Toy Story 2 (DVD+ Blu-ray w/ DVD Packaging) (1999)

"It's a great, IQ-flattering entertainment both wonderful and wise.  Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
"The most entertaining movie of the year. Funny and action-packed, it's also got that rare thing, heart.  Peter Stack, San Francisco Chronicle
"Toy Story 2, like its forebear, will stand the test of time.  Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

Editor's Note In this dazzling sequel to the 1995 blockbuster, Andy heads off to summer camp, leaving the toys behind to fend for themselves. In much the same way Buzz discovered he is a mass-produced product in the first installment, Woody discovers that he is a valuable collectible spawned by a popular 1950s kiddie-puppet TV show, "Woody's Roundup Gang," when he is kidnapped by an evil toy collector, Al McWhiggin. Through Al, who plans to sell him to a Japanese toy museum, Woody is reunited with the toy versions of his TV cohorts--plucky cowgirl Jessie (Cusack), prospector Stinky Pete (Grammer), and trusty horse Bullseye. Woody must choose between seeing Andy grow up and forsake him and living a sterile but eternal life behind glass being admired--but not played with. Meanwhile, the rest of the original toy troupe undergoes a thrilling crosstown adventure to locate their kidnapped friend and restore him his rightful owner. Extremely entertaining, surprisingly touching, endlessly thrilling eye candy for anyone of any age. Golden Globe Winner: Best Motion Picture--Musical or Comedy. Includes outtakes and bonus short, "Luxo Jr.," plus a sneak preview of Disney/Pixar's MONSTERS INC.

	Andrew Stanton - Voice
	Jodi Benson - Voice
	Don Rickles - Voice
	Tim Allen - Voice
	R. Lee Ermey - Voice
	Joan Cusack - Voice
	Annie Potts - Voice
	Jim Varney - Voice
	John Morris - Voice
	Laurie Metcalf - Voice
	Tom Hanks - Voice
	David Ogden Stiers - Voice
	Ralph Guggenheim - Producer
	Rita Hsiao - Screenwriter
	Wallace Shawn - Voice
	John Lasseter - Producer
	Doug Chamberlain - Screenwriter
	Estelle Harris - Voice
	Wayne Knight - Voice
	Kelsey Grammer - Voice
	Randy Newman - Composer
	Chris Webb - Screenwriter
	Andrew Stanton - Screenwriter
	Steven Jobs - Producer
	Lee Unkrich - Director
	John Lasseter - Director

Variety
"...Fresh characters, broadened scope, boisterous humor and, most of all, a gratifying emotional and thematic depth..." p.83-96

Total Film
"...The best family-oriented action movie for years....Funnier, more thrilling and more genre-bustingly brilliant than you could imagine..." -- 5 out of 5 stars 03/01/2000 p.68-9

Entertainment Weekly
"...Wonderful and wise....Beautifully animated..." -- Rating: A| 01/21/2000 p.83

Premiere
"...Sophistication, inventiveness, and comic flair that most adult movies can't match..." -- 4 out of 5 stars -- Watch More Than Once 11/01/2000 p.105

New York Times
"...The Pixar animation looks even better than it did the first time....A lively, tuneful adventure..." 11/24/1999 p.E1

USA Today
"...The most beguiling amusement of the year....TOY STORY 2 is that rare sequel that is better than the first -- improved, both story -- and effects-wise -- but containing everything that you adored about the original..." 11/24/1999 p.6D

Chicago Sun-Times
"...The movie once again features the enchanting three-dimensional feel of computer-generated animation..." 11/24/1999 p.43

Wall Street Journal
"Against most odds, the sequel turned out to be at least as wonderful as Pixar's 1995 original -- maybe more so." 08/07/2009

Washington Post 10 of 10
As if John Lasseter's computer-animated Toy Story wasn't brilliant enough...You remember that wonderful movie of 1995. And you surely remember the gang of yore-Woody the cowboy, Buzz Lightyear, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, Slinky Dog, Rex, Hamm and the rest of Andy's toys. These were good people-good plastic people...Once again, our hearts are kept breathtakingly close to breaking: A toy is only as good-only as alive-as his appreciative owner wants him to be. When that owner gets older, he (or she) puts away childish things. And that tossed toy is a dead toy...Thanks to a comedy of errors, Woody is tossed into the bargain bin. Gulp! An egg-shaped, evil customer called Al McWhiggin (the voice of none other than Wayne Knight-Newman!) snatches him from the box..."Not for sale," says Andy's mother (Laurie Metcalf), who realizes Woody must have tumbled into the box by mistake. But there's no stopping McWhiggin, owner of the Tri-County Area's leading toy emporium, who recognizes Woody's true value...The cowboy, it turns out, is the final piece he needs in a collector's item set from a 1950s TV show called "Woody's Roundup." Al simply steals him, intending to sell him to foreign buyers for bundles of money...The toys, who have seen the whole shady maneuver from Andy's room, are horrified. What to do? Save Woody, of course. Buzz Lightyear-and friends-to the rescue!...But there's a twist. When Woody finds himself in Al's Toy Barn lair, he meets Stinky Pete the Prospector (Kelsey Grammer) and Jessie (Joan Cusack), Woody's buddies from the "Woody's Roundup" trio, who show him videos of the old 1950s show...Woody realizes he's a former star, and that Stinky and Jessie were his regular pals. Now he's confused. To which family does he belong? And does he really want rescuing now?...Of course, the visual animation is the most prominent star. Lasseter's studio of animators has created an awesome series of soon-to-be-classic scenes. At one point, Buzz's five-toy rescue team, including Hamm (John Ratzenberger) and Rex (Wallace Shawn), attempts to traverse a busy highway under an artful cluster of traffic cones. This moving mass of orange causes vehicles to screech and smash into each other, as the toys head toward Al's Toy Barn on the other side. This endeavor is as arduous and nail-biting as any climactic scene from Mission: Impossible. You're as terrified at the prospect of crunched plastic and crushed Slinky toy as you are convulsed with hysterics. - Desson Howe

Chicago Sun-Times 9 of 10
I forgot something about toys a long time ago, and Toy Story 2 reminded me. It involves the love, pity and guilt that a child feels for a favorite toy. A doll or an action figure (or a Pokemon) is yours in the same way a pet is. It depends on you. It misses you. It can't do anything by itself. It needs you and is troubled when you're not there...Toy Story 2 knows this, and for smaller viewers that knowledge may be the most important thing about the film--more important than the story or the skill of the animation. This is a movie about what you hope your toys do when you're not around--and what you fear. They have lives of their own, but you are the sun in the sky of their universe, and when you treat them badly, their feelings are wounded...The movie once again features the enchanting three-dimensional feel of computer-generated animation by Pixar, and has been directed by John Lasseter, the creator of the original Toy Story. The tale of this film is almost as thrilling as Woody's fate: It was originally intended as a lowly direct-to-video release, but then the early scenes played so well that Pixar retrenched and started over again with a theatrical feature. In other words, this isn't a made-for-video that they decided to put into theaters, but a version intended from the first to be theatrical. That's important, because it means more detail and complexity went into the animation...The stars of the voice track certainly seem to remember how they once identified with toys. Many of the actors from the first movie are back again, including Tom Hanks as Woody, Tim Allen as Buzz, Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head and Jim Varney as Slinky Dog. The key newcomer is Joan Cusack as Jessie the Cowgirl, and she brings new life to the cast by confronting the others for the first time with a female character who's a little less domestic than Mrs. Potato Head...Hanks is responsible for what's probably the movie's high point; he sings "You've Got a Friend in Me", and seems to speak for all toys everywhere. His Woody has, indeed, grown into quite a philosopher. His thoughts about life, love and belonging to someone are kind of profound. The screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Rita Hsiao, Doug Chamberlin and Chris Webb isn't just a series of adventures (although there are plenty of those) but a kind of inside job, in which we discover that all toys think the way every kid knows his toys think. - Roger Ebert