Lightyear

Lightyear
Starring Chris Evans, Keke Palmer, Taika Waititi, Uzo Aduba
Directed by Angus MacLane

Pixar films have a history of telling an important, adult story wrapped in a child's film that resonates with everyone. Whether it's growing up and letting go of the past like in "Toy Story 3," or dealing with incomprehensible grief like "Up," or facing your fears and finding out things aren't as scary as they seem like in "Monster's Inc.," there's lessons in life for everyone to learn with Pixar films, whether you're one or one hundred and one. "Lightyear" is no exception, telling the story of the "real life" Buzz Lightyear that inspired the toy that Andy's mother got him in the first "Toy Story" film. In this film, it's the topic of mistakes and learning from them, as well as knowing that sometimes they cannot be fixed, no matter how hard you try.

When Andy got his Buzz Lightyear toy in 1995, it was from his favorite movie, "Lightyear." Buzz Lightyear (Chris Evans) is a Galactic Ranger alongside his best friend Alisha Hawthorne (Uzo Aduba), and as they explore a possible planet to live on, discover it's filled with deadly bugs and plant life. While trying to escape, Buzz accidentally crashes the ship containing the colony, forcing them to live on the planet until they could find hyperspace fuel to get them off the planet. One year later, the community has grown to adapt to the land, but Buzz can't get over his mistake, and sets out to get them off the planet. He volunteers to test the hyperspace fuel they acquire, but each test comes with a price: while Buzz is gone only four minutes his time, it's four years on the planet. As he keeps trying to rectify his mistake, everyone around him grows older, and lives their lives. Alisha grows up, marries her girlfriend, has a child, and a grandchild named Izzy. Buzz is the only one who remains the same, along with his robotoic cat companion Sox (Peter Sohn), which Alisha got him to cope with the changes in his life.

After one successful test, however, Buzz returns to find that the planet has been overtaken by robots, with a giant alien ship hovering overhead. Izzy (Keke Palmer), now a grown adult, has acquired a ragtag resistance group including naive recruit Mo Morrison (Taika Waititi) and paroled convict Darby Steel (Dale Soules) to combat the robot forces, but they need Buzz's help. They plan on flying up to the main ship and destroying it, along with the robotic ruler Emperor Zurg (James Brolin), but they need Buzz to fly them. Buzz, always incapable of asking for help, tries to do it on his own - and realizes that he might not be able to rectify all his past mistakes.

"Lightyear" might seem like a cheap cash grab for Pixar, who's last major film release was "Onward" back before the pandemic changed all our lives ("Soul," "Luca," and "Turning Red" were never in theaters), and in a sense that could be true - after all, they've been known to do it before ("Cars 2," anyone?). Does it feel like a soul-less cash grab? In a sense, yes. There's not that "special" Pixar magic you've come to expect from the company, and the film feels rather formulaic and simplistic, yet also tackling themes and moments that go way over the head of the wee little ones sitting in the seats. There's very little magic here, and although it's got some incredibly hilarious moments and, yes, even some of that good ole-fashioned tear-jerker moments, in the end the film lands with a massive "meh" instead of a resounding chorus.

Why does it land with such a dud? There's a lot of outside forces working against the film which I will discuss later, but just from what I saw on screen, there wasn't anything spectacular in the visual format. The animation is vastly different from the "Toy Story" series, and has this almost-cheap look to it. It's not as lavish as Pixar's other work, and although I hate comparing it, it's something that needs to be addressed. That's not saying the animation was lacking or terrible, but just not memorable or groundbreaking.

The story blends sci-fi with drama but not always in equal measure, as the film takes an incredibly hard right turn a little past the halfway point that makes pretty much everything you know about Buzz Lightyear and turns it on its head, introducing complicated time-travel themes that'll easily go over the kids' heads, if they're still paying attention at that point.

What the story does do right, however, is discussing the theme of regret and your past mistakes, as everyone in the film experiences their own mistakes and the desire to fix them is what drives the overall theme. Buzz's mistake of crashing the ship on the planet is the sole meaning of the film, as he spends his whole life trying to rectify the mistake, all the while missing out on life happening around him. Izzy struggles with her past mistakes of wanting to be like her grandmother and feeling like she's letting her down, and Mo struggles with his countless past mistakes while Darby is literally paying for the mistakes he made in the past. This is a great concept to talk to your children about, and show them that while mistakes are made, some cannot be fixed, and you have to be okay with that.

The voice cast does an admirable job as well, with Chris Evans tackling the big shoes of Tim Allen to voice Lightyear. While it seems like he's molded his voice to match Allen's, Evans makes Lightyear his own and turns him from a buffoonish toy into an intelligent and resourceful leader. Keke Palmer gives Izzy a sense of independence but also a headstrong nature that makes her the natural leader of her group. Taika Waititi and Dale Soules give great vocal performances as well, with Uzo Aduba shining as Alisha Hawthorne, who balances humorous tones with more serious ones and gives the tear-jerking moment that's incredibly touching.

Yet the main standout in the film - and its saving grace - comes from Peter Sohn's vocal work with Sox, the robotic cat companion for Buzz. Disney is no stranger to marketing its cute characters (Grogu, Baby Goot, etc), and they once again hit cash paydirt with Sox, which makes me wonder why Andy never wanted him as a toy. Sox is hilarious, and supplied some of the most gut-rolling humor the film had to offer, as it's not just a companion, but an uber-intelligent robot who has a lot of its own secrets. Sox steals the show, and now I want a spinoff of this spinoff featuring him - I'd be first in line for that film.

Now there's been a lot of drama happening behind the scenes before this film saw the light of day, and the most notable one is the absence of Tim Allen. Allen has been the voice of Buzz through it all (except for the television series "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command," when he was voiced by Patrick Warburton), and when audiences learned that Chris Evans would take on the vocal role, many were up in arms. Some claimed it's because Allen is a staunch Republican and Disney wanted to "cancel" him for it, but it seems that the actual decision makes a lot more sense - this Buzz is the character who the toy is based off of, and there's hardly any action figure out there that's voiced by the same voice actor in its respective film. Also, this Buzz isn't a goofy, dim-witted toy, but an action hero in the making, and not to mention it's supposed to be a younger Buzz, and they needed a younger voice to pull off the role.

Then there's the event that caused the film to be banned in fourteen markets, and that has to do with something so terrible, so horrendous, so outlandish that I'm even surprised it's ever included in ANY film, television show, novel, or song - it's almost difficult for me to type because it's so insane, but I'll try. There's...*deep breath*...a SAME SEX KISS! Oh the humanity! Oh the shame! How dare they show a same-sex loving couple sharing a smooch on screen! It's a travesty I tell you! Anyone who brings their kids to see this film are enabling them to be groomed to think that this is okay!...wait...it IS okay! Oh shoot, maybe I'm being groomed myself, but dare I say that I wholly approved of it, because it actually fit in the confines of the story. Plus it's literally two seconds long at that, and adds to the emotional depth of the story. For generations no one has minded couples kissing in kids' movies, but now they're up in arms about this? I'll never understand humanity.

Through it all, "Lightyear" does try to make something of itself, but much like the theme of mistakes, Pixar seemed to make a mistake with reaching into the "Toy Story" vault once again to re-ignite the sense of wonder and imagination that the original film did back in 1995. Again, it's not bad, but much like Andy, its target audience has grown up and grown more cynical, and a film like this doesn't fit that hole that's been left behind - a film that's better seen on Disney+ than the big screen.

The Score: B