When Woody is stolen by a toy collector, Buzz and his friends vow to rescue him, but Woody finds the idea of immortality in a museum tempting.

CRITIQUE

The film begins with Woody making a mad dash to get ready to go to "Cowboy Camp" with Andy, where the boy will be staying for a week or two (it never really gets established how long Andy is away, but this feels like the right amount of time to pass by). Andy is playing with Woody and Buzz, his two favorite toys, when suddenly part of the stitching on Woody's arm rips. Not wanting to ruin the toy any more, Andy leaves Woody at home.

A short time later, the toys awake to find the only thing worse than a birthday party or even Christmas (in which toys get replaced by better ones, as seen in the first film): a yard sale. During a daring rescue of Squeeky (the penguin chew toy with a busted squeeker) utilizing Buster, the family dog (if only this little guy had gotten more screen time...), Woody finds himself toy-napped (again!), but this time it is by a toy collector named Al.

It turns out that Woody is a priceless antique, and is destined to be sold as the last part in a set (which includes a cowgirl, a prospector, and Woody's horse, Bullseye) to a museum in Japan. At first he is as reluctant as could be expected. Then he sees all the great merchandise made out of his likeness, and the old '50's Howdy Doody-esque TV show called "Woody's Round-Up" (an astonishingly realistic part of the film).

However, he is soon convinced of his own mortality when he connects with Jesse (Woody's female partner on the show, voiced by the awesome Joan Cusack), a poor little cowgirl with a melancholy past, as seen through a heartbreaking montage (damn...Sarah MacLachlan may sound like a pubescent 14 year old, but her voice sure can bring a tear to your eye in the right context).

Meanwhile, Buzz is leading the other main toys on a rescue mission of their own, this time across town through neighborhoods, busy highways, a toy store, and Al's apartment complex. Sheer, utter hilarity ensues with such zaniness as new Buzz confronting old Buzz (the shallow, otherworldly one of the first film), Pixar making fun of it's own toy campaigns (in the toy store, referencing to the overwhelming popularity of Buzz Lightyear action figures after the first film's release), and the emergence of Buzz Lightyear's arch-nemesis, Emperor Zurg (complete with awesome Star Wars reference).

As the time of Andy's return grows nearer and nearer, Woody has to decide whether a toy's true purpose in life is to be admired by as many people as possible for as long as possible, or to be loved by one boy for only the beginning of his life.

THE VIDEO

Disney presents Toy Story in a 1.78:1/1080p transfer encoded with AVC onto a 50GB disc. This presentation is absolutely flawless; colors are extremely vibrant, detail is smooth and incredibly well-defined, and contrast is superb. Coming straight from the digital source, this transfer is immaculate.

THE AUDIO

Disney presents Toy Story with an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. Dialogue is sharp and very clear, and the surrounds are active throughout. Optional English SDH, Spanish and French subtitles are included.

THE EXTRAS

Audio Commentary with director John Lasseter, co-directors Lee Unkrich and Ash Brannon, and co-writer Andrew Stanton: Filled with fun information, production stories and animation-related tidbits, easily making this a superb commentary.

New Special Features

Toy Story 3 Sneak Peek: “The Characters” (4:01, HD) finds director Lee Unkrich giving viewers a small “sneak peek” at the third film, and promising the return of many characters. He also introduces a lot of  the new characters as well, which was fun to see.

Buzz Lightyear Mission Logs: International Space Station (3:45, HD) explains to younger viewers how the space station operates, what gravity is, astronauts doing the space walk, and the components of a space suit. Great footage of the station and the astronauts.

Paths to Pixar: Technical Artists (4:24, HD) looks at several artists discussing their path to Pixar.

Studio Stories: Toy Story 2 Sleep Deprivation Lab (1:28, HD) is an animated retelling of the awful state of John Lasseter’s car back in the day. A funny tagline at the end of this reel proclaims “99% true… as far as we recall!”

Studio Stories: Pinocchio (1:40, HD) is an animated retelling of what AJ Riebli went through to win a Halloween costume contest at Pixar.

Studio Stories: The Movie Vanishes (2:18, HD) is yet another animated retelling, this one of the many competitive scooter races that took place at the Pixar offices.

Pixar’s Zoetrope (2:00, HD) is a neat little featurette on animation.

Celebrating Our Friend Joe Ranft (12:47, HD) features the Pixar guys remembering fondly their co-worker and friend.

Classic DVD Bonus Features

Making Toy Story 2 (8:11, SD) finds the filmmakers speaking about what is new in the sequel (such as a bigger scope), delving into toy psyche that gave the story its emotional resonance, and what Lasseter describes as “making the same world again.”

John Lasseter Profile (3:03, SD) is just that, with a series of interviews.

Cast of Characters (3:30, SD) is also pretty self-explanatory, interviews with the voice cast offering their thoughts on the characters.

Toy Box features animated Outtakes (5:43) that are pretty hilarious, Jessie’s Gag (1:10) which was an Easter egg on the DVD and made me laugh out loud because it was so unexpected, Who’s the Coolest Toy? (3:18) is a collection of interviews with various folks telling us who their favorite toy in Andy’s room is (love the back-and-forth between Tom Hanks and Tim Allen on whether it’s Woody or Buzz), Riders in the Sky Medley (3:10) is a music video cross between the band performing their song and film clips cut together, and Autographed Pictures (0:44) is a reel of individual acting head shots signed by the characters (an amusing idea).

Deleted Scenes (18:50) features 3 scenes total; a deleted animated intro, the toys playing a game in Andy’s room that leads to Woody ending up in the yard sale box (an alternate story element), and the toys crossing a busy street in traffic cones (slightly alternate than the scene in the film).

The following sections feature even more material, and it’s going to take you some time to get through it all.

Design is an extremely large gallery that you’ll want to explore but it may take some time.

Production breaks down to: Designing Woody’s Past (2:50) finds John Lasseter and Ash Brannon showing off some of Woody’s Roundup collectible items (vinyl record, lunch box, etc) created specifically for the movie, Making Woody’s Roundup (2:00) looks at how they created that sequence, Production Tour (2:31) of how a scene progresses in the animation process (made in a way that kids can understand it), Early Animation Tests (3:13) of various scenes, Special Effects (1:38) of the scene with Buzz eliminating an army of robots, and International Scene (1:20) explains a change to animation the filmmakers did for international audiences by replacing the American flag behind Buzz as he’s giving a speech to a spinning globe with fireworks (and recording a new theme by Randy Newman).

Music & Sound features Designing Sound (5:38), Making the Songs (3:25), “Woody’s Roundup” music video (2:17), and “Jessie’s Song” Randy Newman demo (2:48).

Publicity features Character Interview, Trailers, TV Spots, Posters, and a neat clip called Baseball Woody (0:22) where he throws a pitch that flies at the screen.

Also featured is a one-minute featurette titled How To Take Your DisneyFile Favorite Movies on the Go.

There’s also a separate menu for Sneak Peeks with trailers for various Disney movies.

FINAL THOUGHT

You should be purchasing this Blu-ray right now instead of reading this sentence.