| Toy Story 2 | |
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Toy Story 2 movie poster |
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| Directed by | John Lasseter Co-Director: Lee Unkrich Ash Brannon |
| Produced by | Karen Robert Jackson Helene Plotkin Executive Producer: Sarah McArthur |
| Written by | Story: John Lasseter Pete Docter Ash Brannon Andrew Stanton Screenplay: Andrew Stanton Rita Hsiao Doug Chamberlain Chris Webb Story Supervisor: Dan Jeup Joe Ranft |
| Starring | Tom Hanks Tim Allen Joan Cusack Kelsey Grammer Don Rickles Wallace Shawn John Ratzenberger Wayne Knight |
| Music by | Randy Newman |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures Distribution |
| Release date(s) | November 19, 1999 February 10 , 2010 (3-D Re- Release) |
| 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 |
Toy Story 2 is a 1999 Academy-Award-nominated CGI film, the sequel to Toy Story; 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 19, 1999, in some parts of Australia on December 2, 1999 and the United Kingdom on 11 February 2000. The film is set for re-release in Disney Digital 3-D on February 10, 2010, leading up to the highly-anticipated release of Toy Story 3 on June 18, 2010.[1]
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, Annie Potts, and John Ratzenberger. They are joined by new characters voiced by Joan Cusack, Kelsey Grammer, Wayne Knight, and Estelle Harris.
This film is rated G by the MPAA, and Universal by the BBFC.
Contents |
Set a year after Toy Story (set in 1995) ,while Andy is playing with Woody shortly before leaving for summer camp, he tears Woody's arm and leaves him at home in the bedroom. Woody has nightmares of becoming a disused toy, but wakes to find that Wheezy, a penguin toy that lost its squeaker, is being taken by Andy's mother to be sold at a yard sale. Woody rescues Wheezy with the help of Andy's dog Buster, but he is accidentally left behind at the yard sale and subsequently stolen by toy store owner Al McWhiggin. Buzz Lightyear and the other toys watch in horror, and Buzz sets up a rescue party with Mr. Potato Head, Rex, Slinky Dog and Hamm to bring Woody back.
Woody is brought to Al's apartment, where he discovers that he is a toy created from Woody's Roundup, a popular children's television show from the 1950s. By acquiring him, Al now has a complete collection of the show's merchandise, which he plans to sell to a toy museum in Japan. Woody meets the toy versions of the show's co-stars: his sidekick Jessie, his horse Bullseye, and an old prospector named Stinky Pete (who is still in his original box). These three are excited to be going to Japan, but Woody has doubts, knowing that he is Andy's toy; he tries to escape the apartment but does not succeed. Later, Al brings over a toy repairman, who restores Woody's arm and gives him a fresh paint job, which Woody appreciates. He slowly warms up to the idea of going to Japan, particularly after learning that Jessie was once owned by a girl who gave her away after growing up.
Meanwhile, Buzz and the others make their way to the toy store to try to locate Woody. In their escapades, Buzz gets in a fight with a newer version of himself, who imprisons him in a display box. The rest of the rescue team mistakenly takes Buzz #2 with them across the street to Al's apartment, where they now know Woody is being kept. Buzz #1 manages to escape and follows the team, inadvertently letting loose a figure of his sworn enemy, Emperor Zurg, who follows him. The team breaks into Al's apartment and attempts to take Woody home, but he refuses to leave. Buzz #1 catches up and uses Woody's words from the first movie to remind him that he is a toy, meant to be played with, and persuades him to come with them. Woody invites the other toys from Woody's Roundup to come along, but Stinky Pete (now out of his box) blocks the escape route, determined to get them to Japan.
As Al packs up the collection for shipping overseas, Buzz #1 and the team follow him, while Buzz #2 stays behind to keep Zurg occupied. In the baggage handling area of the airport, Woody and Stinky Pete face off, Pete reopening the old rip in Woody's arm; the team then distracts Pete long enough to stuff him into a little girl's backpack, so that he will learn what it means to be a toy. Woody frees Jessie from her crate, but too late to keep her from being loaded onto the plane. Assisted by Buzz and Bullseye, Woody slips on board and extracts her from the cargo hold just before the plane takes off.
The toys happily return home and soon learn that Al has gone broke due to his failure to sell the merchandise collection. When Andy comes home from camp, he is excited to see the new additions to his own collection, Jessie and Bullseye. He repairs Woody's arm and marks both of the others with his name, making them feel appreciated again. Woody and Buzz now accept the fact that Andy will eventually grow up, but even after he does, they will still be there for each other. As the movie ends, a now-fixed Wheezy sings "You've Got a Friend in Me."
See main article Toy Story 2 (soundtrack).
Randy Newman wrote two new songs for Toy Story 2 as well as the complete original score:
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).
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 the 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. This was one of Jim Varney's last movie before his death in 2000.
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 CGI movie, Shrek 2.
Prior to its preceding installment, Toy Story 2 received overwhelmingly positive reviews, earning a rare 100% rating at Rotten Tomatoes with an average reviewer score of 8.5/10, also being the only film to have over 100 positive and no negative reviews, making it their highest rated film of all time. (123 as of September 21, 2008).[2]
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 terrestrial TV was extremely slow and eventually first appeared on terrestrial TV on BBC One on December 25, 2005.
It received an 87/100 Universal Acclaim on Metacritic.
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 (saying "Howdy howdy howdy, folks! It's good to be back.") 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.
Theatrical and video releases of this film include Luxo Jr, Pixar's first short film released in 1986, starring Pixar's mascot, Luxo.
A video game for the PC, PlayStation, Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast was released. The game featured original cast voices and clips from the movie as introductions to levels. Once earned, these clips could be viewed at the player's discretion. Another game was released for the Game Boy Color.
| Preceded by A Bug's Life |
Pixar Animation Studios feature films 1999 |
Succeeded by Monsters, Inc. |
| Preceded by ''End of Days'' |
Box office number-one films of 1999 (USA) November 28, 1999 – December 12, 1999 |
Succeeded by ''Stuart Little'' |
| Preceded by Shakespeare in Love |
Golden Globe: Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy 1999 |
Succeeded by Almost Famous |
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