Why do people seem to think this movie is so great? Personally I chock it up to sentimentality, but misplaced sentiment. I absolutely loved the original and the second was a step down for me but I still enjoy them both on my well worn VHS copies. Maybe I'm weird because I don't need this ultimate closure that this movie brought to everyone else. >inb4 my sentimentality is reason I love the original so dearly
shareBecause it is everything one could expect from a sequel and a bit more besides.
Toy Story 1 was about Buzz accepting that 'You! Are! A! Toyyyyyyy!'. TS2 had Woody coming to grips with the fact that Andy is growing up and they won't always be together, and that shakes him up so badly that he was willing to leave him. This one makes good on the Prospector's proclamations of imminent doom and faces us with not only that grimness, but a villain who believes that love between children and their toys are false, attacking what is sacred to them (and to a lot of humans I should think). Best villain in the series by a long shot.
It's an metaphor for mortality. Their lives with Andy are coming to an end and they're terrified of that end. Then Lotso comes along and offers them eternal life in the form of a never-ending cycle of preschoolers, but that turns out to be just everlasting torment. After a very near scrape at the gates of hell, a new life begins with Bonnie and they realize that losing Andy isn't the end of their existence; they'll always remember him, and vice-versa.
Beyond that, just really good structure and character moments for both the old cast and the newcomers. Never have I liked a Barbie or Ken doll until this film. Also amazing in that despite dealing with the aforementioned grimness, it was never too dark as I had feared coming out of TS2.