Review : Toy Story 2

Toy Story 2 : The Adventure continues, the sequel to Toy Story. Woody's going away to Cowboy Camp with Andy, though Woody under goes a minor fault, and worries that he's getting too old for Andy. It's not long before Woody gets mixed up in a yard sale and gets kidnapped by a collector who is also the owner of Al's Toy Barn. Buzz and the other toys have to go and rescue him.

As sequels go, audiences to get very clingy and skeptical over what the new film has to offer, in the case of Toy Story 2, it does have a lot to offer. That doesn't mean to say that it's going to be a good film from the moment you start watching, I think the proof is in the pudding with Toy Story 2. It makes sense when you watch it that this is a sequel which very much carries on where we left off in the first film, but it's those clever brains at PIXAR that go as far to show it's more than carrying on from where you left off, it's about the characters and the development.

This film is all about Woody, and it explores Woody's avenues further. It shows his importance to Andy, his importance to Buzz and the other Toys, It shows his importance to a whole new franchise he knew nothing about. He almost chooses to turn his back on Andy and go for another life, but I don't think we could of seen Woody in another life, it's just not plausible in the way his importance of authority is set up so well in the first film.

We are introduced to four new characters. Jesse, Bulls-eye, Stinky Pete and Evil Emperor Zurg. All of which are all such good characters and all so well constructed. Jesse in perticular this is someone who just wants to belong somewhere and it's Woody that gives that to her.

I think the whole rescue mission behind this is so enjoyably comedic that it acts as a sort of reference to other great films. It's very much like what Aardman did with Chicken Run, referenced their plot of structure like The Great Escape. There's something more to it, than sticking to the basics and that's what PIXAR does so well.

My problem with Toy Story 2 is that it will never be as good as the first film. The first film had and still is a great presentation of imagination, now we're used to it and we understand the concepts behind it, you do feel 'well why bother?' I mean 'surely the whole reason of the 2nd and 3rd films being made was to make money?' It's a good margin booster, it tops PIXAR's ratings, it allows chances of improvemnt and continuation of working with such great characters they created and all the revisitation. Surely that's what these films are all about, their money makers. That's my problem with it.

Don't get me wrong, Toy Story 2 is good, but not brilliant. It just lacks the interest and wow factor for me. For that reason it's a 6/10.