Toon Talk: Toy Story 2 Special Edition DVD - Jan 3, 2006

Toon Talk: Toy Story 2 Special Edition DVD
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In this ‘Toon Talk’ feature, I’ll briefly highlight a recommended film or DVD, outside of the Disney universe, of similar interest to the main subject.

Some Super Sequels

Like Toy Story 2, a select few sequels are generally considered equal to, if not better then, their originals. Far from all-inclusive, here are a dozen examples:

  • The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945): Going My Way’s Father Chuck O’Malley returned the following year, netting an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture, the first for a sequel.
  • From Russia With Love (1963): Sure, Dr. No (1962) introduced “Bond … James Bond�? to the world, but his second outing secured his rank among pop culture immortals.
  • A Shot in the Dark (1964): Often sited as the best of the many Peter Sellers/Pink Panther films (1963-1982), this being the second.
  • The Godfather: Part II (1974): The only sequel to win the Best Picture Oscar along with its predecessor (The Godfather, 1972).
  • The Empire Strikes Back (1980): Darker and more dramatic then Star Wars (1977) - plus: Yoda!
  • Superman II (1980) and X2: X-Men United (2003): With origin stories out of the way (in Superman, 1978, and X-Men, 2000, respectively), these super hero adventures hit the ground running.
  • Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982): Ditching the ponderousness of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), this action-packed film revitalized the series enough for eight more movie installments and four more television shows, for better or worse.
  • Aliens (1986): Alien (1979) gets better just by adding the letter “s�?.
  • Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991): How best to take what was essentially a cult sci fi B-movie (The Terminator, 1984) and turn it into a budget-busting franchise.
  • The Barbarian Invasions (2003): Where The Decline of the American Empire (1986) was cheeky in its gender gamesmanship, the Oscar-winning follow-up is a heartfelt eulogy to one man’s effect on so many others’ lives.
  • Before Sunset (2004): A rare romantic sequel, picking up nine years after Before Sunrise.

Coming Soon in Toon Talk:

  • Toon�? in for the Toon Talk Top 10 of 2005.
  • The latest Disney based-on-fact sports drama finds Josh Lucas leading the first all-black basketball team to the national championship in Glory Road (January 13).
  • “See Bambi grow�? … 64 years (!) after the original; Bambi II arrives February 7.

And Coming Soon from Buena Vista Home Video:

  • Mia Maestro and Ruben Blades co-star in the crime thriller Secuestro Express; revisit more cartoon classics (including Little Hiawatha and Casey at the Bat) with Timeless Tales: Volume Three, and Sing Along Song favorites with Peter Pan: You Can Fly!, Mary Poppins: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious; The Jungle Book: The Bare Necessities and 101 Dalmatians: Pogo and Partita; plus, more pre-school fun with The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Stanley’s Dinosaur Round-Up and Rolie Polie Olie: Springy-Time Fun (January 3).
  • New special editions of two of Robin Williams’ best films, Dead Poets Society and Good Morning, Vietnam (January 10).
  • More cartoons are featured in the first two volumes of yet another series, Walt Disney’s Fun Factory - volume 1 stars Mickey, volume 2 stars Donald; Nick Cannon stars in the action comedy Underclassmen; from the creator of Scream comes the voodoo horror flick Venom; from the vaults comes Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken (starring Gabrielle Anwar and Cliff Robertson), The Devil and Max Devlin (starring Bill Cosby and Elliott Gould), Benji the Hunted (starring, you know, Benji!) and My Dog, the Thief (starring Dwayne Hickman and Mary Ann Mobley) (January 17).
  • Jodie Foster stars in the high-flying thriller Flightplan (January 24).

Discuss It

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-- Kirby C. Holt
-- Logo by William C Searcy, Magic Bear Graphics

Kirby is a lifelong Disney fan and film buff. He is also an avid list maker and chronic ellipsis user ...

Took Talk: Disney Film & Video Reviews by Kirby C. Holt is posted whenever there's something new to review.

The opinions expressed by our Kirby C. Holt, and all of our columnists, do not necessarily represent the feelings of LaughingPlace.com or any of its employees or advertisers. All speculation and rumors about the future plans of the Walt Disney Company are just that - speculation and rumors - and should be treated as such.

-- Posted January 3, 2006

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