"In 1995 Andy got a toy. The toy was from his favorite movie. This is that movie."
In Lightyear, while exploring a foreign planet Buzz Lightyear (Chris Evans) makes a SNAFU that winds up stranding him and his Star Command crew millions of miles from home. Devastated, Buzz makes it his mission to find a way to get him and his buddies home...no matter what. His attempts, however, come with a serious price. Things only get worse when a hostile force arrives on the planet.
Chris Evans voices our beloved space man, and does a fantastic job. He manages to sound similar enough to Tim Allen throughout. Evans imbues Buzz with a lot of heart. It's very easy to love his version of Buzz, and Buzz here is indeed a very cool character (Not hard at all to see why Andy went gaga over him).
Uzo Aduba voices Alisha Hawthorne, Buzz's BFF and a member of the revered Star Command. Their friendship is pretty strong, and provides some of the backbone for the emotional core of the film. Keke Palmer voices Izzy, an inexperienced but eager trainee who is terrified of space. She is also the daughter of Alisha. Her and her friends Mo (A trainee who is pretty inept, voiced by Taika Waititi,) and Darby (an elderly convict on parole, voiced by Dale Soules) assist Buzz on his mission. Sox (Peter Sohn), a very intelligent and friendly emotional support robotic cat, tags along. Sox is absolutely adorable and is sure to remind most of Dug from Up!.
Lightyear plays host to quite a few sci-fi influences from the past. Designs reminiscent of Alien, Star Wars, and 2001: A Space Odyssey (and more) make it into this film. This actually makes sense, seeing as (in the Toy Story universe) Lightyear was SUPPOSED to have been made back in 1995. This also accounts for some references to 90s computer tech that appear.
It's not often you get to walk into a film, not knowing exactly where it's going to go. Lightyear is one of those films. The trailers that have been released don't spoil much, and it's very satisfying to not-quite-know exactly where this trip is taking us. There's not much plot to Lightyear (and what's there is fairly thread-bare), but the focus here is on the Buzz character and some pretty great action (Oh yes, this is a fairly action-heavy/sci-fi heavy movie).
If you grew up watching the Toy Story films, there is plenty here that will likely tickle you pink. If you haven't seen Toy Story and Toy Story 2 recently, it's probably a good idea you do so before trekking out to see Lightyear. They aren't necessary to understand what's happening in this film, but many designs for the toy version of Buzz (as well as the design of some of the environments, vehicles, and tertiary characters from those films) make it into this flick. A good deal of Buzz's lines from the first two Toy Story films are repeated here as well, to delightful effect.
The audience I saw Lightyear with consisted mostly of families with young ones (who I imagine were too young to have grown up with the beloved iconic franchise). Pixar seems to have a certified hit on their hands, as the younger generation seemed thoroughly engaged and invested in the proceedings. It would seem this is a film that will please both those familiar and unfamiliar with the Toy Story films.
The only real complaints I had with this latest Pixar outing were it's thin-ish plot and some of the details regarding it's main villain. All that being said, I was thoroughly pleased with the product delivered. For me, this is the best we've gotten from Pixar since Inside Out. There's plenty of heart, emotion, action, humor, and sci-fi packed within, not to mention the character work for Buzz and friends is just plain great.
It's clear Angus MacLane (who co-directed Finding Dory before this. Lightyear is his first solo outing. He impresses.) has a strong love of the Toy Story franchise and did his homework. Lightyear is a low-key brilliant movie (I was nerding out hardcore throughout the film). I couldn't recommend Lightyear more highly. As our beloved Buzz would say: "To infinity...and beyond!"
4.5 STARS
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