Toy Story 2 (G)
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This is the first sequel to Toy Story. It came out in 1999, and it was sometime in the following decade that I first saw it, on TV, and I'm sure I was planning on writing a review... but somehow, I didn't. I finally got it on DVD in 2020, so now I'm writing a review. I will say I don't think I liked it quite as much as either the first or third movies, but it was pretty close. (A fourth "Toy Story" came out before I re-watched this movie, and the DVD even has ads for it, but I haven't seen that one yet.)

So... it begins with Buzz Lightyear having a space adventure, infiltrating the headquarters of Evil Emperor Zurg (Andrew Stanton), but Buzz ends up being killed. Luckily, that was actually just a video game. Anyway, Andy plays with his toys for awhile before going to cowboy camp, and accidentally rips a thread out of Woody's arm, so he decides not to take Woody to camp with him. After Andy puts him on a shelf and leaves, Woody discovers another broken toy named Wheezy, who had been left there some time ago. Then Andy's mom comes and takes a few things away in a box, including Wheezy, for a yard sale. So Woody goes to rescue the toy, but in the process gets noticed by a customer named Al McWhiggin (voiced by Wayne Knight, which is funny, because he would later voice Zurg in the animated series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command). Al tries to buy Woody, but Andy's mom refuses to sell him for any price... so when she's not looking, Al steals Woody.

Later, Buzz leads a team of toys to try to rescue Woody from Al's Toy Barn, but Woody isn't there. Al actually has plans to sell Woody as part of a set of toys from an old TV show called "Woody's Roundup," which Woody himself didn't know anything about. So he's pretty excited to learn about his origins, and all the merchandising that went along with it. The other toys from the show include a cowgirl named Jessie (Joan Cusack); and Woody's horse, Bullseye; and an old prospector named Stinky Pete (Kelsey Grammer). Al wants to sell the set to a museum in Japan, and while Jessie and the others look forward to that, Woody just wants to get back home to Andy. This upsets Jessie, because she doesn't want to be put back into storage (the toys could only be sold as a complete set), besides which she has a tragic backstory, which we learn from a song (by Sarah McLachlan).

Beyond that, I don't want to spoil any more details of the plot. I will say that we meet Mrs. Potato Head (Estelle Harris) in this movie, as she was only mentioned in the first one. There's also a Barbie doll in Al's Toy Barn, voiced by Jodi Benson. And... I'm not sure what else to say, except that the movie's a lot of fun, along with some drama. And I really like Jessie, mostly because of how spunky she is (but also because I've always been partial to redheads). Oh, and I wanted to mention a scene that kind of reminded me of Jurassic Park, in a weird way. Even weirder, there's a nightmare that reminded me of Get Out, which of course came out long after this. And I guess that's all.