Lightyear

'Lightyear' (2022)

Opening thoughts: Expectations actually weren't low for 'Lightyear', despite its polarising critical reception and the controversy it garnered for a same sex couple and kiss. Buzz Lightyear is one of Pixar's greatest creations and more than interesting enough to warrant his own prequel origin story. Am also a fan of Pixar and of the first three 'Toy Story' films. 'Monsters University' and 'Finding Dory' were proof to me too that prequel origin stories to Pixar hits could work.

'Lightyear' didn't quite come together for me, a case of it starting off so well but losing momentum and focus. It is nowhere near as bad as what was said about it when first released and the controversy over something so brief and that was actually done tastefully was very over the top and not deserved. When it comes to Pixar's films though, 'Lightyear' is one of the weaker ones (perhaps the weakest of the non-sequel efforts) and one of the missed opportunities. There is a good deal done right, but what Pixar does so well only comes in spurts and there are too many drawbacks.

Good things: Starting with the plus points, 'Lightyear' is gorgeously animated with it shining especially in the visually inventive action sequences and the galactic backgrounds. Michael Giacchino's score is beautiful and rousing, with real atmosphere.

The film starts off incredibly well, with a lot of intrigue and suspenseful excitement. The voice acting is excellent, Chris Evans filling Tim Allen's giant shoes with great charisma. Of the characters, it is agreed that Sox is the best, so lovable and funny and a character worthy of his own series. Izzy also brings a lot of heart.

Bad things: Was a bit mixed on Buzz, he is very heroic and relatable to begin with but the more the film takes itself too seriously the duller his personality gets. Too many of the characters have thin personalities and the clumsiness of the characters becomes overdone and repetitive. Zurg is a huge disappointment, not sinister at all and instead very generic and underdeveloped with a plan that makes the viewer raise their arms up in confusion and frustration.

Pacing wise, 'Lightyear' is all over the map. With too many draggy stretches in a film that feels too much like an over extended prologue. Much of the story is flimsy, while the over reliance on false starts complicated the narrative too much and made some of the film convoluted. The script doesn't always flow and takes itself too seriously, when there is humour it only comes to life with Sox and is annoying elsewhere. The film could have done with a lot more suspense and excitement, both of which dim significantly the thinner and more complicated the story gets. The big Zurg reveal is agreed beyond awful, introduced out of nowhere, severely underwritten, absolutely ridiculous and doesn't make sense at all and succeeds in dumbing him down. From that point on it all felt rushed and the whole climax anti-climactic.

Closing thoughts: Overall, not unwatchable by any stretch but should have been a lot more considering the character and studio.

5/10.

Toy Story is a legendary franchise and Buzz Lightyear might be among the most iconic animated characters ever created. Taking risks and telling an unique story with these priceless assets is therefore a daunting task. A task which Pixar could not fulfill.

Characters in the early scenes of the movie are well written and the relationships well established. The newly introduced characters (which you spend most of your time with) are not. They all got potential, but they fail to connect with Buzz and therefore fail to connect with the audience. The main antagonist has the same issue. He could've been an interesting character, but Pixar went for the easy route instead. This means that we got to see a very generic evil villain, one of which we've seen countless times before.

The plot was predictable. Lightyear never tries to surprise you, stun you, wow you or shock you. You simply go from A to B to C (sometimes with an obstacle in the way) till the movie is over.

Lightyear isn't unique. Lightyear isn't touching. Lightyear isn't worthy of being called a Pixar production.

Except the cat, the cat was incredible.

As a sci-fi fan, I found the film mildly entertaining, if only for the setting and concepts, but I get why it didn't land well with the general audience. I think the film had two major flaws that dragged it down.

First would be that the film couldn't decide what it wanted to be. It took itself too seriously and had too many convoluted concepts (time dilation, time travel, alternate timelines) to be enjoyed by children, but it also didn't really explore any of it's themes or concepts well enough to be enjoyed by adults. This whole film really comes across as Interstellar-lite, which is just an odd thing to base a kids film on.

The other issue for me was the characters. They just weren't very engaging. Buzz himself came off as kind of humorless and dour, and the rest of the cast was entirely one note. Buzz's team in particularly just felt tacked on and didn't really add anything to the film. Tim Allen is a better Buzz Lightyear. Even Patrick Warburton is probably a better Buzz in terms of being engaging and fun. Chris Evans does a solid job here, and I kind of agree that he brings a more "human" quality compared to the wacky Tim Allen. But when you look at how devoid of energy the film is, I have to wonder if Tim Allen could have somehow injected some life into this movie with clever ad-libs. This movie needed energy, and it has nothing in the tank.

Ultimately, I think the film just needed to pick a lane. Either make this a fun adventure romp across the galaxy, or lean into the mature themes and ideas. As is, it's a film that didn't really make me laugh or make me feel anything, it's just kind of "there".

This film seems to spark a lot of people to say that this film is completely terrible or that it's completely fabulous because it included a gay relationship in the periphery of the main story, and to an even lesser extent, a convict character who is sympathetic. So. I'll address that quickly: None of that seemed like a big selling-point or issue with the movie to me. And those reviewer who make the movie all about those things seem to say more about themself in their review than the movie itself.

Overall I found the movie better than what I was expecting based on it's IMDB score, but still far from being a Pixar classic.

The animation is very good, the story is solid even if it feels like a lot of the ideas have been done before in different ways and feels like a few ideas didn't quite work as well as possible. In some ways it reminded me of an inferior "Up". The main protagonist's circumstance were less sympathetic and more a result of his actual decisions. Overall I wonder how the movie would have looked if it had explored a B storyline for another character during some of the time-jumps. I also think the twist could have been established a little better than it was.

The voice acting for the film is fine. I didn't think a lot of the comedy landed well for me. But it wasn't awful like a lot of kids movies either and didn't detract much from the drama of the main story. Overall it will be acceptable to most audiences, with the robot cat being a likely favorite character for many viewers. Most kids will probably like it a bit more than adults and not notice or care much about the politically controversial content unless their guardians have already primed them to have an major opinion about it like them.

I'd say it's a good time at the theater and better than the average score right now of 5.8. But don't expect it to be a classic Pixar film like Coco, Up, Walle, or Toy Story 1-3.

"In 1995, Andy got a toy. That toy was based on a movie. This is that movie. "

I think I would've gotten more out of this if they'd left out that opening text. "Lightyear" is a decent space adventure movie, the visuals are pretty great and Chris Evans gives a strong performance.

But the idea that the Tim Allen Buzz we all know and love came from this movie . . . Eh, I just couldn't get there. There's a bigger "Top Gun" vibe going on here than anything "Toy Story" related and "Maverick" did a much better job of living with failure.

I admit I walked into this with low expectations (really, was anyone asking for this movie?) but the Toy Story association is totally forced.