Above and Beyond
Pixar goes back to the ‘Toy Story’ well for Buzz Lightyear’s origin story. Can a Woody-centric Western be far behind?
Lightyear
Director: Angus MacLane • Writers: Jason Headley, Angus MacLane, based on characters by John Lasseter, Peter Docter, Andrew Stanton, Joe Ranft
Starring [English]: Chris Evans, Keke Palmer, Dale Soules, Taika Waititi, Peter Sohn, Uzo Aduba, James Brolin, Isiah Whitlock Jr
USA • 1hr 40mins
Opens Hong Kong June 16 • IIA
Grade: B
Three things to note right away: 1. The vitriolic early reviews hurled at Lightyear, Pixar’s latest cash register family entertainment are entirely unfounded and wholly petty. Lest anyone forget, this is Disney Pixar now, and the Mouse’s operating model is exploiting its valuable IP for all it’s worth. Are we truly surprised this even exists? If you’d really like something “soulless,” and “cynical” that “belongs on Disney+,” may I direct you to Cars 2, Cars 3, Toy Story 4 and Finding Dory. 2. If this is the hot hot hot space lesbian action (a kiss that producer Galyn Susman says Disney edited out before the Don’t Say Gay fiasco) that gets a film banned anywhere we’re in bigger trouble as a world than I thought. The latest LGBTQ+ “offense” is a blink and you’ll miss it moment. Literally. I was blinking. I missed it. 3. SOX the emotional support robot cat is going to be this summer’s Baby Yoda. Rightly so, too, because as voiced by career Pixar animator/actor Peter Sohn, he’s the star of the show – in a movie with Taika Waititi no less.
Left: SOX The Robot Cat. That is all
You could argue Lightyear is lazy and safe in the way it spews the same wholesome messages about community (Toy Story), stepping out of the shadow of an overbearing parent (the underrated Turning Red), ambition and regret (Soul), the march of time and living in the past, and family (all of them). To the credit of writers Jason Headley and Angus MacLane – who also directed – Lightyear is both franchise addition and/or brand extension and stand-alone space adventure, so if you’re not a Toy Story evangelist, it’s still an amusing romp.
In this sidequel we get to see the movie that the Buzz Lightyear action figure Andy was so enamoured with came from. In the film-within-a-film, Buzz (Captain America himself Chris Evans, taking over for convicted felon and conservative shill Tim Allen) crash lands on T’Kani Prime after attempting a dangerous take off. With their hyperspeed fuel source trashed, the mission crew settle in to build a new one. I’m amazed someone hasn’t pointed out the story is predicated on space adventurers landing on a planet, colonising it, mining its resources and murdering the local lifeforms so there it is. Unable to deal with failure, Buzz vows to singlehandedly make it right and test a lightspeed craft to get everyone home. Problem is, every time he takes a four-minute spin around the sun, four years pass on T’Kani Prime. The survivors have moved on without him; his control freak, solo hero act means his only connection to the community is SOX, gifted to him years before by his commander Alisha Hawthorne (Uzo Aduba). His last attempt brings him face-to-face with a new alien threat, as well as Hawthorne’s granddaughter Izzy (Keke Palmer), parolee Darby (Dale Soules) and clutzy underachiever Mo (Waititi).
Expect to see this everywhere for the rest of 2022
There’s a fair amount of story to lug around in Lightyear, but MacLane and Headley flavour it with lots of low-key humour (the sandwich) and old-school space opera action. Surprising absolutely no one are the lush visuals that enrich the character details and create a vivid sense of place. It’s SOX’s movie, what with his random tranquiliser darts, ambient sound supply and high level mathematics calcualtions (watching SOX tap a keyboard will be triggering for anyone who struggles with Cat On My Laptop Syndrome), but Evans balances bluster with humanity in a way Allen never quite could. He may not be the Best Chris (that’s Pine. Fight me!) but Evans softens up the beefiest heroes with the best of them, and he and Palmer bounce off each other with just the right tension. Lightyear’s biggest misstep is not having enough of Hawthorne’s replacement, Commander Burnside, voiced Isiah Whitlock Jr, who’s great even when he doesn’t say “Sheeeeeiiit.” Hey. It’s a family film. — DEK