Mission: Impossible II (2000)

After delivering the crowd-pleasing Broken Arrow and Face/Off in the mid-90s, director John Woo was a hot commodity in Hollywood. In many ways, it made sense for him to direct this high-action sequel to 1996’s blockbuster Mission: Impossible. Unfortunately for Woo fans, this dud marked the beginning of the end of the director’s work in America and nearly killed the Mission: Impossible franchise.

Ethan Hunt’s (Tom Cruise) latest mission is recovering a fast-acting super-virus from the clutches of a rogue IMF agent before it is let loose upon the world. With the help of his team, including the rogue agent’s ex-girlfriend (Thandie Newton), Hunt learns the full details of Sean Ambrose’s (Dougray Scott) plan to profit from wreaking untold pestilence upon millions of innocents. The stakes become even higher as Hunt’s growing affection for Ambrose’s ex makes the mission personal.

John Woo’s brand of artful violence may work in Asian cinema, where mythical and larger-than-life heroes accomplish epic feats with supernatural grace and abilities. Here in America, those kinds of things are relegated to comic book movies and science fiction. While Woo doesn’t have his characters levitating, the stunts are intricate and quite often unrealistic. You can make anything look possible in the editing room but when the rest of your story is set firm in reality and normal physics, the human brain can’t help but find such frivolity suspect.

Believe it or not, all this high-flying action slows the film down. Part of this is due to the extended stunt sequences but the story shares a lot of the blame as well. The ‘bad guy threatens the world with a virus’ plot has been done before, rogue agents are nothing new, and enough movies have been made about virus epidemics that very little of M:I-2 feels original. On top of it all, there is more Tom Cruise and less team interaction than in the first film. I understand that Ethan Hunt is the main character, but this is Mission: Impossible, not James Bond.

Another drag on the film is the love triangle set up between Cruise, Newton, and Scott. I think it was crafted to help keep audience interest in an otherwise bland plot. Unfortunately, love triangles are more than a little clichéd by now and it makes the film seem more like the good guy and bad guy are fighting over the girl than the super-virus about to be released.

Where the first Mission: Impossible film was moderately intriguing, M:I-2 is little more than disappointing. It takes a unique concept and boils off the things that make it unique, leaving us with a typical Hollywood action flick with just a little bit of directorial flair. It has all the hallmarks of a John Woo film and not enough of the hallmarks of a Mission: Impossible film. If there is one to skip in the series, this one is it.

RATING: 2.5 out of 5

Toy Story 2 (1999)

Up to this point, sequels were a rarity for Disney. The only true sequel on the books was The Rescuers Down Under, which underperformed, and who honestly counts Fantasia 2000 as a sequel? Ordering a Toy Story sequel from Pixar must have been a very carefully calculated risk. It paid off handsomely though, as Toy Story 2 brings back everything audiences loved about the original and added even more things to love. Its status as a sequel prevents it from feeling as fresh as its predecessor, but our second romp with Buzz and Woody has plenty of pop and sizzle.

While rescuing a fellow toy from the yard sale pile, Woody is snatched up by a toy collector. Buzz and the gang set out on a rescue mission that takes them across town. Meanwhile, Woody meets new faces in the collector’s apartment and learns that he is an extremely rare and valuable toy. As a complete set, the Woody’s Roundup team will be on display for toy collectors to appreciate for years to come. Without Woody, they will be put back into storage potentially forever. This leaves Woody to wrestle with the decision to stay loyal to Andy or join his new friends on their quest for immortality.

Unlike a lot of sequels, Toy Story 2 is very good. Some people believe that this film is better than the original. They are entitled to their opinion but I disagree. The animation certainly has improved, with more detail, higher quality, and the incorporation of camera pans, zooms, and tricks found in non-animated films. The story is fresh, but it’s a little too heavy at times. Half of it is (if your honest) a retread of the first film, only this time Buzz saves Woody. The other half deals with issues that are going to go way over children’s heads.

The filmmakers don’t get nailed for the recycled rescue story because Buzz brings along a number of the other toys. This gives the supporting characters and voice actors plenty of time to shine as they struggle to work together as a group. Buzz encountering another Buzz Lightyear action figure that is not yet aware that he is just a toy is amusing. Woody’s arc, however, is substantially less fun. The new characters of Jessie, Bullseye, and Stinky Pete provide an interesting perspective as collectibles but they deal with and discuss issues that are very adult. Immortality, rejection, duty- all of these are heavyweight philosophical concepts that kids can only scratch the surface of understanding.

It certainly looks better but Toy Story 2 is not the feel-good tale that the original was. At times it is a steady gut-puncher that makes older kids and sappy, nostalgic adults feel guilty about giving up on their beloved childhood toys. Or is it really an allegory for how we treat other people? If so, Toy Story 2 is perhaps the darkest kids’ flick of all time. Therein rests the kicker. When I watch a movie billed as family-friendly entertainment and targets hard towards children, I don’t want to watch something designed to make me feel bad. That’s what European cinema is for.

Pixar delivers a fun, albeit outlandish, adventure that straddles the line between kids’ and grown-up entertainment. The development of Toy Story 2 was rushed, which might explain why there is a lot of polish overtop of a slightly weaker story. This review may sound very negative but I did indeed enjoy this film. If you loved the original Toy Story, this sequel is like an old pair of shoes that you can slip right into without any adjustment period. Sit back and enjoy.

RATING: 3.75 out of 5

The Goonies (1985)

Children of the 80s and early 90s grew up watching this Steven Spielberg-penned film as a rite of passage. If you managed to grow up without seeing at least part of this film on weekend movie marathons on TV, you are the exception to the rule. As with many coming of age tales, The Goonies has its share of avid fans, though few of them are probably under the age of 30 now. It received mixed reviews upon its release in 1985 but childhood nostalgia has trumped this fun little flick up to be a spectacle that has to be seen.

The Goonies are a group of teenagers living in Astoria, Oregon. Usually they are wandering around town looking for adventures and mysteries but a golf course developer has their families’ houses in foreclosure, leaving them to pack up and move. While checking the attic, Mikey Walsh (Sean Astin) and his friend Clark (Corey Feldman) discover an old Spanish treasure map pointing the way to the treasure trove of the fabled One-Eyed Willie. This sets the Goonies on one last mission that could save their houses, if the criminal Fratelli Family doesn’t find the treasure first.

Don’t be fooled by Richard Donner as the director. This film has all the hallmarks of a Spielberg 80s flick. We’ve got kids facing issues with their parents and other adults who just don’t understand, peer pressure, danger, adventure, and a few easily-outsmarted bad guys. These are the basic ingredients that coming-of-age, young adult/family films continue to be made of. The transparency of it all is the kicker, and shows the film’s age. These kind of simplistic devices and plots worked for kids of the 80s, who found themselves huge targets of Hollywood studios. The Goonies could only be made now if it were an intentional spoof of 80s family flick clichés.

So what keeps modern audiences from rolling their eyes at this film? It’s got a lot of heart and it is genuinely fun to watch. Yes, your brain is going to tell you that some of what you see is preposterous, but those of us old enough to appreciate pre-90s kitsch will understand that this is how family-friendly films were made before society grew so cynical and dependent on CGI. There is a lot of formula at play here but perhaps it is the amount of outlandishness heaped atop that formula that helps The Goonies feel so fresh.

It has to be tough working with so many young actors because the craft of acting and making a story believable is hard enough for adults to do half of the time. The cast is helped by Spielberg’s script full of spot-on teen emotions. As silly as the plot may be, the characters all feel like they could be real people. Okay, maybe that’s a stretch for Data, the wacky inventor of the bunch, but everyone else feels like they could exist in real life.

The story is told through a subjective lens, not a true third-person experience. Adults are portrayed the way teens oftentimes see them- boring, slow-to-understand, or just plain in the way. Perhaps that is why this film resonates so much with so many people. It was laid out in terms that kids could understand. Is it the best movie ever? Heck no. Nostalgia has totally overrated The Goonies. That doesn’t mean it can’t be enjoyed each and every time you catch it on TV.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5