Lightyear
Year: 2022
Rating: PG
Length: 100 minutes / 1.67 hours
One of my favorite bits from the Toy Story saga was the opening sequence from Toy Story 2 (1999). Seeing Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) in his element, fighting to save the galaxy, was an exciting start to one of the best Pixar films to hit the big screen. I have some strong nostalgia for the characters from Toy Story, which is why I had high hopes for the Lightyear (2022) spinoff. After all, Pixar rarely does science fiction—with WALL-E (2008) being the most notable example of what they can do with the genre—so I can appreciate them adding more sci-fi to their filmography.
As a sci-fi movie, Lightyear is fine. It hits a lot of good tropes that are common to the genre. Visually, the efforts of Pixar look stunning as always. The problem I have here is with the characters and the plotline surrounding Buzz Lightyear’s (Chris Evans) stubbornness. It’s exhausting to watch a character just not “get it.” This always leads to the standard character growth plot where they have to confront their prejudices head-on before they finally accept the world the way it is. Sure, there’s a pretty good reveal near the end with Zurg that I wasn’t expecting, but it only reinforces my point.
For a movie that’s only 100 minutes long, I didn’t feel like there was nearly enough time spent getting to know the minor characters. Heck, the one bit of controversy is almost a “blink and you’ll miss it” moment. Granted, when dealing with time travel, it’s difficult to keep the minor characters around long enough to develop them into something more. My last qualm is that I wish there wasn’t the small bit of unnecessary framing at the start of this film that tells the audience that this was the same movie that came out in 1995 that inspired a kid named Andy to ask for the Buzz Lightyear toy for his birthday.
A great-looking Pixar sci-fi movie with a somewhat boring plot, I give Lightyear 3.0 stars out of 5.
