Tumbletoppel’s review published on Letterboxd:
What a thrill to say that we welcome back Pixar into theaters for the first time in two years. Onward was the last movie from our lamp friends to be seen in theaters, and unfortunately a little virus prematurely ended its run. While it’s not their fault, I feel bad for them for their next three movies (Soul, Luca and my new all time fav Turning Red) got moved to Disney+, Soul and Luca were understandable, but Red I still don’t know why as Sing 2 was a perfect example to bring families back into theaters, but Disney being Disney I guess. Now we have them back with this Toy Story spinoff about the hero that inspired Buzz Lightyear, and the second Pixar movie to fall on my birthday, the first being Finding Dory
I was actually divided into whenever to give this 3.5 or 4 stars, but part of me enjoyed what I saw. Seeing it in IMAX was also incredible, and it’s the first a animated movie to be made in the format. I’m thrilled that it’s a first impression and as a huge IMAX fanatic, I’m praying that we get more animated movies in the format in the future
Lightyear proves once again what makes Pixar so special. Even though it’s not the most groundbreaking they have made, it’s their first action movie and I applaud them for it, as they need to dive into more genres that can move them anywhere. And while it’s not the most original story, it does makes sense why there needed to be a origin story for Buzz in order to understand why the toy works. Chris Evans does a fantastic job voicing him, and while he’s no Tim Allen, he does give him a unique spin into him and so much more. All the other characters were solid as well, including Commander Hawthorne (who we’ll talk about in a bit because of course I’m gonna address her controversy), the Taika Watiti character and of course Sox, voiced by Peter Sohn, a Pixar veteran and director of The Good Dinosaur (my second favorite Pixar movie) and Pixar’s next movie Elemental out an year from now. He stole the show and deserves the love
The visuals are also amazing, definitely captured the space settings and space command centers that can be shown in real life, and Michael Giacchino once again delivers a great score
However, I do what to address Alisha Hawthorne, because of course I’m gonna talk about it. Yes, we still hating Disney for their involvement in the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, and yes Bob Chapek is a dick, but you must applaud the crew for keeping this lesbian kiss in because seeing in this a kids movie will be so groundbreaking to every LGBTQ+ kid watching this, and yes it’s unfortunate that most countries will not get this in theaters because they’re homophobes, but they are the problems. This is the same company that gave us Lumity, a game changing couple in TV animation, but Disney themselves still can’t find the way to acknowledge that, yes we support gay rights, lesbian rights, bisexual rights, ALL BECAUSE THEY DON’T WANT TO LOSE THEIR PRECIOUS INTERNATIONAL MONEY. Hawthorne is a big step forward, whenever they acknowledge it or not. There’s no coming out necessary. Animated movies need more organic inclusion, and this handles it in a natural way
Overall, Lightyear may not be on the heartwarming or heartwrenching scale, or on Pixar’s top in that matter, but if you love the Toy Story franchise, you’ll definitely enjoy this. It has fabulous animations, important inclusivity, and of course a stellar voice cast. Welcome back to the big screen, Pixar, welcome back
and also did I mention it’s my birthday???
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