You'll not need to have seen its predecessor to enjoy Toy Story 2 (I
hadn't), and your age is irrelevant as much of its humour is aimed well
above 4ft 10. Sexual innuendo, hilarious hollywood references, self parodies
and accomplished performances from each pixelated character give it real
depth and class. Youngsters may miss the grown-up gags but will be thrilled
by TS2's brilliant animation and vibrancy.
With an opening sequence to rival that of any Bond film, Buzz Lightyear
(testosterone cells included) thrusts us into the action. His pumped up
machismo, voiced by Tim Allen is a constantly amusing. He takes his
space-ranger role so seriously; courageously leading his fellow toys on
dangerous missions…. over a highway… through air conditioning ducts,
spouting tough-guy rhetoric like: "No… they'll be expecting that" when in
fact no one is expecting anything at all from an inert piece of PVC.
Lightyear is charmingly unaware of his plastic impotence, strutting about
being the hero with his lasers that are just flashing lights and his
'gravity belt'. His ridiculous creed "To infinity and beyond!" seems also to
be that of the Pixar/Disney team who have created nothing less than a first
rate action adventure that just happens to be animated.
Lightyear's co-toy Woody, the lanky cowboy doll (Tom Hanks) is having a
mid-life crisis. As his owner Andy approaches adolescence, so then does
Woody approach redundancy. He faces a permanent spot in a cardboard box in
the basement or…gulp, a demeaning price tag and a garage sale (along with
Wheezy the penguin who's lost his squeaker). But Woody discovers that he is
a rare and valuable toy when kidnapped by giggling slob of a fanatical
toy-collector Al McWhiggin (voiced by the slob in Seinfeld, Wayne Knight).
McWhiggin plans to sell him to a toy museum in Japan, and in effect give
Woody a new career, or what you might call … Immortality.
Impressively, and unlike Pixar/Disney's last collaboration A Bug's Life, TS2
is a morality tale which is low on saccharine. Only briefly, during a 'sad'
musical interlude does it threaten to get wet. The unlikely band of toys,
including Rex the neurotic plastic dinosaur, Hamm the piggy bank, Mr and Mrs
Potato Head, Slinky Dog and Bo Peep go about their important toy business
with calamitous earnestness and without going for nauseous cutesy points.
Also endearing is TS2's presentation of Toy ethics -what it means to be a
Toy. They have a well-defined code of conduct based around serving their
owner selflessly, but like the rest of us must occasionally look out for
themselves. Woody must weigh up his options: sterile but assured retirement
as a museum piece versus his responsibilities to Andy and his fellow toys
and the probable oblivion of being outgrown and left in a cupboard (it's
amazing the rest of these consciously doomed toys aren't topping themselves
all over the shop).
The sets are terrific, notably Al's toy store with its Barbie aisle (woof!!)
and the airport luggage conveyors. This is computer animation at its best -
losing itself and forgetting it is animation. Funny, fast and rewarding
without the mush and further to its credit, it's a film with Tom Hanks in
which we don't have to watch Tom Hanks.
david bull
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Read adam rivett's account of Toy Story 2
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