Full of thrilling action and great humour, Lightyear is a fun and straightforward adventure that may not quite reach for the stars but if this is the film Andy saw in 1995, then you can totally understand why Buzz became his new favourite toy!
Stranded on an uncharted planet after an overconfident miscalculation on his part, Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear is determined to get his crew home by being the test pilot for a series of experimental hyper speed drives. But those experiments result in him travelling to the future where the mysterious Zurg now threatens the colony.
The ONLY “SPOILER” I will give away here comes from the first 10 seconds of the movie: Text pops up on the screen to tell you that Andy (the kid from Toy Story) received his favourite new toy in 1995 based on the very movie you’re about to sit through. In-universe, this is the “live-action” movie from that time (yes, this is animated but remember so was Andy). I think that is vital as a tone setter for the film even if it’s possibly a bit of an incongruous cop out.
What I mean by that is while Lightyear is very much written with contemporary “2020” sensibilities, in particular its humour, there is definitely something about it being a straightforward action-adventure that harkens back to films from the 1990s. Unfortunately, Pixar has built a certain reputation for itself over the last three decades, almost to their own detriment, for being able to “hit you in the feels” (think of the first 10 minutes of UP for example). So for a lot of people, any Pixar film that doesn’t make you want to neck a bottle of whiskey afterwards apparently isn’t “deep” enough.
I would also disagree with the assessment that this is a “soulless toy commercial” (which is ironic considering it’s a spin-off of a film called Toy Story), I think this film goes deep enough to make you care about what happens, has a few lessons about team work, making mistakes, and living up to your ambitions, even maybe a sprinkle about toxic masculinity. It’s just not going to hit you on the head and manipulate you to the extent of something like Inside Out (which was literally about emotions).
I needed to get that rant out of the way because I had a really good time with this movie. The action was thrilling and spectacular, the story itself had quite a few clever moments and plot beats, I laughed out loud at many of the jokes, and I was invested enough that, yeah, I would like to see a sequel to this. An ongoing series about “Star Command” on Disney+ maybe?
All the performances were really quite good and everyone hit their spots perfectly well. A tiny bit of a fuss has been made about the “recasting” of the voice of Buzz Lightyear, replacing Tim Allen with Chris Evans but once you see the film it makes ridiculous sense. The director, Angus MacLane, has had to exasperatedly explain that this is the “live-action” Buzz who is an action hero, whereas Allen is the voice of the more comedic and goofy toy (Allen didn’t voice Buzz in the cartoon series back in the day either). Also, Evans never voiced any of the Captain America toys so this becomes a bit of a meta-reference.
Izzy Hawthorne (Keke Palmer), the granddaughter of Buzz’s best friend and his commanding officer, is a great mirror for Lightyear to bounce off of. While she’s enthusiastic and hopeful vs Buzz’s slightly cynical veteran, she’s also quite the greenhorn compared to his experience. Both Darby (Dale Soules) and Mo (Taika Waititi) are great comic relief that also play off each other well (especially in the third act). Although Waititi’s accent does occasionally feel a bit jarring amongst all the Mid-Atlantic accents. However, the standout has to be Sox, Buzz’s personal companion robot, voiced by animator Peter Sohn (who was also the inspiration for the look of Russell in UP). The laughs are born from his friendly-yet-deadpan delivery, which makes all the robots in Star Wars far too emotional and human.
Speaking of which, this movie does wear its influences on its sleeve with homages to other sci-fi films (the homage to The Empire Strikes Back is rather obvious). But also the references and call backs to the Toy Story films and the Buzz Lightyear range of toys released during those films are all fun too (and make you into a Steve Rogers meme). The last few years have spawned quite a number of movies that rely on heavy-handed references and nostalgia and this film is clearly carrying that current trend by literally being a throwback but for my money it does it better than most others and feels earned.
A part of me loves to think that at some point during the early production there may have been a thought to make this exactly how they would’ve made it in the 1990s. Unfortunately, that would have ended up looking more like a parody than a loving tribute. Hence, why I feel there are competing tones in the contemporary sensibilities versus the straightforward action-adventure.
I enjoyed this film from start to finish yet there are a few aspects that prevented the experience from being absolutely stellar, for instance, the first act rushed through things ever so slightly. It still did a perfectly adequate job of setting up the stakes and emotional backstory for Buzz but it failed to reach maximum potential with that (keep in mind UP was able to serve a gut punch in just 10 minutes).
With a somewhat compressed opening act it sort of makes it appear as if there’s not enough going on in the rest of the movie. The basic premise of being stranded on a planet was probably never going to be conducive to a galaxy-sprawling adventure but what we did get didn’t quite feel as “epic” as one may have anticipated. Because of such it does make me sort of understand the criticism that this probably would have been better served premiering on Disney+ instead (I also think that for the sake of convenience and safety for families with little ones). Although, to be fair, in my opinion the quality of streaming media has skewed our expectations somewhat. Because had this actually been released in 1995 then we’d be seeing the reboot everyone would be hating on by now as somehow “disrespecting” the original.
And while I love how the third act revelation plays into one of the aforementioned themes (and this is going to be a very odd nitpick), I didn’t feel as though it was adequately explained. Sure, science fiction does a lot of nonsense, uses a lot of jargon, or even handwaves stuff, and in the end I can ultimately ignore my minor gripe but I’m still ever so slightly dissatisfied.
Lightyear may not do anything revolutionary but to call it a “mid-tier” Pixar film also undermines the quality of the finished product and the fun experience to be had. There’s an element that feels like a throwback without resorting to parody and I think that has somehow struck a chord with me.
Say what you want about glorified toy commercials, this actually made me want to buy a few of the toys but also maybe even resurrect (more accurately “update”) one of my previous cosplay plans.
That’s how much fun I had with this movie.
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