessie's song is past excellent, and " You've got a Friend in Me" is the perfect song for both the Toy Story movies.
The story is excellent, the charm is irresistable, and the outtakes at the end are positively side-splitting. Toy Story 2 is in that list of about six sequels that didn't suck. It's a must-see for Pixar fans, even if you didn't enjoy the first!

WARNING – POSSIBLE SPOILERS –

How many sequels are there that are better than the original? Truth be told they are few and far between, there are a ton of sequels that completely fail to add anything to the overall story (esp. DTVs); so when it does happen and the original it bests was pretty good in itself, it is a glorious event.

The wow factor starts from the word of, with Buzz Lightyear infiltration of Emperor Zurg’s base in a clever sent up of popular sci-fi. Course it all turns out to be a videogame, strange thing is I noticed the angular shape of an US style SNES atop of Andy’s TV on the far edge of the screen; I don’t remember them being that powerful.

Anyway…

Without the problems inerrant with introducing the characters and assuming that you’ve seen the first one, Toy Story 2 is able to hit the ground running as all truly great sequels should. This also gives it the opportunity to introduce new characters and have a slightly more mature theme.

The animation is a small step up from the previous film in terms of the rendering quality. Woody and co look much the same as ever, yet the humans still look quite bad, as does the dog or, to be blunt, anything organic. As most of the film concentrates on the toys this never becomes a great issue.

This film is in some ways a reversal of the previous one, Woody becomes Buzz and vice versa, the rescuer becomes the rescued. Woody has become the delusional, with feelings of old age and of uselessness sweeping in - or a near enough metaphor anyway; meaning that he’s is completely overwhelmed by the events going on around him. I suppose the human equivalent would be finding out that you’re a long lost descendent to the royal family. The thing is who, outside of collect groups of people, doesn’t at some point feel that they have outgrown their toys, I outgrew, or out matured, my He-Man figures; I still kept some of my stuffed, mostly non-commercial animals. How would you think toys would take it, especially lone ones, abandon, the glory days of someone enjoying your company gone. In the other way this film is about death, at least death from a toy's perspective, when you stop being a beloved toy and end up in a yard sale; facing an uncertain future.

Jessie of course has suffered this fate. While she is on the outside full of energy, her enforced and prolonged storage has left it’s scar on her; fearful of storage again in case the last thing she knows is its dark void. Her enthusiasm for Woody turns into despair and near hatred when she discovers that Woody isn’t staying, then back to joy and despair once more as the other toys making their rescue attempt finally arrive.

In one of the best ideas that CG films have had, Buzz gets to meet himself, or rather him as he was in the first film, a completely delusional toy. So for a brief period we have the unhinged Buzz to enjoy as the confused toys think that he is their Buzz, the difference between his actions and the toys acknowledgement of reality contrast well; who would have “laser envy” how.

The collector, isn’t to my eyes, a person who is collecting these Woody merchandise for the thrill of just owning them, or a love of the characters. No, from the start he’s out to make money, selling them to the highest bidding, in this case a Japanese Toy museum. In my eyes this puts him in a different light to others who truly love the things that they collect and it’s not a light that I find sympathetic with. I wouldn’t mind if he stored them behind glass for his own gratification, but he is just selling them. He also strikes me as a unsympathetic character when he complains about driving to his place of work which is right across the street.

There are a lots of movie references here, most notable ones being of Star Wars and Jurassic Park, but thankfully the immense amount of popular culture that has flooded 3D films in recent years (admittedly mostly from Dreamworks’ films) had yet to immerge. Some nice subtle jokes litter the film that actually hit me most well is the joke that crosses over to the real state of things in the real world, when Tour guide Barbie is talking about how short sighted retailers failed to order enough Buzz Lightyear toys to meet the huge demand that he sparked.

When this film came out CGI hadn’t yet become the monstrosity that it has now: it certainly hadn’t filled itself up with clichés yet. Photorealism was still an near-impossible (outside live-action features with massive budgets) and possibly unwanted dream. The medium took second place to the story, an aspect which seems to be increasingly becoming the opposite lately.

So much has changed.

Toy Story 2 was one of those rare films that was as good, if not better than it's predecessor. The story moved quickly and the characters had depth to them. There was some real emotion in it even if it was about toys. The animation and cast were great too. This is definitely a must-see-film.

Not much I can add that I haven't already said in my review of the original 'Toy Story' (except that I got confused, and the references to loss of innocence and childhood were supposed to be about this film, not the first).

Simply, Toy Story was a great movie, and everything that was great about it is even greater second time around. It's hilarious, exciting, sad, heartwarming - you name it. It's one of those films where simply watching it for the first time is a sort of historical experience, because you feel that you're in the presence of greatness: the kind of film, animated or otherwise, that only comes along every few years.

One thing: five years on, I'm still thinking about the nerdy toy collector guy. Is this supposed to mean that adults shouldn't be into kid things (like animated movies, huh? huh?), or that if they are they ought to relate to them the same way they did when they were kids, not put them away behind glass. *

I agree with Athena. Four stars is almost insufficient for this movie. It's Pixar's best (though I admit I haven't seen 'Finding Nemo') and if they ever better it, that movie is going to be something else. I just wish people would make a traditionally animated film that was this good.

* It would be terribly ironic, wouldn't it, if they released a 'collector's edition' of Toy Story 2.

Five stars... seven stars.. seventeen stars! I never thought a four-star rating would be insufficient until I saw this movie. Last night was my second viewing in the theatre and amoung the group of friends I went with the vote was unanimous--hands down, one of the best animated movies we've ever seen.

I could rave about every aspect of this movie--the wonderful new characters, the better-than-ever old characters, voice-casting, animation, story, Sarah McLachlan's song!.. but no review I could write could possibly do it justice. I will say to watch for the five billion pop culture references that have been thrown in... Star Wars, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Trek, Jurassic Park plus references to a Bug's Life, the original Toy Story and Pixar's animated shorts Luxo Jr., Knicknack, TinToy and many more I'm sure I'll catch in my third viewing... and believe me, there will DEFINATELY be a third viewing!

And Pixar? You have saved us (from mountains of mediocore animated films)... we are eternally grateful!