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My relief was immense when it was revealed that it was a videogame. Pixar's ability to remain both satirical and upfront about the Toy Story brand is a small joke carried from one end of the running time to the other (Tour Guide Barbie's offhand comment about retailers in 1995 and Buzz' travails with another Buzz Lightyear model are part of this as well.) It is not easy for a film to so boldly and deftly remind viewers that it is indeed a product while avoiding a slippery slope into self-referential noodling. Toy Story 2 pays homage to Jurassic Park in one amusing visual reference and with the voice casting of Wayne Knight as one of the two key antagonists. It borrows iconography and a plot twist involving Buzz' nemesis Zurg, from the Star Wars films.

Most importantly, it does for Woody what the first film did for Buzz, all in the guise of another action adventure rescue mission. In Toy Story, Woody's quest to save Buzz was balanced against the evils of Sid the toy destroyer from next door and of young Andy moving to a new home. Buzz came to learn that he was unique and special. Even though he is also one of millions of a mass-produced space hero line, he is granted a future that is all his own. Toy Story 2 creates another triangle of interlocking plot points and a unique revelation for Woody. Buzz and several others of Andy's toys must go to rescue Woody from an unscrupulous toy collector before Andy returns from camp. Woody discovers that he was once part of his own successful brand of tie-ins (music, television, even a yo-yo!) and that he is truly the last of his kind, but that he has "family" in the form of Jessie the Cowgirl, Bulls Eye the horse and Pete, the stinky (and not so nice) prospector. Woody is given a past. In a subtle touch that exemplifies the depth in the screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Rita Hsiao, Doug Chamberlain and Chris Webb, Woody's herky jerky and lanky manner is given context as well as we see that on his show, he was a marionette puppet. He still carries himself as if invisible hands were at work.

The addition of new characters in a Chapter Two can be dicey at best. The downside is that the figures we have come to love, who aren't the stars, may get shortchanged in the effort to introduce new faces into the mix and give them meaningful things to do. Consider (or don't) the Lethal Weapon and Austin Powers series for what happens when you both add new characters and feel the need to bring back all earlier characters and give them all equal billing. At some point, you are overstuffed and the audience is underwhelmed. The trick is acknowledge which characters are just right in small doses should they need to be brought back. Toy Story 2 is a model of how to accomplish this. By having Potato Head, Rex, Hamm and Slinky Dog accompany Buzz as he ventures into the world outside suburbia, equal face time is given to all four, who are about as lovable a quartet of sidekicks as one could ask for. When they must commandeer a Pizza Planet vehicle to make an escape, it not only allows one to reflect on the first film, but it also allows the Squeeze Toy Aliens to make their own return engagement appearance. The STA's could have become the Mini-Me of the Toy Story films but the role they play here is perfect comic counterpoint to the bang ‘em up action swirling around them.

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