My headline sum up the most admirable thing about Toy Story. Pixar had enough respect towards their 1995 mega hit to put effort into making a spectacular sequel. Woody is faced with hard choices here about himself being a collector's item and therefore immediately desired by the toy enthusiast Al who brings him to his own place with lots of merchandise. One of them is a TV-show with co-puppets a cowgirl named Jessie, a horse named Bull's Eye and a prospector named Stinky Pete.Jessie is a really well made character with an emotional back-story which always makes me cry a little. The song "When She Loved Me" is a perfect song illustrating her emotional scars. That song easily ranks among Randy Newman's best. Every conflict faced in this movie is perfect. When you find yourself torn between both choices, you know it is great. Woody wants to stay with his newly acquired fame and free his new friends from being left as an incomplete collection, but also to go back to Andy. There are also a lot of great laughs. Lots of jokes about other toys and the situations they find themselves in. I could go on for ever about how much I like Toy Story 2. Go see it if you haven't and do your kids a favor and show all Toy Story movies to them.

After the first Toy Story film (released in 1995) wowed audiences, the public clamored (despite the Pixar policy of not making animated films into sequel franchises) for an encore. Thus, in 1999, Toy Story 2 was released and, remarkably, surpassed even the highest of expectations, besting the original (no small feat).For a basic plot summary, this film sees Sheriff Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks) get "kidnapped" by a money-hungry toy collector, who needs the Woody doll to complete the now-infamous set from the classic "Woody's Roundup" TV show (the origins of the Woody doll). With Andy away at cowboy camp, Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and the rest of the toybox gang plot and execute a rescue mission. Little do they know, though, that Woody, upon meeting the rest of his gang-- Stinky Pete (Kelsey Grammar), horse Bullseye, and Jessie the Cowgirl (Joan Cusack)--forms a bond that may lead him to spend the rest of his shelf-life inside a museum.What really makes this film work is that the writers/producers made the brilliant decision to include Woody's backstory into the movie, as it would have been very easy to focus (once again) on Buzz and have the cowboy play second-fiddle. Instead, the story actually hones in on Woody and the big decisions he must make. Of course, the entire film is also filled with hilarious sight gags, situations, and jokes that both children and adults will enjoy with equal enthusiasm. In terms of both humor and storytelling, this effort eclipses the original by quite a wide margin.Plus, the addition of the Bullseye and Jessie characters are welcome (and vital) new additions to the show, as their presence leads to some pretty tense emotional drama. In a music-video montage involving the girl Jessie doll, you may find yourself holding back (or letting go) tears. The best part of it is, you won't even feel as if you are watching nothing but a bunch of carefully constructed pixels...you will come to view them as characters as real as you or I.Thus, in a remarkable feat, Pixar was able to improve on the ground-breaking original Toy Story and take things up even another notch. As Toy Story 3 currently begins playing in theatres across the country, it will be interesting to see if the ante will be upped once again. As usual, it will be a difficult task.

I was honestly disappointed by Toy Story 2. It just kind of lost its charm here. I don't hate it, nor does it "suck". It's just not as good as the original. Toy Story 2 does have some shine in it however. I liked the return of Zurg, Barbie joins the film, and some of the jokes. I don't want to say I wasted my money...but I did. Oh yeah, and what the he'll ever happened to Molly? Did she die or something? Jessie and Bullseye are a perfect addition for Woody. I wonder if Buzz will get space brothers....No, the aliens don't count. I found out there was a Toy Story 3.....it could answer my questions but I'd rather skip it. Overall, I'd give Toy Story 2 a 6.0/10.

I'm going to agree with CinemaSins that while this film blows a lot of modern animated films away, it's still the worst of the Toy Story trilogy. Toy Story 2 has more engagement-starved moments than Toy Story and the sole major improvement was to the animation, which is still as timeless as ever. I did love When She Loved Me, and I was about as morose as Jessie was when I heard that it lost the Best Original Song to You'll Be In My Heart from Tarzan. It gives Toy Story 2 an emotional edge over its predecessor, though I could not possibly care less about the assortment of inside jokes Pixar split across each frame, including Flik and Heimlich in the blooper reel and Geri as The Cleaner who repairs Woody. Some other references abound, too, but overall this is a film that is worth your time, a rarity for anything Disney (or Disney-related) slaps "Sequel" on to. After one low point with A Bug's Life, Pixar is now invigorated and can put Disney's traditionally animated films in their place.