"Actor: Tom Hanks"

• Saving Private Ryan (DTS) | DVD | (01/09/2003) from £11.94   |  Saving you £8.05 (67.42%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Since its release in 1998, Steven Spielberg's D-Day drama Saving Private Ryan has become hugely influential: everything from the opening sequence of Gladiator ("Saving Marcus Aurelius") to the marvellous 10-hour TV series Band of Brothers has been made in its shadow. There have been many previous attempts to recreate the D-Day landings on screen (notably, the epic The Longest Day), but thanks to Spielberg's freewheeling hand-held camerawork, Ryan was the first time an audience really felt like they were there, storming up Omaha Beach in the face of withering enemy fire. After the indelible opening sequence, however, the film is not without problems. The story, though based on an American Civil War incident, feels like it was concocted simply to fuel Spielberg's sentimental streak. In standard Hollywood fashion the Germans remain a faceless foe (with the exception of one charmless character who turns out to be both a coward and a turncoat); and the platoon, led by Tom Hanks, consists of far too many stereotypes: the doughty sergeant; the thick-necked private; the southern-man religious sniper; the cowardly corporal. Matt Damon seems improbably clean cut as the titular private in need of rescue (though that may well be the point); and why do they all run straight up that hill towards an enemy machine-gun post anyway? Some non-US critics have complained that Ryan portrays only the American D-Day experience, but it is an American film made and financed by Americans after all. Accepting both its relatively narrow remit and its lachrymose inclinations, Saving Private Ryan deserves its place in the pantheon of great war pictures. On the DVD: This DTS edition of Saving Private Ryan presents the movie with astonishingly vivid surround sound that is audibly superior to the standard Dolby Digital version. With a wider dynamic range and a more spacious soundfield, the battles really do spill over into your living room. There are new animated menus but because the DTS data stream requires greater space on the disc, the 30-minute behind-the-scenes documentary included on the previous release is omitted. --Mark Walker

• Big - Limited Edition Steelbook | Blu Ray | (12/05/2014) from £24.90   |  Saving you £-2.91 (N/A%)   |  RRP £21.99

  Two-time Oscar Winner Tom Hanks received his Best Actor Nomination for his disarming turn as a 12-year-old man-child in Penny Marshall's timeless 'hilarious' (Newsweek) delight. Josh wishes he was big. When he wakes up the next day he's an adult! Now Josh must hold down a job please a new boss (Robert Loggia) and navigate a relationship with a beautiful woman (Elizabeth Perkins). Soon Josh just wants to be a kid again but can he?

• You've Got Mail / City Of Angels / Addicted To Love | DVD | (29/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £22.99

  You've Got Mail - Delivers all the wit charm and warmth you'd expect from a reunion of the stars (Tom Hanks Meg Ryan) and director (Nora Ephron) of 'Sleepless In Seattle'. Greg Kinnear Parker Posey Jean Stapleton and more talented co-stars add perfect support to this valentine to modern - to modem - romance in which superstore book chain magnate Hanks and cosy children's bookshop owner Ryan are anonymous e-mail cyberpals who fall head-over-laptops in love unaware they are combative business rivals. You've got rare Hollywood magic when You've Got Mail.City Of Angels - What if angels walked among us and one of them fell in love with one of us?Two of the brightest stars in the Hollywood constellation spark the biggest romance under the heavens in City Of Angels a 'lyrical unabashedly romantic film [that] earns its wings' (David Ansen Newsweek). Nicholas Cage is Seth an angel who must decide if he'll forsake his immortality and become human - on the chance that the woman of his dreams might love him. That woman is Maggie (Meg Ryan) a pragmatic heart surgeon who doesn't believe in angels... until she meets Seth. Will love be their mutual destiny? Will they take the risks that shape that destiny? The choice is theirs to make. The movie is yours to see share and sweep you away.Addicted To Love - Meg Ryan and Matthew Broderick take a funny look at love's obsessive side as Maggie and Sam teaming for revenge when their exes (Kelly Preston and Tcheky Karyo) team for romance. Sam simply wants his girlfriend back. Maggie wants to get back at her old flame. So all over New York's Soho they unleash their diabolical plot. If successful the two who spurned them will be hapless hopeless loveless. And if Cupid has his way Maggie and Sam just might go from a jilted Who's Through to a romantic Who's Who.

• Charlie Wilson's War | Blu Ray | (21/03/2011) from £29.99   |  Saving you £-12.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Charlie Wilson's War features Tom Hanks Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman in an adaption of George Crile's extraordinary novel. Charlie Wilson's Waris the true story of how a playboy congressman a renegade CIA agent and a beautiful Houston socialite joined forces to lead the largest and most successful covert operation in history. Their efforts contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War with consequences that reverberate throughout the world today.

• Tom Hanks - Bachelor Party / Big / The Man With One Red Shoe / The Road To Perdition / That Thing You Do | DVD | (13/03/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Bachelor Party (1984): This outrageously funny look at one man's final moments of bachelorhood stars Tom Hanks as Rick reluctant recipient of a bachelor bash given by a group of friends who view partying as their full-time religion. Rick's worried fiance Debbie (Tawny Kitaen) dresses up in disguise and crashes the party to spy on her future husband. To complicate the night further Debbie's father hires her ex-boyfriend to win back his daughter. It turns out to be an evenin

• Da Vinci Code, the | Blu Ray | (04/05/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Tom Hanks headlines this big screen adaptation of Dan Brown's global hit novel.

• Elvis Has Left The Building | DVD | (24/10/2005) from £6.75   |  Saving you £13.24 (196.15%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Harmony Jones (Kim Basinger) saw Elvis in concert when she was a child and the event had such a profound impact on her that she now communicates regularly with the youthful spirit of the King Of Rock `n' Roll. However her desire to `stay in touch' has a downside for Elvis impersonators because they have a habit of suddenly dropping dead if she's around! After being involved in a bizarre accident which leaves a car load of Elvis tribute performers dead Harmony abandons her job as a d

• The Da Vinci Code & Angels and Demons | DVD | (14/09/2009) from £5.04   |  Saving you £19.95 (395.83%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The Da Vinci Code: Critics and controversy aside, The Da Vinci Code is a verifiable blockbuster. Combine the film's huge worldwide box-office take with over 100 million copies of Dan Brown's book sold, and The Da Vinci Code has clearly made the leap from pop-culture hit to a certifiable franchise (games and action figures are sure to follow). The leap for any story making the move from book to big screen, however, is always more perilous. In the case of The Da Vinci Code, the story is concocted of such a preposterous formula of elements that you wouldn't envy Akiva Goldsman, the screenwriter who was handed a potentially unfilmable book and asked to make a filmable script out of it. Goldsman's solution was to have the screenplay follow the book as closely as possible, with a few needed changes, including a better ending. The result is a film that actually makes slightly better entertainment than the book. So if you're like most of the world, by now you've read the book and know that it starts out as a murder mystery. While lecturing in Paris, noted Harvard Professor of Symbology Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) is summoned to the Louvre by French police help decipher a bizarre series of clues left at the scene of the murder of the chief curator, Jacques Sauniere. Enter Sophie Neveu (Audrey Tautou), gifted cryptologist and Sauniere's granddaughter. Neveu and Langdon are forced to team up to solve the mystery, and from there the story is propelled across Europe as it balloons into a modern-day mini-quest for the Holy Grail, complete with alternative theories about the life of Christ, ancient secret societies headed by historical figures like Leonardo Da Vinci, secret codes, conniving bishops, daring escapes, car chases, and, of course, a murderous albino monk controlled by a secret master who calls himself "The Teacher." Taken solely as a mystery thriller, the movie almost works--despite some gaping holes--mostly just because it keeps moving forward at the breakneck pace set in the book. Brown's greatest trick might have been to have the entire story take place in a day so that the action is forced to keep going, despite some necessary pauses for exposition. Hanks and Tautou are just fine together but not exactly a memorable screen pair; meanwhile, Sir Ian McKellen's scenery-chewing as pivotal character Sir Leigh Teabing is just what the film needs to keep it from taking itself too seriously. In the end, this hit movie is just like a good roller-coaster ride: try not to think too much about it--just sit back and enjoy the trip. --Daniel Vancini, Amazon.com Angels & Demons: If the devil is in the details, there's a lot of wicked fun in Angels & Demons, the sequel (originally a prequel) to The Da Vinci Code. Director Ron Howard delivers edge-of-your-pew thrills all over the Vatican, the City of Rome, and the deepest, dankest catacombs. Tom Hanks is dependably watchable in his reprised role as Professor Robert Langdon, summoned urgently to Rome on a matter of utmost urgency--which happens to coincide with the death of the Pope, meaning the Vatican is teeming with cardinals and Rome is teeming with the faithful. A religious offshoot group, calling themselves the Illuminati, which protested the Catholic Church's prosecution of scientists 400 years ago, has resurfaced and is making extreme, and gruesome, terrorist demands. The film zooms around the city, as Langdon follows clues embedded in art, architecture, and the very bone structure of the Vatican. The cast is terrific, including Ewan McGregor, who is memorable as a young protégé of the late pontiff, and who seems to challenge the common wisdom of the Conclave just by being 40 years younger than his fellows when he lectures for church reform. Stellan Skarsgard is excellent as a gruff commander of the Swiss Guard, who may or may not have thrown in with the Illuminati. But the real star of the film is Rome, and its High Church gorgeousness, with lush cinematography by Salvatore Totino, who renders the real sky above the Vatican, in a cataclysmic event, with the detail and majesty of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. --A.T. Hurley, Amazon.com

• Toy Story & Toy Story 2 - Three Disc Collector's Set | DVD | (11/12/2000) from £7.92   |  Saving you £32.07 (404.92%)   |  RRP £39.99

  Toy Story 1 John Lasseter's Toy Story poses the universal and magical question of what do toys do when they are not being played with? Cowboy Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks), Andy's favourite bedroom toy, tries to calm the other toys during a wrenching time of year--the birthday party, when newer toys may replace them. Sure enough, Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) is the new toy that takes over the throne. Buzz has a crucial flaw, though--he believes he is the real Buzz Lightyear, not a toy. Bright and cheerful, Toy Story is much more than a 90-minute commercial for the inevitable bonanza of Woody and Buzz toys. Lasseter further scores with perfect voice casting, including Don Rickles as Mr Potato Head and Wallace Shawn as a meek dinosaur. The director-animator won a special Oscar "For the development and inspired application of techniques that have made possible the first feature-length computer-animated film". In other words, the movie is great. Toy Story 2 Like the handful of other great movie sequels, Toy Story 2 comments on why the first one was so wonderful while finding a fresh angle worthy of a new film. The craze of toy collecting becomes the focus here, as we find out that Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks) is not only a beloved toy to Andy but also a rare doll from a popular 1960s children's show. When a greedy collector takes Woody, Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) launches a rescue mission with Andy's other toys. To say more would be a crime because this is one of the most creative and smile-inducing films since, well, the first Toy Story.Although the toys look the same as in the 1994 feature, Pixar shows how much technology has advanced: the human characters look more human, backgrounds are superior, and two action sequences that book-end the film are dazzling. And it's a hoot for kids and adults. The film is packed with spoofs, easily accessible in-jokes and inspired voice casting (with newcomer Joan Cusack especially a delight as Cowgirl Jessie). But as the Pixar canon of films illustrates, the filmmakers are storytellers first. Woody's heart-tugging predicament can easily be translated into the eternal debate of living a good life versus living for forever. Toy Story 2 was deservedly a huge box-office success. --Doug Thomas

• The 'burbs Steelbook | Blu Ray | (15/09/2014) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  He's a man of peace in a savage land... suburbia. The films of director Joe Dante have taken us to some strange places - a mysterious Chinatown antique store in Gremlins; a secluded resort populated by werewolves in The Howling; even deep inside the human body in Innerspace. But now he takes us to the strangest place of all - surburbia! Family man Ray Peterson (Tom Hanks) is looking forward to a week of putting his feet up at home in the quiet leafy cul-de-sac of Mayfield Place. But his plans are scuppered by the arrival of new next-door neighbours The Klopeks whose behaviour and habits are more than just a little kooky. But things go from kooky to downright sinister when local old boy Walter disappears leading Ray and his buddies to suspect their new neighbours of killing and eating him! Sure the Klopeks are a strange bunch what with their digging up the backyard in the middle of the night - but they're not devil-worshipping cannibal killers...are they? If you're looking for a knowing slice of tongue-in-cheek terror then look no further than The 'Burbs. A standout horror comedy from a director who has given us more than his fair share of fun frighteners The 'Burbs assembles a superb cast including Tom Hanks Bruce Dern Carrie Fisher and Corey Feldman in a tall tale of small-town terror. You'll never look at those eccentric neighbours in the same way again! Special Features: Limited Edition SteelBook Packaging High Definition Digital Transfer Newly Created Exclusive Content Collector’s Booklet Featuring New Writing on the Film Archive Content and more!  

• Stargate SG-1: Season 6 (Vol. 31) | DVD | (01/09/2003) from £7.93   |  Saving you £0.05 (1.01%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Prophecy: On a routine mission SG-1 encounters a civilisation desperate to be freed from the clutches of a Goa'uld. While on the planet Jonas falls ill and is suspended from active duty. His mysterious illness is diagnosed as a brain tumor but gives him the unbelieveable ability to glimpse the future... a future where O'Neill and SG-1 are walking into a trap! Full Circle: Daniel Jackson appears to O'Neill and alerts him that Anubis has located the Eye of Ra a fabled object of power hidden somewhere on Abydos. With Daniel's help O'Neill and SG-1 find the Eye first. But determined to have it Anubis threatens to destroy the entire planet unless Daniel and SG-1 hand it over.

• Apollo 13 - Augmented Reality Edition | DVD | (23/04/2012) from £4.99   |  Saving you £10.00 (200.40%)   |  RRP £14.99

  NASA's worst nightmare turned into one of the space agency's most heroic moments in 1970, when the Apollo 13 crew was forced to hobble home in a disabled capsule after an explosion seriously damaged the moon-bound spacecraft. Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon and Bill Paxton play (respectively) astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise in director Ron Howard's intense, painstakingly authentic docudrama. The Apollo 13 crew and Houston-based mission controllers race against time and heavy odds to return the damaged spacecraft safely to Earth from a distance of 205,500 miles. Using state-of-the-art special effects and ingenious film-making techniques, Howard and his stellar cast and crew build nail-biting tension while maintaining close fidelity to the facts. The result is a fitting tribute to the Apollo 13 mission and one of the biggest box-office hits of 1995. --Jeff Shannon

• Apollo 13/Philidelphia/The Da Vinci Code | DVD | (12/10/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Apollo 13 (Dir. Ron Howard) (1995): Stranded 205 000 miles from Earth in a crippled spacecraft astronauts Jim Lovell (Hanks) Fred Haise (Paxton) and Jack Swigert (Bacon) fight a desperate battle to survive. Meanwhile at Mission Control astronaut Ken Mattingly (Sinise) flight director Gene Kranz (Harris) and a heroic ground crew race against time and the odds to bring them home. Philadelphia (Dir. Jonathan Demme) (1993): Up-and-coming young lawyer Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks) has just been fired by his prestigious law firm. They say he hasn't got what it takes. Andrew knows it's because he's got AIDS. Determined to defend his professional reputation Andrew hires fierce brilliant personal-injury attorney Joe Miller (Denzel Washington) to sue his former employers for wrongful dismissal. Joe is initially reluctant to take on the case. Although he as grown up knowing the pain of prejudice he's never had to confront his own prejudices against homosexuality and AIDS...until now. The Da Vinci Code (Dir. Ron Howard) (2006): Join symbologist Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) and cryptologist Sophie Neveu (Audrey Tautou) in their heart-racing quest to solve a bizarre murder mystery that will take them from France to England; and behind the veil of a mysterious ancient society where they discover a secret protected since the time of Christ.

• The Write Stuff | DVD | (06/10/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Titles Comprise: Accidental Tourist: After the death of his son Macon Leary a travel writer seems to be sleep walking through life. Macon's wife seems to be having trouble too and thinks it would be best if the two would just split up. After the break up Macon meets a strange outgoing woman who seems to bring him back down to earth. After starting a relationship with the outgoing woman Macon's wife seems to think that their marriage is still worth a try. Macon is then forced to deal many decisions. All The President's Men: In the Watergate Building lights go on and four burglars are caught in the act. That night triggered revelations that drove a U.S. President from office. Washington reporters Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) grabbed the story and stayed with it through doubts denials and discouragement. The entire President's Men is their story. The film also explores a working newspaper where the mission is to get the story - and to get it right. Bonfire of the Vanities: Sherman McCoy was Wall Street's Master of the Universe - and everything in his life was right. Then one night he was in the wrong place with the wrong woman. And nothing as gone right since. Tom hanks as McCoy Bruce Willis as jaded Journalist Melanie Griffith as McCoy's self-centred mistress and Morgan Freeman as an outspoken judge ignite The Bonfire Of The Vanities the quintessential story of the go-for-it 80's. Based on the novel by Tom Wolfe.

• Road To Perdition / Miller's Crossing / The Funeral | DVD | (06/09/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Road To Perdition Two-time Academy Award-winner Tom Hanks stars as Michael Sullivan a father fighting to keep his only son from traveling the Road To Perdition. Directed by Oscar-winner Sam Mendes this towering motion picture achievement has been acclaimed by audiences and critics alike as one of the year's most extraordinary films. Miller's Crossing The year is 1929. The place is an gangster-ridden American city run by Leo (Albert Finney). But the real power lies with Tom (Gabriel Byrne) the power behind the man. Their friendship is severed when they both fall in love with the same woman (Marcia Gay Harden) and a bloody gang war erupts... The Funeral Petty mobsters Ray Tempio (Christopher Walken) and Chez Tempio (Chris Penn) have just lost their younger brother Johnny (Vincent Gallo) -he was shot three times gangland style at a movie theatre. Ray vows revenge - he suspects the leader of a rival crime syndicate is responsible but his wife Jeanette (Anabella Sciorra) pleads for him to leave it alone. Meanwhile Chez already on the verge of a breakdown is just making life hell for his wife Clara (Isabella Rossellini) and those around him.

• Angels & Demons | Blu Ray | (08/02/2016) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Zavvi Exclusive Steelbook - Limited to 2000 Copies. In Ron Howard's thrilling follow-up to The Da Vinci Code, expert symbologist Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) follows ancient clues on a heart-racing hunt through Rome to find the four Cardinals kidnapped by the deadly secret society, the Illuminati. With the Cardinals' lives on the line, and the Camerlengo (Ewan McGregor) desperate for help, Langdon embarks on a nonstop, action-packed race through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, and the most secretive vault on Earth!

• Pixar - Ultimate Collection (Disney Pixar) | DVD | (30/06/2008) from £99.99   |  Saving you £-42.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £57.99

  This box set features the following films: Toy Story As 6-year-old Andy's favourite toy Woody (Tom Hanks) a take-charge pull-string cowboy is confident in his role as room leader. But after Andy's birthday party newcomer Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) a flashy space ranger with laser action and pop-out wings crash-lands into Woody's world. Toy Story 2 While Andy is away at summer camp Woody is toynapped by Al a greedy toy collector. His best friends including Buzz Mr Potato Head Slinky Dog and Rex set out on a heroic rescue mission to save him. Along the way they meet a whole host of new friends including Jessie the cow girl and Bullseye the horse. Together the Toy Story 2 gang set out to make sure Woody is home safely before Andy returns..... A Bugs Life: On behalf of ""oppressed bugs everywhere"" an inventive ant named Flik hires ""warrior bugs"" to defend his colony from a horde of greedy grasshoppers led by Hopper. But when Flik's cavalry turns out to be a motley group of flea circus performers the stage is set for comic confusion...as well as unlikely heroes! Monsters Inc: Monsters Inc. is the largest scare factory in the monster world and the top Kid-Scarer is James P. Sullivan (John Goodman) a huge intimidating monster with blue fur large purple spots and horns known as ""Sulley"" to his friends. His Scare Assistant best friend and roommate is Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) a lime green opinionated feisty monster. And visiting from the human world is Boo a tiny girl who turns the monster world upside down and teaches Sulley and Mike that laughter is more powerful than a scream. Finding Nemo: Nemo an adventurous young clownfish is unexpectedly taken to a dentist's office aquarium. It's up to Marlin (Albert Brooks) his worrisome father and Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) a friendly but forgetful regal blue tang fish to make the epic journey to bring Nemo home. The Incredibles: Bob Parr was once known as Mr Incredible the world's greatest superhero. Fifteen years later Bob and his wife Helen (Formerly Elastigirl) have adopted civillian identities and retreated to the suburbs to lead ""normal lives"" with their three children. However Bob is thrown back into the world of super-heroism when he receives a mysterious communication summoning him to a remote island for a top-secret mission. Cars: Speeding on his way to a big race Lightning McQueen crashes into Radiator Springs destroying lots of the inhabitants' belongings! In order to make up for what he did the raucous roadster is sentenced to community service. Though he will do anything to get away from the work McQueen must learn to respect and bond with the Radiator Springs inhabitants in order to get out of the town and back on the racetrack... Ratatouille: A rat named Remy dreams of becoming a great French chef despite his family's wishes and the obvious problem of being a rat in a decidedly roden

• You've Got Mail/City of Angels/Addicted to Love | DVD | (27/09/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £20.99

  You've Got Mail: A modern to modem romance in which superstore book chain magnate Hanks and cozy children's bookshop owner Ryan are anonymous e-mail cyberpals who fall head-over-laptops in love unaware they are combative business rivals! City Of Angels: Nicolas Cage is Seth an angel who must decide if he'll forsake his immortality and become human - on the chance that the woman of his dreams might love him. That woman is Maggie (Meg Ryan) a pragmatic heart surgeon who doesn't believe in angels. Until she meets Seth. Will love be their mutual destiny? Will they take that shape that destiny? The choice is theirs to make... Addicted To Love: What would you do if that special someone dumped you? After seeing the delightful 'Addicted to Love' the better question is what wouldn't you do? Meg Ryan and Matthew Broderick take a funny look at love's obsessive side as Maggie and Sam teaming for revenge when their former flames (Kelly Preston and Tcheky Karyo) team for romance.

• The Polar Express 3D | Blu Ray | (02/11/2009) from £24.99   |  Saving you £-5.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Santa Claus does not exist. Or does he? For one doubting boy (voice of Daryl Sabara & Tom Hanks) an astonishing event occurs. Late on Christmas Eve night he lies in bed hoping to hear the sound of reindeer bells from Santa's sleigh. When to his surprise a steam engine's roar and whistle can be heard outside his window. The conductor (also voiced of Tom Hanks) invites him on board to take an extraordinary journey to the North Pole with many other pajama-clad children. There he receives an extraordinary gift only those who still believe in Santa can experience.

• Toy Story/Toy Story 2 | Blu Ray | (10/05/2010) from £53.98   |  Saving you £-25.99 (-92.90%)   |  RRP £27.99

  Toy Story There is greatness in a film that can be discussed, dissected, and talked about late into the night. Then there is genius that is right in front of our faces--you smile at the spell it puts you into and are refreshed, and not a word needs to be spoken. This kind of entertainment is what they used to call "movie magic" and there is loads of it in this irresistible computer animation feature. Just a picture of these bright toys on the cover of Toy Story looks intriguing as it reawakens the kid in us. Filmmaker John Lasseter's shorts illustrate not only a technical brilliance but also a great sense of humour--one in which the pun is always intended. Lasseter thinks of himself as a storyteller first and an animator second, much like another film innovator, Walt Disney. Lasseter's story is universal and magical: what do toys do when they're not played with? Cowboy Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks), Andy's favourite bedroom toy, tries to calm the other toys (some original, some classic) during a wrenching time of year--the birthday party, when newer toys may replace them. Sure enough, Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) is the new toy that takes over the throne. Buzz has a crucial flaw, though--he believes he's the real Buzz Lightyear, not a toy. Bright and cheerful, Toy Story is much more than a 90-minute commercial for the inevitable bonanza of Woody and Buzz toys. Lasseter further scores with perfect voice casting, including Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head and Wallace Shawn as a meek dinosaur. The director-animator won a special Oscar "For the development and inspired application of techniques that have made possible the first feature-length computer-animated film". In other words, this movie is great. --Doug Thomas Toy Story 2 John Lasseter and his gang of high-tech creators at Pixar create another entertainment for the ages. Like the handful of other great movie sequels, Toy Story 2 comments on why the first one was so wonderful while finding a fresh angle worthy of a new film. The craze of toy collecting becomes the focus here, as we find out Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks) is not only a beloved toy to Andy but also a rare doll from a popular 60s children's show. When a greedy collector takes Woody, Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) launches a rescue mission with Andy's other toys. To say more would be a crime because this is one of the most creative and smile-inducing films since, well, Toy Story. Although the toys look the same as in the 1994 feature, Pixar shows how much technology has advanced: the human characters look more human, backgrounds are superior, and two action sequences that book-end the film are dazzling. And it's a hoot for kids and adults. The film is packed with spoofs, easily accessible in-jokes and inspired voice casting (with newcomer Joan Cusack especially a delight as Cowgirl Jessie). But as the Pixar canon of films illustrates, the filmmakers are storytellers first. Woody's heart-tugging predicament can easily be translated into the eternal debate of living a good life versus living for forever. Toy Story 2 was deservedly a huge box-office success. --Doug Thomas, Amazon.com