Review: Toy Story 2

A sneaky toy collector (voiced by Wayne Knight) nabs Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks), and the toy cowboy is lumped with prospector Stinky Pete (voiced by Kelsey Grammer) and cowgirl Jessie (voiced by Joan Cusack), as Woody learns that in another life he was the star of a 50s TV series called ‘Woody’s Roundup’. But can Woody’s new/old family be trusted? Back at Andy’s home, Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Tim Allen) rounds up the troops for the rescue mission. Along the way we find Barbie (voiced by Jodi Benson), Mrs. Potato Head (voiced by Estelle Harris), plus an imposter Buzz Lightyear doll (with a pretty small ‘enhancement’ four years after the first one hit the shelves…bit dubious, but OK) that causes havoc at one point.

 

I enjoyed all three “Toy Story” films, and there’s not all that much difference in quality amongst them. However, I’d put this 1999 sequel from directors John Lasseter (“Toy Story”, “Cars”), Ash Brannon (who helped with the animation for the other two films), and Lee Unkrich (who went on to direct “Finding Nemo”, and “Toy Story 3”) slightly ahead of the others. They all have their flaws, but this one manages to fix all of the flaws in the previous film, has an even better clip, and Joan Cusack’s cowgirl Jessie is a perfect addition.

 

The first thing one notices is that it is leaps and bounds ahead of the first film in the animation, in just four years. It looks much more textured, and Woody in particular looks much more refined. It seems like a much more confident film, whereas the first film had the task of being first out of the blocks, a pioneer in computer animation. Meanwhile, the previously annoying Buzz Lightyear is infinitely more likeable here now he knows he’s a toy, whilst Estelle Harris makes for an excellent Mrs. Potato Head. “Seinfeld” co-star Wayne Knight (Newman!) is an excellent choice for the film’s human villain, but having a guy who profits from selling toys as a villain was awfully short-sighted for 1999. Almost everyone does it now, and there’s even TV shows dedicated to the buying and selling of collectables and toys (The highly watchable “Toy Hunter” springs immediately to mind). There’s simply nothing wrong with that, but because this film is primarily aimed at kids and centred on the love between toys and their child owners (sigh), anything grown-up is seen as wrong. I get it, but I don’t get it, if you know what I mean. It’s almost offensive, and this along with the third film’s idea of holding onto toys until college age holds me back somewhat from loving the films as much as others seem to.

 

I also disagreed with the notion that the family dog was on good terms with the toys. Anyone who has ever owned a dog or cat knows to call bullshit on that one. The other problem with the film? The miscasting of Kelsey Grammer as the voice of prospector Stinky Pete. Grammer has a very distinctive voice and doesn’t often waver from the voice we know and love as Frasier Crane. It suited the Machiavellian villain Sideshow Bob on “The Simpsons”, but under no circumstances whatsoever should Grammer’s high fallutin’ Frasier Crane voice be used for a prospector named Stinky Freakin’ Pete. He looks like Burl Ives and sounds like an American theatre actor trying to sound English or at least Shakespearean. It’s all wrong, he’s far too identifiably Frasier-esque, and it took me out of the film a little.

 

And yet, as I said earlier, this is my favourite film in the trilogy. I may not like Stinky Pete, but the idea of Woody having this secret past as a TV show character on a wild west show is excellent. Does it make sense that Woody is so old that he had his own B&W TV show? Nope, but if it were in colour, the idea would be great, so I won’t harp on about that too much. Meanwhile, the humour is still there, with the late Jim Varney getting off a great line; ‘I may not be a smart dog, but I know what road kill is’. The trip to the Barbie toy isle is the greatest thing in the history of great things. Love it.

 

There’s a lot to enjoy here and this is one of the rare sequels that is better than the original. However, while it fixes all the flaws of the first film, it’s not without flaws of its own, either and thus I probably didn’t enjoy it as much as others might. Based on a story by Brannon, Lasseter, Andrew Stanton (“Toy Story”, “Toy Story 3”), and Pete Docter (co-director of the overrated “Up”), the screenplay is by Stanton, Doug Chamberlain, Rita Hsiao, and Chris Webb.

 

Rating: B-