Toy Story 2

The return of Woody and Buzz to the screen is truly entertaining, watchable stuff(Disney has failed in its conquest the global domination if you don't know who W&B are). Picking up where the original computer animated hit left off, Toy Story 2 follows the adventures of a roomful of emotive and likable toys. The central toy character, Woody, turns out to be a prized collectable to an greedy toy store owner. Once kidnapped, Woody must choose between an empty but eternal life in a Japanese toy museum or a short bursting-with-joy life with his owner Andy. The writing is surprisingly good and the animation is so provocative and joy producing that you would have to be a truly evil person not to get caught up in it. One of the strengths of the story line is the universal appeal of its major theme: Fear of Death, shown early on as Woody the now damaged cowboy has a fairly powerful death dream (watch for the game where every card is the ace of spades). The "does-it-get-crappy-at-the-end" alarm never goes off, and the magic effect of the computer animation only breaks when you see real people, who look wrong in the way that the titular toys look right. Plus there is a mid movie song which I think was really intended as a bathroom break.

As anyone who saw Babe 2: Pig in the City knows, the arrival of a sequel to a successful children's movie is a time to be afraid, very afraid. Children's sequels tend to feel rushed and cheap in a straight-to-video sort of way (look to the follow-ups to Aladdin, Pocahontas, and The Lion King), or unbelievably dark (like the relentlessly, cruel and menacing Babe 2.) This theorem seems especially true when the numeral "2" is actually in the title. Actually the title is the only bad, uncreative thing about Toy Story 2. The cameo role of the sick penguin, Weezy, is worth the price on admission.