“Lightyear” (2022) Review
Written by Victor DeBonis
In terms of being something for kids, this film will probably do fine enough for them. Seeing this as an adult, however, I was honestly somewhat underwhelmed by this movie.
As a quick recap on what I think of the franchise as a whole, the very first “Toy Story” movie was one of the first big theater-going experiences that I had when I was a young kid, and I probably watched the VHS tape more times than I could possibly count. As you might imagine, it holds a special place in my heart for nostalgic purposes and how it brings me back to being a kid. Going beyond that, however, while some of the animation in it doesn’t hold up quite as well, the rest of the animation worked wonderfully, especially since the plastic textures of these toys look pretty good in 3-D. Beyond even that, the characters were memorable, and the writing was excellent with the humorous dialogue and exploring how a friendship came about from two different types of action figures that have different beliefs with regards to how they interact and what their purpose is with their human owner.
“Toy Story 2” is, hands-down, one of my favorite sequels ever, and it expands upon what made the first entry so good and makes something that’s more emotional, smart, and hilarious while also making more opportunities for great interactions between these distinct toy characters. I think greatly of the first film and love the first sequel to it. The third movie is really good, and the fourth movie, while having smaller stakes to it, was a fine and decent entry.
On paper, I could see “Lightyear” working in theory partly because I am a big fan of this film series, and, as a kid, I thought that it was so cool to imagine what some of this astronaut’s adventures were like. What types of worlds did he explore? What types of other aliens and humans did he encounter along this journey? As an adult, I’m thinking that this could be a cool, entertaining sci-fi pulp story that embraces its goofiness or, maybe, even a fun sci-fi blockbuster movie from the era that Andy grew up in that could be something along the lines of, say, “Judge Dredd” or “The Fifth Element” but aimed more at kids. I think of all those possibilities and ponder over what a great movie this could be.
This story starts somewhat humorously by saying that the movie we’re watching was the favorite of Andy (the human owner in the trilogy) and played a big part in motivating him to buy this toy.
And, sadly, throughout most of the runtime, I just couldn’t help but scratch my head wondering if this ho-hum story was Andy’s favorite movie.
I have to say that I was pretty disappointed with how bland and uneventful “Lightyear” was. It’s a shame because I definitely see the talent on display here. Chris Evans does great work as the main hero of the movie. From the moment that I found out that it was him doing the voice in the trailer, I thought that it was a great casting move. It’s even a little funny when you think about how someone playing another big hero from within Disney (Captain America) is now playing another well-known Disney hero, and it actually fits. There are a few times when Evans sound a little similar to Tim Allen with the gruffness, but, overall, he brings his own take on this character while still honoring it. He is charismatic and dead-serious about most things, including his missions, but he also knows how to deliver reactions to situations that he comes across as unaware but still knows how to make it funny.
The animation is top-notch. Plenty of detail goes into the backgrounds of the star-peppered sky past the planet. The foggy images and fluid movements of each character feel real and admittedly add life to the story. Also, the best character in the movie comes in the form of a robotic cat by the name of Sox, and he’s a creative, funny companion to Buzz that has a method of blinking and responding to the environment and others around him that easily provides the most laughs and entertainment in the movie. It’s almost like having C-3PO in the form of a feline. Peter Sohn voices this character and he delivers lines to flights and people in ways that are funny and would expectedly come out of a robotic pet almost in a deadpan style of communicating.
Yet, it is worth reminding the audience that this robot is the best character in a movie that is named after Buzz Lightyear, which might be the first sign that things look iffy for this movie (And, I will get back to this point). I give much kudos to the main people of the story because, outside of them and the animation, this was a very dull experience.
The other human characters are not that funny, and they don’t have anything that gives them much personality. Taiki Watiti, who directed “Thor: Ragnorak” and “Jojo Rabbit” understands what makes for great humor, but he’s unfortunately stuck with a character whose only attempts at humor are written as an abundance of fright and a weird obsession with a pen. There’s another character that’s part of Buzz’s crew who is said to have been imprisoned, which you would think would lead to a creative backstory about how she got there as well as seeing some great moments from her, but she sadly just reminds the audience over and over (to the point of my frustration) about how she is “on parole.”
Keke Palmer plays Izzy, the astronaut who tries to help Buzz the most out of the group, and she has a nice connection with her grandmother who used to be Buzz’s best friend and officer long ago. Yet, once more, she has some intelligence but nothing that makes me more invested in her or what she does. No funny or interesting actions happen amidst this crew to help me feel more engaged for that matter.
Almost everything that happens in this movie is predictable. Each event is meant to hammer over the head the idea about how teamwork is important and that it’s better to appreciate the people around you no matter what you’re going through. These are undeniably nice messages, but I’ve seen these themes discussed in much stronger and even entertaining ways than in this film.
The planet itself that Buzz is trying to escape from is boring. Aside from the nice-looking animation, there are one or two bug creatures that crawl around and some vines that try to snatch what they need, but, otherwise, it’s just a generic deserted planet with nothing that dangerous or creative about it to make exploring around it as entertaining as it should be. This wouldn’t be that bad if the astronauts were allowed to explore other galaxies or worlds beyond their own. The trailer seems to hint that they will. Sadly, they don’t. And, believe it or not, most of the conflict in this movie focuses on trying to escape this planet to go back to the home that Buzz and the others came from.
A good isolation story can be done if there are enough things that happen in the place that one is marooned on or enough conflict from this area that invites for unique interactions and interesting developments from the characters or the one person trying to escape. Instead, here, we’re just shown with this poor guy trying over and over again to find a way out with no real sense of long-term of accomplishment.
Maybe, one of the toughest ideas to admit is that, while Buzz is still believable as a hero here, he honestly doesn’t do anything that memorable or heroic in this movie. One somewhat neat event happens in the beginning to illustrate his selflessness, but, in the rest of the movie, there aren’t any astonishing feats or acts of heroism that happen that would make me as a 5 or 6-year-old go, “Wow! That’s amazing! I totally want to buy a toy based on this hero from this movie!” So much of what happens, especially in the final act, comes more from the team that is working with him rather than Buzz himself, and, again, it’s all done to drive home the very clear message about how working as a team is very important.
In the case of a movie based on a franchise that’s aimed for both kids and those who remember movies and specials from it from their own childhood, I naturally think about what I would’ve thought of this movie if I were still a 6 or 10 year old or such. And, if I’m thinking hard about it, I could probably see myself renting this once from my local Blockbuster (I still miss the days that had them.) but just having an “Yeah, that was okay…” expression on my face and not wanting to own it on VHS after that or rent it again.
Setting aside this review for a second, I’m just going to say it: In my opinion, I think that Disney made a big mistake by showing “Lightyear” in theaters only and showing “Turning Red” only on streaming when it should’ve been the reverse. “Turning Red” came out a few months ago, and that film felt like the first one from Pixar in a long time that had its own voice and possessed its own style and came from a story that, while it is familiar in a couple of ways, felt different and came from one’s heart and relationship with one’s family and culture to bring something bold and wonderful. That movie got robbed of its chances to possibly resonate with even more people by being shown on a big screen. “Lightyear” on the other hand, comes across more as a more standard story that one sometimes finds only on streaming sites. It strongly feels that Disney was strongly pushing this one to be in theaters to see how many toys could be sold from it.
I normally don’t dive into the entertainment politics this much when reviewing a flick, and I will admit that this film isn’t devoid of heart. There is a scene in the middle of the movie where Buzz is recognizing that someone that he cares about is gone. For such a brief scene, it’s directed and acted in a way that feels very sincere and is reminiscent of the big heart of Pixar’s works that often shines so strongly. I also admit that it might come across as a little odd that I’m giving so much thought to a movie based on an action figure.
However, I’ve seen so many great shows and movies this year, some of which really surprised me, and, for several instances from them, I noticed that quite a few of them were tackling nostalgic properties that could’ve just phoned a bunch of it in, but they took time to thinking about what would make the story resonate and what would make the characters relatable or people really worth rooting for. This year, overall, still feels like a mixed bag for reasons that I won’t dive into, right now, but, in terms of the media that I’ve seen, it feels that, in terms of entertainment, this is a great year for that and as ripe a time as ever for creating stories that are great enough to make someone want to buy a toy from this franchise or shirt for it or what have you.
Pixar could’ve done that, too. As it is, the story for this toy just feels forgettable. The voice acting is solid, and a couple of the characters, particularly Sox, are fine. A few moments happen that are pretty neat, but the plot doesn’t feel fully fleshed out, and the morals and everything outside of the animation and a few good elements feel too forced and basic.
Some kids might like this movie okay, and that’s awesome if they do. As for me as a big Pixar fan and fan of the “Toy Story” movie series, I hope for a story from this franchise in the future that does try to creatively go beyond and not stay put.
Grade: C-