Movie Reviews
... . _ courtesy Walt Disney Pictures
using road cones as camouflage, Buzz Lightyear leads toys from Andy’s room on a mission across a downtown street in “Toy Story 2. ”
m To toyland and u
beyond
Buzz Lightyear tries to save his friend Woody as toys takeover
the silver screen in the entertaining sequel Toy Story 2’
Movies
By Katie Nesse
Oregon Daily Emerald
Like any first-rate children’s
movie, Walt Disney’s “Toy Story
2” has multiple levels of humor
that appeal to adults as well. And
like many sequels, seeing the first
movie helps to understand the
jokes in the new one.
The current movie chronicles
Woody’s struggle with his mortali
ty. The recurring line in “Toy Story
2” is, “Toys don’t last forever.”
Woody, voiced by Tom Hanks,
is stolen from the family garage
sale by Al, a toy collector reminis
cent of “The Simpsons” character,
Comic Book Guy. While Andy
(John Morris) and his mother (Lau
rie Metcalf) are both still more
plastic than human in this movie,
Al (voiced by Wayne Knight) is
disgusting with texture. His facial
hair is convincingly sparse and the
Cheet-o crumbs on his fingers are
nauseatingly filthy.
In Al’s apartment, which is ex
tremely clean compared to Al,
Woody discovers that he is part of
a bigger marketing scheme based
on an old black-and-white TV
h^4*
show, “Woody’s Roundup.”
The posters and toys are shown
up close in detail. But wide
views of the room are devoid of J
dirt and small ob- *
jects, due to the
time and space
limitations of the
tools. Perhaps
by the time “Toy
Story 3” comes
out, technology
will have caught up with the
imagination of Pixar Ani
mation Studios.
Woody will complete
Al’s collection of “Woody’s
Roundup” toys. The highlight
of this set is Jessie, Woody’s female
counterpart. Joan Cusack joins the
toy story and gives this character
voice; in fact, Pixar’s 3-D flailing
arms and bulging eyes can’t com
pete with the animation of her
voice.
/
Woody debates an eternal life
behind glass in a museum, where
he will be admired by children for
ever, and a mortal life with the
love of one child who will eventu
ally break and outgrow him. “I
can’t stop Andy from growing but
I wouldn’t miss it for the world,”
Woody says as he contemplates
his choices.
Jessie relates how Emily, a child
who loved her years ago, tossed
her under the bed one day to make
room for make-up and posters.
“You never forget kids like Emily
or Andy, but they forget you,”
Jessie sighs.
Meanwhile, the rest of Andy’s
toys, led by Buzz Lightyear, with
Tim Allen providing
the spaceman’s
voice again,
make their
way across
town to res
cue Woody.
They find
their way
across a busy
street, into Al’s
Toy Bam.
In addition to Cu
sack, Kelsey Gram
mer is the most rec
ognizable
newcomer to this
animated land.
Grammer’s
voices Stinky
Pete, The
Prospector.
Returning
from the origi
nal movie are Don Rickies (Mr.
Potato Head), Jim Varney (Slinky
Dog), Wallace Shawn (Rex), John
Ratzenberger (Hamm) and Annie
Potts (Bo Peep). Esthelle Harris
and Jodi Benson lend their voices
to new characters Mrs. Potato
Head and Barbie, respectively.
With a G rating, “Toy Story 2” is
entertaining and playful. Children
will delight in the antics of the
toys and sympathize with
Woody’s plight. Adults will find
the more mature themes appealing
and understand the humor in that
vein.
“Legend” is hollow
■ The Headless
Horseman may ride out of
the mist, but Burton’s new
movie is stuck in a dense
fog
By Sara Jarrett
Oregon Daily Emerald
Not enough jack-o-lantems,
too many corny lines and lame
beheadings make “Sleepy Hol
low,” the newest collaboration
between Hollywood’s distin
guished Tim Burton, Johnny
Depp and Christina Ricci, a
disappointment.
With a director like Burton
and stars like Depp and Ricci,
the movie seemed like a sure
success. The combination
seemed volatile — Burton’s
off-the-wall style that made
"Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure,”
“Edward Scissorhands” and
“Beetlejuice” classics mixed
with Depp and Ricci’s seem
ingly picky taste in scripts.
For the past couple of
months, at least, the 20-second
commercial spot for “Sleepy
Hollow” provided a very nec
essary and happy disruption to
the clutches of prime-time en
tertainment.
As a thick blanket of fog per
meated our television screens
and the familiar trod of a
horse’s hoofs slowly intensi
fied, we strained to make out
the figure in the horizon. He
got closer, and it became excit
ingly clear that we weren’t in
for another Disney version of
the famous head slasher.
Or were we? The real thing
just doesn’t live up to its end of
the advertisement’s bargain.
But, alas, does any movie these
days?
Set in 1799, “Sleepy Hol
low” takes the viewer on a
journey through a haunted for
est on the outskirts of a quaint,
unsuspecting New England
town bursting with evil, magic
and witchcraft. Instead of feel
ing any sort of foreboding ter
ror, though, you’ll laugh your
head off.
The cinematography creates
a beautiful, surreal, supernatu
ral world, one that seems true
to the classic literary painting
set by Washington Irving near
ly three hundred years ago.
As Irving’s legend goes,
Sleepy Hollow was tormented
with a string of beheadings. It
is said that the killer, headless
himself, roamed the town by
horseback, seeking revenge for
his wrongful death. This is a
good old-fashioned tale of one
of the greatest, and oldest,
American villains.
Though it’s reasonably safe
to assume the Headless Horse
man never really existed, there
are enough circumstances in
volved with the tale that
would freak a lot of people out.
There are two gravestones,
for instance, in a very real New
England town by the name of
Sleepy Hollow, with the
names Ichabod Crane (the
New York investigator called
in by the town to investigate
the murders, played by Depp)
and Katrina Van Tassel (Icha
bod’s love interest and daugh
ter of the richest man in the
town, played by Ricci) etched
into their facings, according to
the movie’s official web site.
Though Irving did intend for
his story to be comedic, Burton
should have either taken the
humor and ran with it or left it
out completely. The way it was
done, however, proved a little
on the boring side with a plot
that could have been greatly
expanded.
According to About.com’s
box office report, thousands of
other people also had high ex
pectations of the movie.
“Sleepy Hollow,” bringing in
$30.5 million was only outsold
by the latest 007 movie, “The
World is Not Enough,” which
brought in a whopping $37.2
million last weekend.
The special effects wizardry
in “Sleepy Hollow” is one
thing that deserves recognition
though. Watch for the big knot
ted tree that sits upon a heap of
tangled roots. It’s the ingenious
portal between this world and
the dark side, where the head
less horseman (Christopher
Walken) enters and exits the
sleeping town.
“This whole movie is 'big
acting,”’ Ricci explained in an
interview on the movie's web
site. “The whole delivery is
different. It’s difficult to say
lines like ‘I rue the day you
came to Sleepy Hollow’ with
out adding extra drama. ”
Whether that’s true or not,
remains to be debated. It is
abundantly clear, though, that
the entire movie is laden with
over-acting and cheesy deliv
erance of lines — obviously on
purpose — from big name
stars. “Sleepy Hallow” is
nowhere near true B-movie
magnitude, but it won’t win
any Oscars either.
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