A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: Toy Story - 2

Date Viewed: 12/5/99

Details:

Voice talents:

Tom Hanks (Woody)

Tim Allen (Buzz Lightyear)

Wayne Knight (Al McWhiggin, the collector)

Jeff Pidgeon (Aliens)

John Morris (Andy)

Jodi Benson (Barbie)

Annie Potts (Bo Peep)

David Ogden Stiers (Bullseye)

Jonathan Harris (The Cleaner)

Andrew Stanton (Emperor Zurg)

John Ratzenberger (Hamm)

Joan Cusack (Jessie the Cowgirl)

Don Rickles (Mr. Potato Head)

Laurie Metcalf (Mrs. Davis)

Estelle Harris (Mrs. Potato Head)

Wallace Shawn (Rex)

Lee Ermey (Sergeant R.)

Jim Varney (Slinky Dog)

Kelsey Grammer (Stinky Pete the Prospector)

Joe Ranft (Wheezy)

Director:

John Lasseter

Score: +

The Review:

Even though there are no squat, green, 3-eyed aliens -- my absolutely favoritest characters in the original! -- this sequel to the first Disney / Pixar collaboration is still wonderful. Injured by some rough play, Woody is shelved (sob!) and cannot accompany his boy Andy to summer camp. To add insult to injury, Woody accidentally gets marginalized in a garage sale and surreptitiously toy-napped. We are puzzled by the thief's behavior, but not to fear! Buzz and the crew are off to Woody's rescue, once they identify the thief.

As before, the animation is spectacular, and the situations clever. Simply saying "crossing the street" will raise tears of laughter to anyone who's seen it -- kudos to whoever first thought of animating traffic cones! -- and the exploration of the toy store has its moments as well. The facial animation of both Woody and Buzz has gone off the charts, however; the nuances cross the line to truly human -- better even than many in-the-flesh actors.

Jurassic Park's Wayne Knight is the mold from which the villain toy collector is crafted, and who lends his voice. There are a lot more animated (real) people in this episode than the first, but the collector is the most fully characterized (because he has such a large amount of screen time).

One of the things that makes this movie engaging is something it shares with A Bug's Life, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and James Hogan's novel "Bug Park" -- a sense of, and fascination with, microscopic scale. The point of view is that of a toy's -- a very low center of gravity -- and the actions are generally appropriate to entities on the scale of several inches in height, operating in a physical world with reasonably normal limits. These are not mere cartoon characters, with a "toon's" penchant for bending the laws of physics. The intimidation by the world at large, the discovery of what the world looks like from a radically different perspective, and navigation through human scale artifacts -- all these are quite well done, and tinged with a sense of awe not dissimilar from that exhibited by the human scientists on their initial visit to Jurassic Park. But it is entertainment, after all, so there are a few rules bent -- perhaps not so obviously in this second movie, but easily seen in the flying scenes late in the first one. Good though! (*see footnote*)

While searching for the full cast of voice talents, I stumbled across a useful niche website that I would recommend. Voice Chasers is the unofficial compilation of the voice talents behind both animated films and a surprisingly large number of other arenas in which such talents are used. Fun, and good for Trivial Pursuit.

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