I love Toy Story, who in this day and age does not? However, one thing I'm sure we can all agree on is that, at this point in time, it's a franchise that's better off being left alone. I was content with just the perfect original trilogy, and was very unimpressed with the fourth entry, even after numerous rewatches where I've tried to convince myself otherwise. So, the prospect of more from this franchise doesn't seem attractive to me in the slightest. But, Lightyear had me intrigued.
While this does represent Pixar's reluctance to completely let go of what is definitely their most lucrative property, for what it was, I thought it looked rather good. Tonally, it looked to be distinct from their usual offerings, almost more in line with a Star Wars film, which excited me as Pixar have lately felt burdened by a need to appeal to children in the audience. Also, the way it presented itself as the in-universe film about the character of Buzz Lightyear was also intriguing, so there was much to get me excited about giving this a watch when it came out.
In the film, after accidentally stranding his crew on a dangerous, uncharted planet, Buzz Lightyear sets out on a mission to find a way to get everyone home safely. But, this proves to be a difficult task when his methods are unsuccessful after many years of attempts, as well as when a new threat emerges in the form of an army of robots led by Emperor Zurg.
In hindsight, I can safely say that my hopes for what Lightyear would end up being were probably a bit unrealistic. From a tonal perspective, it's not the distinct film I imagined it would be based on the trailers; it's very much in line with what you'd expect from modern Pixar. This isn't a huge problem, but it is quite a let down as I was looking forward to seeing this studio make something that felt refreshing. One thing that is very problematic about this is the humour in the film. Forgive me for sounding like a broken record, but this is another Pixar film with some really weak and kind of obnoxious humour. It's not completely devoid of laughs, but there are lots of jokes that just don't land. Again, having a more grounded film would've largely marginalised this aspect, which is another reason why I was keen for this film to be tonally distinct.
What sinks Lightyear the most, however, is that it just doesn't have a compelling story. Buzz has a fairly standard "arrogant hero who needs to learn to be a team player" arc over the course of the film, which wasn't especially engaging and even made him an unlikeable character at times. There are individual story threads that are interesting - one of the characters named Izzy feels she must live up to the legacy of her grandmother (who was friends with Buzz) but is conflicted due to her fear of going into space, an obstacle she is forced to overcome in a really great scene during the third act. There's also a part where, due to the nature of Buzz's mission and the way time flows differently across space, he has been forced to watch his friends grow old and pass away while he remains the same age, similar to Interstellar, and that leads to quite a touching moment. But, on the whole, the narrative just didn't do much for me as it was mostly dull and predictable.
With all that being said, there is much to like in the film. The animation is spectacular as usual, and it gave way to some very well crafted action set pieces. I found the character design quite unremarkable compared to Pixar's recent works, but I do appreciate how the film wasn't overly cartoony in its overall mannerisms, it definitely felt more grounded. This would've been even better if the tone aligned with it, but it's still nice to see anyway. The voice acting was solid - Chris Evans was a very natural fit for Buzz, not feeling like he was given the role purely because of name recognition but rather because he can successfully replicate the demeanor of the character close enough to Tim Allen's iconic version but different enough so you can recognise this isn't the goofy action figure who believes he is a space ranger, but rather actually is that very space ranger. Some of the new characters were fun, especially Sox, a robot cat who behaves a lot like C-3PO, which was entertaining.
The last thing I'll touch upon is the nostalgic aspect of the film. I've complained a lot recently about films being overly reliant on nostalgic novelties to win over audiences, and favouring such aspects over compelling stories / themes. Lightyear is no different, as it has a ton of callbacks to the Toy Story films in the form of dialogue that is repeated verbatim as well as sequences that directly mimic certain actions and shot movements. It is evident that the film is relying on the novelty of being a Buzz Lightyear-led film too excessively, as it prioritises exercising the fact that it is over telling a good story. However, I can excuse this for a few reasons. One, it's all very naturally integrated into the film; it makes sense for Buzz to say and do things just like he did in the original films as he is technically the same character that he was then, after all. But, in addition to this, I don't really care so much as these moments all put a smile on my face. I tried to resist it as I know I'm being part of the problem by getting on board with fan service in place of anything new and interesting, but I can't help it. The familiar nature of Buzz on the big screen was enough to make me happy, so even though I would've liked something more substantial, I at least got something pleasant out of seeing this film.
Speaking of big screens, after a string of Pixar films that skipped cinemas and went straight to Disney+, it was so nice to see a new film from them in the cinema again! The last time was Onward, over two years ago, just before COVID kicked off, so this was obviously more than welcome, especially when also considering that some of the direct-to-Disney+ releases like Luca and Turning Red came out at times when cinemas were generally a suitable option.
To summarise, Lightyear is a solid and enjoyable spin-off from a beloved series. It is disappointing that it didn't fulfill the potential it displayed from the trailers as a more grounded and distinct film compared to the usual Pixar output, and it is also unfortunate that it lacked an engaging narrative, but the absolutely wonderful animation and familiar sight of such a terrific character was enough for me to have a good time with it. That being said, I do hope this studio continue what they had going up to this point with more original films that hopefully start to be a little more audacious, as that is certainly where my interest lies, but this was still perfectly fine nonetheless. It doesn't come close to any of the original three Toy Story films, but I did enjoy it more than Toy Story 4 as the wrongdoings of this film as a standalone piece are slightly easier to look past.
I'm going to give Lightyear a 7.0/10
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