Review of Toy Story 2 (1999) by Jake M — 21 Jul 2017

Toy Story 2 (1999) - is not only just as enjoyable as it's predecessor, but I personally think it's even better. Everything that the first Toy story started has been brought up to the next level in this amazing sequel.

The ideas and themes the concept tackles are done with great care and it perfectly balances the creative ideas with moments that really bring out the drama of what some of the characters go through. The many places our characters explore are made very grand and epic as this movie goes further with putting the toy's in many different scenarios that are fun and quite inventive. One second they might be cruising through Al's Toy Barn and another second they might be running through the baggage handling system at the Airport. Each scene is timed out perfectly and it gives us a lot of time to establish everything the movie throws at us. This is also the first time that I think Pixar really nailed the Blended effect of Creative fun and Impactful Heartfelt emotions. While their previous movie's sustained a number of elements to keep us coming back for more, I believe that this movie was the first time I felt that they perfected a formula that really emphasized what Pixar was really cable of.

The characters have still retained the charm that made them lovable in the first movie and the new characters work just as great with adding more layers to the world of Toys. Buzz and the rest of the Andy's Toys work on the comedic side of the adventure while Woody's side of the story is more down to earth and add some great world building when diving deep into how a toys feel about their owners. Jessie is a great example of this because her tragic backstory really shows the tragedy of being abandoned and what an effect it had on her. Other new characters like Al, Bullseye, the Prospect and even Emperor Zurg also bring their memorable mark in the movie and add more building blocks to the franchise.

The animation has noticeably improved from the first movie and it manages to improve many of the awkward bits that didn't look very appealing the last time. The textures feel more realistic and the animation on the humans is more natural and appealing. The environments feel more immersive and huge thanks to the update in technology and every place the toy's visit is always made adventurous and epic. The thing that captured my attention the most is the attention to detail they put into the woody's Roundup sequences. The look of the show really resembles the style of an old 50's show and the puppet animation is superb.

The Music is once again helmed by Randy Newman. He uses the same style of Nostalgic like violin tunes while adding some new scores that really help drive the emotion of every scene regardless of the feeling. This is also the first time that Pixar hired an actual artists to record songs for their movie. "Riders in the Sky" sung a few songs for the movie, one of them being the theme for Woody's Roundup. It works well when combined with the style of the Tv show. "Sarah McLachlan" sang a song for Jessie's backstory called "When she loved me" which is done beautifully and really emphases the emotion of the tragedy of Jessie's owner growing up and moving on without her.

Although the first movie was a great start for the series I think this movie really captivated The emotions and pathos of a toy's point of view with heartfelt moments, great new characters and a great blend of Creative ideas with relatable emotions. It's an outstanding movie that has everything I believe an animated movie should have and it's definitely one of Pixar's finest. (A+).