Lightyear

So, guys, we're at the second Pixar movie of 2022, Lightyear. This was the Pixar film I was more excited for this year, mainly since it was a spin-off from the Toy Story movies that was gonna be focusing on where the actual Buzz Lightyear from the Toy Story world came from, even though we kinda already had that with the Buzz Lightyear Of Star Command movie and show from 2000, but, now they've made a real full-length movie showing it. In fact, kind of a small thing about that that happens is that the opening of the film literally say that this is the film version of the character the toy was based off of in the Toy Story world. I was actually not 100% on board with this idea, which is weird considering that sounds cool and it's based on my favourite Toy Story character and it's just a new Pixar movie all together. Still, I went into this hoping for the best. And, in the end, I mostly just thought it was okay, which is really strange considering I thought every Toy Story movie before this were all perfect, and I guess this doesn't technically count as one of them, so that's fine, but yeah, this mostly just came across as just okay to me. I didn't see anything really exceptional. But, I'll explain after the plot, also, yes, this will be no spoilers for the first part and then I'll go into the spoilers after a warning. So, what's the story? We're introduced to the real Buzz Lightyear landing on a planet with a crew and a bunch of people, but, after they're stranded, he tries everything he can to get them home. And, that's all I'm gonna say. I know that was super vague, but, everything afterwards is a big spoiler. So, I guess the number 1 thing I absolutely loved the most here were the acting and animation. I think Chris Evans did a great job as Buzz, I thought he handled the references really well since, well, this would have references to how Buzz acted in the Toy Story movies. Some were pretty clever and some felt like they were kinda phoned in, but, in terms of the performance, I think Evans did a great job and it did really feel like the Buzz we knew from the Toy Story movies. And the rest do good too. Plus, do I even need to talk about the animation? Of course it's incredible here and the way they create a whole bunch of unique looking places for this is nice to look at. The film also has some funny moments, not every joke landed for me, in fact, I didn't laugh much at all, but, some jokes did get a chuckle out of me. Also, when the film didn't need to rely on some tie-ins to the character in the Toy Story movies, I thought some parts were kinda creative, but, even then, that didn't always work. And, yeah, that just kinda leads into my negatives and that's that some things, while creative, were also kinda weird. As something that's supposed to be a spin-off, that means they would have had to be careful to be consistent with everything in the Toy Story movies and there are some things that don't make sense on that level. Not just that some of the characters don't look exactly the same as the films, though, a bit of that is actually explained at the end, but also just other small things don't connect with what was set up before. I'm obviously not spoiling that, but that was kinda confusing. Speaking of, some things here were a little too weird, as strange as that might be to say, some things in this were a little too weird for me. Just some things some characters do and the way they act and other small moments were a bit too strange to see. I also don't think the film is particularly well paced. It's a weird feeling where I feel like it's going back pretty fast, but also kinda slow at the same time. I know that probably doesn't make sense, but it's just something I was thinking of while watching. Also, the characters, while memorable, some were kinda generic with clichéd quirks. And, like I said, some things here don't match up with some plot points in the Toy Story movies, also, some parts of the plot are kinda confusing, mainly revolving around a character that appears in this. I'm not spoiling anything there either, I just thought it was really weird because they do try to explain it, but it's still kinda confusing. So, I know this was pretty short compared to my other reviews, but I honestly don't have much to say about this. I just kinda thought this movie was just fine. I didn't see anything that exceptional in it aside from a few small elements, and I'm not entirely sure if this is a film I'd necessarily want to watch again. I was happy to watch it the first time, but, I'm not sure if I'd be compelled to want to watch it again and I honestly liked Turning Red more than this. But, still, regardless, I do still recommend checking this out yourself if you're able and I'm still glad I saw it the first time. So, yeah, guys, those are my thoughts on Lightyear. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think. Okay, now we're gonna get into spoilers, if you don't want anything spoiled, go see the film than come back and read the rest.

Spoilers:

Okay, so, in terms of any small spoilers in the movie, there's not much, but the ones that're here are pretty significant for the story. The first is I was pretty surprised by how the whole passage of time when Buzz was doing those test flights to try to get off that planet. Didn't expect that whole thing to happen and it was pretty emotional when he kept trying to do it but his friend eventually passed away and he couldn't see her off. That actually was pretty powerful. I did also find the whole Sox cat robot thing fairly funny and it did actually have some heart to it. I felt the scene towards the end when it looked like it broke when it fell and it looked like he was gone but then it was immediately fixed was a little pointless, but I still liked Sox himself anyway. I also did like when Buzz met Izzy and formed a nice connection with her, although I did find the other two a little pointless and, again, kinda clichéd. And, again, that led to some character arcs feeling pretty predictable and not very engaging like the whole idea of them being rookies and needing to prove themselves and being kinda screw-ups for a while. And, I guess the main big thing to talk about is Zurg, who, for some reason, in this, is just an older version of Buzz himself. That's what I mean by some things not matching the other Toy Story movies since he revealed to be his dad in Toy Story 2. I know that was meant as a joking reference to Star Wars and that wasn't meant to be taken seriously, but it was still something established there and so the fact that we got this instead was just really weird. And this is also the part I said was kinda confusing because they try to explain how this happened, but I didn't entirely get it. And then the final fight with him was pretty cool. I liked how they show how Buzz got his laser and wings as part of his suit. And, I did like the ending where they got the actual Star Command suit we're more familiar with and I liked seeing that statue of Buzz's friend from the start of the movie. And, yeah, again, really, there just wasn't a whole lot to talk about with this film. I mostly just saw it as okay with some things that bothered me tiny bit, but it's still something I saw as fairly entertaining the first time I saw. And so, yeah, everyone, those are my thoughts on Lightyear. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.