Key Details
- Director: Angus MacLane (Co-director of Finding Dory, long-time animator)
- Animation Studio: Pixar
- Country of Origin: United States of America
- Rating: NC16 (For some mature content)
- Release Date: 16 June 2022 (In theatres)
- Trailer: Click here
Introduction
Welcome to the very first episode of Blaziker Reviews Animation! This is where I embark on an adventure to watch an animated movie. Today, we are off to space as we explore the spin-off movie of the legendary Toy Story franchise “Lightyear”, the movie which made Andy wanted to buy a Buzz Lightyear figurine that started the entire series.
Directed by the wonderful Angus MacLane, who came off six years after co-directing Finding Dory, it starts Captain America himself, Chris Evans, as the titular Buzz Lightyear. After spending years being marooned on a planet, Buzz took on another hypersonic flight to test out a stable fuel source that would get him and his crew out of the planet but found himself in a future where an army of robots led by the evil Zurg is trying to steal that fuel source. Banding with a trio of rookies led by his best friend’s granddaughter (voiced by Keke Palmer) to bring the crew off the planet, will Lightyear be yet another Pixar classic, or will it be an ill-advised Toy Story follow-up?
Story and Characters
With the spinoff cartoon show “Buzz Lightyear of Star Command” mostly taking place in outer space, most of the scenes in Lightyear take place on the planet itself, with the third act taking place in space. The story played safe, where the main plotline was about an experienced space ranger teaming and trying to bond with a bunch of rookies, but takes the time needed to craft the world-building of Lightyear, as well as to plant the Chekov guns at the right places, at the right time. Sure, the plot plays it safe and there were times where the story felt uneven or poorly paced, but it does the job well.
As for characters, we have Buzz, who prefers to work alone, needs a team while Izzy and the other two rookies of Mo (voiced by veteran director Taika Waititi) and Darby (Dale Soules) need Buzz to guide them. While the team does not work together well at first, it was the different character dynamics that played very well, making each character development well thought of, which culminated in the final act where each member put their discovered strengths to good use. This also resulted in some great, light-hearted comedy that has some funny awkward moments, as you will see in both the trailer and the movie. Mo’s bad luck and incompetence, and Darby’s violent aggression somehow makes a perfect match, if I were to be honest.
However, the most impressive character has to be Lightyear’s robot cat SOX (voiced by Peter Sohn). Usually, animal sidekicks are done to death and that most are not good, but SOX not only is hilarious (as hilarious as Mo’s bad luck), but useful in certain scenarios that saved Buzz and his newly acquired crew from any trouble. Voice acting is also well done, given some had voice acting experience under their belt, proving that with some training, professional actors can become good voice actors too. Oh, and there’s also Zurg, but I will not spoil much about the main villain, because Zurg’s identity will surprise you.
Animation
Once again, given Pixar’s long-lasting reputation as one of the best animation studios right now, it is to no one’s surprise Pixar sticks the landing. We expect competent and innovative animation from the master, and they did just that. This was especially so in the beginning of the movie, with the shadowy reflection from Buzz’s point of view being an excellent point.
The world-building of the planet and the spaceships is (pun intended) out of this world, although these are designs we had seen in Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, just in 2022. The environment designs also showcase the extra-terrestrial feel and space-age surroundings that, while Zurg and his robots are not too far off from their original designs in both the Toy Story movies and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command.
Being an action movie, the character and background movements are smooth and not too frenetic, such that it is easy to miss the fun action sequences, which happened in all three acts. Well-paced, well-constructed and had the right amount of thrills to keep the audience excited. It may not be Top Gun: Maverick, but the animation and the action felt like a breath-taking roller-coaster.
Special Sauce
Here are some unique features about Lightyear:
- Representation: The first act featured Buzz’s friend and grandmother to Izzy, Alisa Hawthorne (voiced by Uzo Aduba) marrying a female and starting a family. The brief kiss between Alisa and her wife was what caused the ban in about 14 countries. If anything, Disney standing up to that scene being cut was testament to their stance towards the LGBTQ+ community, on pride month, no less!
- Sound design: A big minus for me is that the sound engineering was not strong enough, probably to prevent scaring off the child audience in countries where the movie is rated PG. I wished the sound designers toggle the bass up a notch, especially during the hypersonic flight sequences. However, the one aspect the sound engineers done well was the sound of space during the third act, absolute silence from both the movie and the audience.
- Easter eggs: Being a Pixar movie, there has to be some Easter eggs and references in the movie, and there is more than the classic Buzz Lightyear spacesuit. One Easter egg that stood out was a reference to Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, something about time dilation where time in a certain place moves differently from that in other places. Clearly, it might have happened during the movie screening because Lightyear had so much fun action, the movie ended before we realise it.
Conclusion
Lightyear may not be a perfect Pixar movie, but it is still such an epic blast for this Toy Story prequel. From the well-thought character arcs to its twisty, slightly more mature storyline and, most importantly, some stunning character and background designs and animation from the maestros of CG animation. Even though there were some controversies, such as the review bombing on various review sites, that threaten to ruin Pixar’s return to the big screen, it is still a great Pixar movie that does its storytelling and animation well.
Despite some controversies that threaten to ruin Pixar’s reputation as a studio that goes far and beyond with every movie they created, Lightyear is a fun and thrilling adventure to infinity and beyond.
That is all for the review of Lightyear. My final rating is below, but seeing that I had seen some animated movies before setting up this blog, I might need to take a time-out between Lightyear and the next two animated movies coming out (The Sea Beast and Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank), I might do some short reviews of some animated movies that came out this year. I will see you in the next adventure, and until then, k thanks bye!
Rating
- Story and Characters: 4.5/5
- Animation: 5/5
- Special Sauce: 4.5/5
- Overall score: 14/15
Rating: Fairytale
