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Lightyear Movie Review

Lightyear is a 2022 animated science fiction action adventure film directed by Angus MacLane and starring Chris Evans. It is one of Pixar’s most underrated movies.

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“That was utterly terrifying and I regret having joined you“

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While spending years attempting to return home, marooned Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear encounters an army of ruthless robots commanded by Zurg who are attempting to steal his fuel source. Lightyear was the first Pixar movie in a couple of years to be released in theaters and it unfortunately proved to be a box office bomb due to numerous different reasons. It also received mildly positive reviews, but I would contend that it’s actually quite a good movie and certainly better than some other Pixar films that received better reviews, but are nowhere near as good, case in point MacLane’s own lackluster ‘Finding Dory’.

It’s a very unique spin-off in a sense that it acts as a movie within a movie – it’s a film that inspired the Buzz Lightyear toy that Andy got in the first ‘Toy Story’ movie. Thus, it’s connected to that franchise, but only tangentially. The film itself is more in line with sci-fi properties, such as Star Wars and especially ‘Interstellar’, which proved to be its biggest influence in those time travel elements.

This story is, thus, not original at all. They borrowed casually from different SF stories, but the resulting mish-mash of ideas was fun and emotionally affecting enough that it mostly worked for me. The Zurg twist was despite all odds actually pretty strong. I can get why it did not appeal to many people as it certainly left a lot of the mystique out of the famous villain, but it led to more emotional engagement within the context of this particular story.

The film explores the choice between the paths of career or love and it siding with the latter was surprising and beautiful. It also showcases that you can have a meaningful life anywhere no matter how bad the circumstances surrounding you might be. The theme of the importance of cooperation was also well touched upon with Buzz’s highly arrogant and untrustworthy protagonist.

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Although Tim Allen should never have been replaced, Chris Evans was pretty good in this iconic role and Buzz is very likable, but respectably flawed here. He’s obviously less comedic this time around, but he got a more emotional arc for sure. Alisha Hawthorne is a wonderful character. The two shared such a great friendship that his resulting departure and her eventual death were heartfelt. That sequence where she lived her whole life without her best friend was pleasantly reminiscent of the opening of ‘Up’ and it was almost as touching.

The lesbian romance is at the heart of the movie, which many conservatives had a problem with, but it’s such a sweet, subtle relationship with wonderful people that it’s difficult to understand why anybody would have a problem with it. The granddaughter Izzy is also very endearing and the developing dynamic between her and Buzz was great.

The sidekicks are also strong. I have to say that I really liked Mo and Darby. His clumsiness was over-the-top, but also charming while her badass, but funny personality was also effective. The film has a problem with tone. It was way too serious at times, resulting in a movie that is definitely not for children, but it also had these small moments of humor that were a mixed bag in their success ratio.

The one funny character who worked fully was Sox the robotic cat. This is by far the cutest Pixar character since Boo and one of the most enjoyable sidekicks. He is extremely smart and competent, but that was perfectly contrasted with his catlike behavior that was hilarious at times. His voice was just perfect as was his character design. It’s a great cartoon character that is an instant classic.

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Lightyear has some excellent action sequences that are thrilling and superbly executed, but the problem here is that the movie is too frenetic and at times even chaotic. I needed more of those small moments with the character introspections and humor. The adventurous elements fared better and the SF themes were obviously familiar, but well incorporated. The score is phenomenal as you’d expect from the great Michael Giacchino while the animation is brilliant and so lifelike. The background work here was meticulous and the lighting in certain sequences was just gorgeous. It’s such a beautiful film to watch. I just wish that the tone and pacing were better handled.