Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsLove the plot!
Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2019
I love the whole trilogy, and all three are available to own on streaming (probably because 4 is coming out this summer in theaters). Anyway, in 2, you get a little more background about Woody. We know that Buzz was made in 1995 (because that's when the movie came out), but also because Tour Guide Barbie gives a little trivia info about it when they're in Al's Toy Barn in the Buzz Lightyear aisle. Everyone knows the toys like Mr. Potato Head is a classic toy, along with etch-a-sketch, Barbie, and the little bucket of soldiers (those were around decades before the movie, and are toys that are independent of Disney and the Toy Story franchise)... but Woody and Buzz were characters made specifically for the movie, so it was nice to get a little bit of fan-fiction about Woody. His character bio is that he's been in the family for years (presumably as Andy's dad's toy because he is a toy from the 1950s, definitely before Sputnik happened). You also realize his character bio makes him a "classic toy" even in the first movie anyway, because he has a pull-string to talk instead of the modern push-button talk like Buzz has. In 2, Woody is a classic toy from a black-and-white 1950's era kids show called Woody's Roundup Gang. He's worth a lot of money because they just don't make 'em like they used to (so true in real life too!) - his face was hand-painted, he has actual stitching on his clothes, his clothes were made from vinyl and polyester, etc. (whereas there's a whole aisle of factory mass produced Buzz and Barbies). This makes Woody a collector's item and worth a lot of money, so much money that a toy store owner steals him to sell to a toy museum in Japan. The plot is very believable because all you have to do is go on Amazon or eBay to see how some toys that are no longer sold by retailers are being sold now - like even the Disney Woody doll that was only $20 when it came out, now sellers are trying to resell these same products for like $75. So it made me enjoy the movie even more because the first one was kind of ridiculous for older kids (I was already 13 in 1995), but I can definitely believe a real-life scenario where someone would steal a collector's item from a yard sale to cash in on a big pay day.
