Lightyear (PG.)
Directed by Angus MacLane
Starring Chris Evans, Keke Palmer, Dale Soules, Peter Sohn, James Brolin and Taika Waititi. 107 mins. In Cinemas.
Sequels. Remakes. Prequels. Reboots. Spinoffs. Merchandise. Lego versions. Hollywood employs a wide variety of schemes to reduce the risk of contamination posed by New Ideas. But the path followed by this latest Pixar product is so twisty and convoluted that it probably does count as a form of originality, or at least a tired path that has not been trodden before. This is not simply a prequel about Buzz Lightyear, beloved of Toy Stories 1,2,3 and 4, plus numerous spinoff shorts. At the start, the film states that in 1995, this was Andy’s favourite film and the reason why he desperately wanted a Buzz Lightyear doll in the first Toy Story. Given there has already been an animated TV series that covered this territory but with a different story, I guess this classifies as a rebooted spinoff prequel sequel origin’s tale.
An immediate issue with Lightyear is that the premise doesn’t hold: there's no way that this was Andy's favourite film in 1995. In the mid-nineties, a young boy's favourite movie would've been some straightforward sci-fi adventure romp and that's not what this is. Though it uses, with great affection, lots of space opera imagery and the last third is nonstop action, this is a full-on Pixar film, both in its values and its execution. A same-sex relationship and kiss wouldn't be included back then and the plot would be a lot more straightforward.
Having landed on a planet filled with subterranean tentacled menace, Buzz (Evans, replacing Tim Allen who got the boot for being a bit right-wing) narrowly fails to get the ship off the planet, thus stranding the crew there. Desperate to get them back home, Buzz goes off on missions to test out potential new hyperdrives. Each time he returns after a few minutes away, he finds many years have passed for everybody else. He keeps trying to fulfill his mission while they all adapt to life on the new planet and grow old. It’s very Pixar to make a sci-fi adventure that emphasises community and domesticity over individual masculine heroics.
Lightyear has the usual Pixar virtues of beautiful animation and charming humour. Its subdued poignancy makes a nice change from the usual tear-jerking but I wonder if the Interstellar-style plotting might be a little too complicated to fully hold the attention of the younger viewers. It’s great that a Pixar film is back in cinemas, the first since 2020’s Onward, but be prepared to have the whole 100 minutes interrupted by loud crying and children and parents shuffling past to go to the toilet.
Directed by Angus MacLane
Starring Chris Evans, Keke Palmer, Dale Soules, Peter Sohn, James Brolin and Taika Waititi. 107 mins. In Cinemas.
Sequels. Remakes. Prequels. Reboots. Spinoffs. Merchandise. Lego versions. Hollywood employs a wide variety of schemes to reduce the risk of contamination posed by New Ideas. But the path followed by this latest Pixar product is so twisty and convoluted that it probably does count as a form of originality, or at least a tired path that has not been trodden before. This is not simply a prequel about Buzz Lightyear, beloved of Toy Stories 1,2,3 and 4, plus numerous spinoff shorts. At the start, the film states that in 1995, this was Andy’s favourite film and the reason why he desperately wanted a Buzz Lightyear doll in the first Toy Story. Given there has already been an animated TV series that covered this territory but with a different story, I guess this classifies as a rebooted spinoff prequel sequel origin’s tale.
An immediate issue with Lightyear is that the premise doesn’t hold: there's no way that this was Andy's favourite film in 1995. In the mid-nineties, a young boy's favourite movie would've been some straightforward sci-fi adventure romp and that's not what this is. Though it uses, with great affection, lots of space opera imagery and the last third is nonstop action, this is a full-on Pixar film, both in its values and its execution. A same-sex relationship and kiss wouldn't be included back then and the plot would be a lot more straightforward.
Having landed on a planet filled with subterranean tentacled menace, Buzz (Evans, replacing Tim Allen who got the boot for being a bit right-wing) narrowly fails to get the ship off the planet, thus stranding the crew there. Desperate to get them back home, Buzz goes off on missions to test out potential new hyperdrives. Each time he returns after a few minutes away, he finds many years have passed for everybody else. He keeps trying to fulfill his mission while they all adapt to life on the new planet and grow old. It’s very Pixar to make a sci-fi adventure that emphasises community and domesticity over individual masculine heroics.
Lightyear has the usual Pixar virtues of beautiful animation and charming humour. Its subdued poignancy makes a nice change from the usual tear-jerking but I wonder if the Interstellar-style plotting might be a little too complicated to fully hold the attention of the younger viewers. It’s great that a Pixar film is back in cinemas, the first since 2020’s Onward, but be prepared to have the whole 100 minutes interrupted by loud crying and children and parents shuffling past to go to the toilet.
