Part of 1999

A miracle of a sequel, TOY STORY 2 takes everything that audiences loved about the 1995 original and finds a way forward through the simple question — “How did we get here?” — a supposition that adds in whole swaths of unexpected emotional resonance. Woody’s origins as a memento of a mostly-forgotten cowboy show allow him a chance at a whole other existence — with characters from the matching set that he’s never met but who he feels an unshakable kinship with. Is it better for a toy to have that life as something beloved, and ground down by the temporally fickle attentions of a child? Or is it better to be refurbished, reborn, and given some kind of immortality in a box on a shelf? If Joan Cusack as cowgirl Jessie’s showstopper “When She Loved Me” doesn’t put you through it, the Belcourt can take no responsibility for the condition of your soul.

“Shows how pop art can disarm your loftiest objections with unexpected wit and genuine insight. ‘Magical’ describes it but not its aspects that are superlatively humane.” —Armond White, New York Press

“The first mature Pixar film and a high watermark that, if Pixar's surpassed it in the last 15 years, at least it hasn't often.” —Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central

“THE GODFATHER II of computer animated films.” —Chris Gore, Film Threat