No nits from me. I just want to say that this is a GREAT movie. I enjoyed it more than The Phantom Menace (the last movie I saw in a theatre).
It was good but I missed Randy Newman doing the soundtrack.
This was one of the best children's movies that I've seen. The spoofs make it enjoyable for the adults. I especially enjoyed the Star Trek spoofs ("The Search for Woody" and Buzz doing the Vulcan hand-sign). One nit that I saw was during the video game scenes at the beginning of the movie. There are rocks floating in mid-air above the planet!
This was one of the best children's movies that I've seen. The spoofs make it enjoyable for the adults. I especially enjoyed the Star Trek spoofs ("The Search for Woody" and Buzz doing the Vulcan hand-sign). One nit that I saw was during the video game scenes at the beginning of the movie. There are rocks floating in mid-air (or mid-vacuum as the case may be) above the planet!
Sorry about the double post!
Could they have been held in place by some sort of forcefield?
Toy Story 2:
The cowgirl (Jesse?) had a flashback where she recalled being left under her owners bed.
Why didn't she just move?
While it is true that toys usually get back to the spot where they were left, there have been times when they "get found" at another spot.
One of the charms of the first movie (and this one) is that though they talk and move, they're still toys. And they should always act within the physical bounds of toys. So Zurg's limitless number of balls to fire at Buzz breaks this rule. What he does is the equivalent of Buzz actually being able to hurt people with his laser.
I got the impression that Andy was the first owner of Woody, but if he is a collectable, he should be much older. And if he is much older, then he wouldn't be surprised to discover he is a collectable.
From another post...
The cowgirl (Jesse?) had a flashback where she recalled being left under her owners bed.
Why didn't she just move?
While it is true that toys usually get back to the spot where they were left, there have been times when they "get found" at another spot.
The fact that Woody doesn't know his roots is A little odd. I I'll be posting a full batch of views in a few days.
It looks like the makers of these movies have a thing for traffic accidents. Both Toystory and Toystory 2 have a scene on a busy road, with cars colliding into eachother. Though, I must say, the one in the second movie was hilarous, complete with the falling lamppost!
Richard-
It wouldn't be that odd for Woody to not remember his roots. After all, Buzz didn't recognize that he was a toy right away.
Slinky Frog-
Was their a car accident in the first movie? I don't remember that.
Buzz did know he was a space ranger & Zurg was his arch enemy, & the accident in TS was near the end when the dog was chasing the removal van.
It is always possible that Woody had originally belonged to Andy's father. That would also explain why Andy loves Woody so much.
Why did Al have so must trouble finding a Woody doll, if we was the main character wouldn't there have been a lot more around? Or did the have a habit of falling to bits when played with too much?
I loved all the obvious and obscure references in this movie. A couple of my faves:
"My biscuits are burnin'!" (Ref: Yosemite Sam in Who Framed Roger Rabbit)
Woody transferring from Bullseye to the suitcase tram (Raiders of the Lost Ark)
The tram actually sounding like a railroad train, and Woody jumping from car to car (Indy 3, Mission:Impossible, and countless westerns)
When Al says goodbye to the Japanese collector on the phone, he says "(blah, blah, blah) Don't touch my mustache..." That's a mnemonic I learned in Japan to help remember the phrase "Do itashemashite", pronounced something like doe-eetosh-ay-mosh-ee-tay, which means "You're welcome."
Buzz says to Woody "You -- are -- a -- TOYEE!!" (as Woody did to Buzz in TS1)
Trivia I didn't realize until watching the credits: The doll cleaner was played by Jonathan Harris, aka Dr. Smith of Lost in Space fame. The cleaner also strongly resembles the man in (Geri's Game?), a recent Pixar short.
When Hamlet is zipping through the channels, scenes are shown from several Pixar shorts, including Red's Dream and Tin Toy.
Andy's mom tells Al that Woody is an old family heirloom and, therefor, not for sale. You see their conversation from the vantage point of the toys in the window, so it's hard to make out.
I loved the movie, but I agree that Al could easily have found a Woody doll from any number of sources on line if it was really that critical. Perhaps he was simply trying to maximize his profits (because he's "cheap, cheap, cheap").
For Chris Thomas, Randy Newman DID write the score for Toy Story 2.
Oh, and the proper Romanization is "Doitashimashite."
In any case, this movie is easily Pixar's best, and outdoes its predecessor in almost every way: plot, humour, music, and poignancy.
Get 'em while you can... I heard Toy Story and Toy Story 2 are being withdrawn from circulation at the end of the month. L
I thought TS2 was better than the first one, too (and the first one was very good). More laughs, more fun, more toys. How can you go wrong?
This is my favorite of the Pixars (which is admittedly tough, since none are even close to being bad). It's got a terrific voice cast (only A Bug's Life can even come close to it), some humdingers of action scenes, a marvelous song sung by Sarah MacLachlan, and some rather thought-provoking questions, more so probably than any other Pixar film.
For the record, I'd rank 'em:
1. Toy Story 2
2. Finding Nemo
3. Toy Story
4. A Bug's Life
5. Monsters Inc.
The last two flip flop however.
Personally I would have ranked them:
1: Toy Story 2
2: Toy Story
3: A Bug's Life
4: Monster's inc
5; Finding nemo For some reason I just couldnt get into this one.
I'd rank Monsters and Nemo on top, followed by Toy Story, Toy Story 2, and Bug's Life.
And I can't WAIT to see The Incredibles, and I'm curious to see what Cars is going to be like a year after that.
I'm always impressed by the voice casting that Pixar does. It's recognizable casting, but it's not the vacuous "let's cast a star for the heck of it" thing that Disney has slid into. It's also cool to hear stars cut loose--Willem Dafoe in "Nemo," Kevin Spacey in "Bug's Life," Tom Hanks in "Toy Story," and now Samuel L. Jackson in "Incredibles."
Yeah, I only found out RECENTLY that Jackson is in Incredibles, and saw a brief clip of his character!
Personally, I'd go with Toy Story 2, Nemo, Toy Story, Monsters, Bug's Life. That's the order I like 'em in.
My list goes Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc, Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Finding Nemo (which latter is beautifully animated and funny but just doesn't do much for me personally.)
Agreed that Pixar's voice casting is terrific in unexpected ways. I'm guessing having a Pixar role on your resume has now become one of those cool little status symbols Hollywood loves so much, like guesting on The Muppet Show or Batman.
My list is like kerriem's, only I'd switch Toy Story and Toy Story 2 around. (And bear in mind, for me, the list is darned-near a five-way tie, for various reasons.)
So true, CR. Pixar hasn't yet made a bad feature film, or even a mediocre one.
Right! But let me qualify my feelings: it's not the animation quality (which is, of course, top notch) that makes me like these films. It's the stories and characters themselves, and, as others have mentioned, the voice casting. I don't care how good a film looks, if those other qualities are lacking, I won't like it very much.
Non-animated case in point: Star Wars Ep I and Star Wars Ep II.
Very good examples, Scott, but those CGI-laden flicks didn't even look that good. When an entire film is CGI, you go with it, because that's the universe it's set in. Both prequels involved CGI effects and characters that looked patently out of place with the "real" elements.
Sorry, that previous post is mine, too. *cough, cough*.
Well, if you're coughing, then I guess you really *are* sick!
That was kind of the point.
Sorry, Scott, that came off as a little caustic.
Don't sweat it, Snick.
The one misstep in casting, IMHO, was Kelsey Grammer as the Prospector in TS2. I do not think he fit that role at all. They needed a Gabby Hayes type.
I remember thinking that too when I saw it. He didn't even try to alter his voice to sound like an aged prospector.
Wasn't that the point in the casting? That the Prospector was in actuality a civilized cultured individual who detested entertaining children by playing a rustic (as the real Mr. Hayes, a New Yorker, apparently was).
I don't recall that character point in the film. All I remember was him wanting to go to the toy museum in Japan, rather than become another kid's toy.
Well, when Woody watched "Woody's Roundup" the first time, we see the Prospector sighing and shaking his head when it gets to a part where his character is doing something stupid, as I recall.
Yeah, I remember that. I got the sense that he was showing some embarassment at something cheesy he did in his past, kinda when you look at your high school yearbook photo or home movies made when you were a kid. I didn't get the sense that he detested his old job. But hey, to each his own.
I think you're probably right, Luigi, that there's no proof he hated playing his hick character, but I do think Mike's right that the point of casting Kelsey Grammer was to make that joke, that the actual Prospector was this erudite person when you'd expect a redneck.
An old point, but it should be noted that whenever we hear the prospector's voice on the show and not him normally, it does sound like an old prospector.
Toy Story and Toy Story 2 will be re-released to theaters as a double feature on 10/2/09. In 3-D this time.