Toy
Story 2 – DTS 2-Disc Special Edition
Picture: B
Sound: B+ Extras: B Animated Feature: B
Toy Story (1995) was such a huge hit that
a sequel would have seemed logical, but computer animated features were such a
new thing at the time that Disney and Pixar originally had much lower
expectations for such a project and originally planned it as a
straight-to-video project with inferior graphics and to cash in on the hit
success of the first. However, the
companies came to their senses, got the star voices back on board and with more
CG features breaking the bank, decided to go all out. The resulting Toy Story 2 that was theatrically released
in 1999 and was a huge hit worthy of the original. It also received the same critical accolades.
To repeat the original set up, the film stars the voice of
Tom Hanks (in one of his best roles to date, ironically) as Woody The Cowboy,
who has a grip on what reality is, but not necessarily its situations. He is among a group of toys that come to
life when any humans, especially young child Andy, are gone. Andy has a huge amount of toys, including a
new one, Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen).
The rest of the toys are not necessarily happy about the arrival of this
futuristic figure, fearing a sense of being obsolete and unwanted, but they
could not be more wrong. With the
toy-torturing neighborhood bully Sid and Lightyear being light-years away from
understanding that he is just a toy and not the character he has been manufactured
to be, the adventure no one expected is about to begin. This time, Woody is stolen by a greedy toy
collector while his owner Andy is on vacation, but his fellow toy friends will
do what they can to help him.
Besides Hanks and Allen, returning voices include Don
Rickles, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Annie Potts, Laurie
Metcalf and R. Lee Ermey. Joan Cusack
joins them as Jessie; a cowgirl partner for Woody who yodels al the time and
the film runs a longer, while Estelle Harris is Mrs. Potato Head. The film runs a sometimes more satisfying,
longer 92 minutes, versus the last feature.
The writing is as smart, entertaining and witty as the last film, but
the love of older toys sometimes takes a backseat to the adventure of the new
script. Some people consider this
better than the first, but I thought it was about on par with the first and a
worthy follow-up with plenty of fun to offer.
You should really start with the first one, but Toy Story 2 is
still one of the best sequels in animation history, even if it is in the fledgling
CG field.
The anamorphically enhanced 16 X 9/1.78 X 1 image looks
good for its age, especially considering it originated in the digital realm ten
years ago. Color is consistent and the
animation is slightly better (as you would expect with more money and more
advances in CG capacities) holds up very well for being 7 years old now. Technically, the transfer has hardly any
visual glitches, meaning Pixar once again took care of the master materials and
this is a solid down-trade from the original HD materials. The film this time was issued in all three
digital audio formats for theatrical release, Dolby Digital, DTS and SDDS (Sony
Dynamic Digital Sound) and both new Dolby EX and DTS matrixed ES. Like the picture, the sound is a little
better, though not astronomically so as compared to the still impressive
performance of the last film technically.
Especially in the opening sequences, the sound is even more impressive
and continues Pixar’s tradition of exception multi-track film sound
presentations. This is absolutely demo
quality!
Extras are again numerous, with a preview for the next
Disney/Pixar feature Cars once again repeated, along with some other
Disney titles, another fine audio commentary by John Lassiter, Lee Unkrich, Ash
Brannon & Andrew Stanton and a brief introduction by Lassiter on DVD
1. DVD 2 has deleted scenes, outtakes,
autographed pictures, a new game for kids and more in the “toy box” section, an
Easter Egg gag when highlighting a star in the menu, behind the scenes
featurette and a making of that runs just over 8 minutes. Toy Story 2 – DTS 2–Disc Special Edition
is a no-brainer winner and great collectible set worth your time. You don’t have to be a pre-teen to
appreciate what a great work this is.
Those with home theaters in particular will want a copy of the set ASAP.
- Nicholas Sheffo
