Deep Dive Pixar: Wes Looks at Toy Story 2

Welcome back to Deep Dive Disney, now made with extra Pixar. Today, we’re finally giving a proper sendoff to Disney in the 90’s by revisiting some old friends. Today, my faithful readers, we’re looking at Toy Story 2. Woody, Buzz and all our favorite Toys from Andy’s room are back. This time around, Woody is accidentally damaged during playtime preventing him joining Andy for his annual trip to cowboy camp. Through a series of unfortunate circumstances, Woody accidentally finds himself in a yard sale where he’s stolen by toy store owner, rare toy collector and all-around jackass, Al McWiggin. While Buzz and the other toys race to rescue their cowboy friend before Andy gets home Woody learns something new about himself. See, it turns out that, as a Sheriff Woody doll, Woody is a very rare and very valuable piece of memorabilia from a cancelled TV show called Woody’s Roundup, and now that he has the full set, Al plans to sell his entire collection to a Toy museum in Japan for big money. Woody, of course, only wants to get back home to Andy. However, if he does, it means that his new friends, Jessie the Cowgirl, Bullseye the Horse and Stinky Pete the Prospector, will go back into the darkness of storage, possibly forever. Not wanting to condemn his new friend to a horrific fate, and also letting his newfound fame go to his head, Woody agrees to go to Japan where he will supposedly be appreciated forever. It’s a more than worthy follow up to one of the most celebrated films in the history of animation. Let’s take a closer look at Toy Story 2.

Main Character:

The first time around, Woody and Buzz shared the spotlight in equal measure. This time though, while Buzz still has a vital part to play, this is completely Woody’s story. Woody is still very much the character we remember from the first film. A bit sarcastic and maybe a bit full of himself at times but still a caring individual and a natural leader. In a sort of reversal of Buzz’s arc in the last movie where he was devastated to learn he was just a toy, Woody learns that he’s much more than a toy and his ego is inflated greatly. Afterall, while he was with Andy, he was broken and put on the shelf. As a member of this collection, he will last forever and never be abandoned, and neither will his new friends. However, amidst his newfound fame, Woody has forgotten the very advice he gave Buzz. Being a toy is all about being loved by a child and nothing can be more rewarding or important.

Villain:

There’s a couple of villains in the movie worth addressing. Let’s start with Al. While Sid from the last movie was not really a villain when viewed from the perspective of we humans, Al is far less ambiguous. Al is a thief and a scumbag through and through. Also, something he says in his sleep seems to indicate that he has a past criminal record. Al would probably sell his own mother to make a few bucks.

I’ll give a brief mention of Zurg, even though he’s not really a villain, just a toy who doesn’t realize he’s a toy, much like Buzz in the first movie. Still, as the nemesis of Buzz Lightyear often alluded to in the previous film, Zurg is still plenty intimidating and comes across as a real threat. Still, I tend to prefer Zurg from the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command series, which really needs to be on Disney+. Seriously, they put the god damned Ewoks cartoon on their streaming service but Aladdin, Tarzan and Buzz Lightyear get the shaft? Come on! Interestingly enough, Zurg in the show is voiced by Wayne Knight, who voices Al in this film. I have no idea if that was intentional or just a coincidence but it’s interesting all the same.

Now, let’s talk about the real villain of the piece, The Prospector. I believe that Prospector is the first of Disney’s twist villains. You could make a case for Clayton but as we established last time, Clayton being the villain was barely twist. Prospector’s heel turn was actually a legitimate surprise since there were no obvious indicators of his villainous tendencies. Prospector is voiced by the always awesome Kelsey Grammer. If you close your eyes, you can hardly tell the difference between Prospector and another iconic character of animation played by Grammer, Sideshow Bob. All that having been said though, I don’t actually think Stinky Pete is evil, just desperate and misguided. Unlike Woody and Jessie, both of whom have had owners who loved them, Prospector has never even been taken out of his box, having spent his entire life on a dime store shelf watching other toys being sold. He’s never experienced a Toy’s true purpose and it seems to have driven him a bit mad. He blames his situation on the rise in popularity of space toys, continuing some of the themes from the first film. He wants to be appreciated but fails to realize what that really means. Since the toys stick him in a child’s bag at the end, I’d like to think that he eventually changes his ways and discovered the value of a child’s love.

Side Characters:

Most of the Toys we remember from the first movie are back but haven’t changed much in the personality department. Rex is still neurotic, Ham is still snarky, Slinky is still friendly and supportive, and Potato Head is still irritable, though I did appreciate him saying how he regrets being a jerk to Woody in the last movie. I guess getting married between movies mellowed him out. Buzz on the other hand seems to have grown quite a bit since the last movie. It’s not lost on him that Woody saved his life in more ways than one and he feels that he owes it to the sheriff to save him when he’s stolen by Al even though he knows full well that the journey will be incredibly dangerous. I’d like to think that even though Buzz is now aware of his true nature, the heroic tendencies of the “real” Buzz Lightyear are still in him. He also seems to have taken Woody’s words from the last movie to heart since he’s now the one who has to remind Woody what being a toy means, an almost full role reversal from the last film.

With all the old characters out of the way, that just leaves our two remaining new characters, Jessie and Bullseye. Now, there’s not much to Bullseye, he’s a horse. He’s a cool horse, probably my favorite Disney horse until Maximus from Tangled comes along, but still just a horse. Jessie, well that’s a different story entirely. Jessie has experienced a Toy’s true purpose and was once loved by a child. However, that child grew up and forgot about her. Jessie has seen that the love of a child doesn’t always last, and it destroyed her. She felt abandoned by Emily and that experience has left her bitter and cynical, as evidenced by how she scoffs at any of Woody’s attempts to convince her that Andy loves him despite seemingly contradictory evidence. Essentially, Jessie is a bit like Megara to a certain extent in that she needs to learn how to open herself up to being loved again. It’s difficult for her, but it’s clearly what she really wants, especially since once she learns that going back with Woody is a possibility, she leaps at the opportunity. I also appreciate that Jessie doesn’t become a love interest for Woody. While they develop a close friendship and Woody risks his life to save her, a relationship would have felt forced. Besides, Woody and Bo Peep’s relationship is already firmly established and I think Buzz and Jessie make a much cuter couple.

Songs:

First and foremost, we need to talk about When Somebody Loved Me. Sung by Sarah McLachlan, that lady who sings over all those commercials that try to get you to adopt rescue animals, the song tells the story of Jessie’s time with her owner Emily and how Emily eventually got too old for her and donated her to goodwill. I challenge anyone who watches this movie to get through this scene without crying. There’s also this fan theory floating around that Emily was actually Andy’s mother, a theory that admittedly doesn’t have a ton of supporting evidence but one I like just the same.

You got a friend in me comes back and in my opinion, it has a lot more thematic significance this time around since it’s ultimately this song that reminds Woody what’s really important. I also like the finale version of the song performed by Robert Goulet.

Memorable Scenes:

If I don’t bring it up, someone else is going to. This is the movie from which that stupid “Something Something Everywhere” meme originates. The irony I find with that is, the actual scene is way funnier than any of the memes could ever hope to be. I don’t quite know what it is, but something about the fact that Buzz Lightyear doesn’t know what s’mores are is hilarious to me. I also kind of want to start a band called “Delicious Hot Schmoes.”

I really like the scene where Buzz meets the other Buzz Lightyear action figure and gets a taste of what Woody had to deal with in the first movie. Buzz rolling his eyes at new Buzz acting like a real space ranger gets a lot of laughs.

Finally, the fight between Buzz and Zurg is actually really cool, even if the “I Am Your Father” joke was pretty cringeworthy. I’m telling you people, even a decade before Disney bought Star Wars, the signs were there.

Story:

As I said when we covered the first Toy Story film, there’s a greater story being told here over the course of the trilogy. (As of me writing this I have not seen Toy Story 4, so I have no idea if it continues the themes of the original three or not.) As such, I’d like to wait until Toy Story 3 to discuss that aspect. However, there are elements of that greater story in this movie, particularly with the idea that Andy growing up is inevitable. One day, Andy will outgrow his Toys and there’s nothing Woody, Buzz or any of the others can do about it. While The Prospector takes a “Why Bother” approach to the whole thing, Woody eventual comes to accept this truth and feels that while he can’t stop Andy from growing up, he also doesn’t want to miss it. Right now, Andy still needs him, and he has to be there for him.

Another present theme is that of the allure of fame and recognition. In this film, Woody learns of a fame he was never aware of before and it kind of goes to his head, leading to that complete role reversal of Woody and Buzz that we discussed earlier. Woody thinks that that going to the museum in Japan will mean he’ll be loved forever but Buzz helps him see that if he goes to the museum, he’ll just watch children from behind glass for the rest of eternity and never be loved again, and that is no life for a toy. For a Toy, life is not worth living unless you're loved by a child.

The Dark Disney Factor:

Something I’ve always said about Toy Story is that this is a world that really works best if you just roll with things and don’t think too hard about it. Well… I thought to hard about and well… THE WORLD OF TOY STORY IS FUCKING NIGHTMARE! Where should we start. Oh I know, how about the fact that Woody goes through much of the movie with a multilated lifeless arm that just unsettlingly hangs limp at his side that at one point he loses completely. How about the fact that, since the toys are sentient, the toy industry in this reality is basically human trafficking? What about the part where Woody has a Nightmare where Andy throws him in the garbage and a monster made of broken toy parts drags him into a dark abyss? Oh, and let’s not forget the fact that Jessie has actual PTSD from being locked in a dark storage closet, probably for years. Oh, and there’s also the fact that it’s mentioned that being SWALLOWED is a very real fear for the toys. How about the anxiety inducing nightmare that is having to cross the street under a cone while car accidents are happening all around you? Jesus Christ, I hope the love of a child is worth it because otherwise being a toy in this world sounds like a hellish existence! I honestly paused the movie half-way through just so I could apologize to the Venom action figure on my desk. No joke, I actually did that. There’s a very real possibility I’ve been working on this project way to long. Also, why are all the toys weirdly horny in this movie? As far as I desire to learn, these toys do not have genitals or a sex drive to speak of, so why are they all going gaga over the barbies or for Woody or whatever. Maybe it’s just for laughs, but I still felt really weird typing the phrase “Potato Sex” while live tweeting this movie.

Final Thoughts:

I actually love this movie. Not only is it very much in the same spirit as the original but it is also, in my option, a vast improvement over a movie that was already great. We see a progression of these beloved characters and we see seeds planted for what we know is to come. It's fine film that can be enjoyed by both children and adults. Next time, we'll finally enter the new Millennium as we look at another sequel. Next time, it's the follow up to one of my favorite movies of all time as Deep Dive Disney dives into An Extremely Goofy Movie