Lightyear
Pixar’s Lightyear is in theaters at the time of writing.
SCREENPLAY: C+
It’s an origin story, but not Buzz’s origin story. It’s the story of how Andy’s love for all things Buzz Lightyear began. What we’re watching is the movie Andy saw in 1995, inspiring him to ask for the doll for his birthday. I assume most of us know everything that happened next.
The story is pretty standard. Buzz is an all- star Space Ranger. He does a bunch of Space Ranger things. He makes a major mistake. He tries to fix it. He picks up a few friends and enemies along the way. By the end, he undergoes a meaningful inner-transformation. It’s not bad, but it’s pretty simple and straightforward. It’s easy to see a child falling in love with it. It’s harder to see some of the older fans doing so.
CHARACTERS: B+
This Buzz (voiced by Chris Evans) is a real, actual Space Ranger. He’s not the toy we know from Toy Story. His lack of cluelessness robs the character of much of his comedy, and much of his charm. But he’s got whole loads of “I can do anything!” attitude. He’s still a pretty cool dude. Seems like a good hang.
Buzz picks up three human sidekicks (plus a robo-feline one) on his journeys. They’re all adequately entertaining. Taika Watiti’s character is a stand out, but when does that guy ever not stand out? (That’s a compliment.)
At one point Buzz tells Izzy (voiced by Keke Palmer) that her grandmother Alisha (voiced by Uzo Aduba) saw something in him. He continues, “That made me start looking for it too.” It’s a great line, made greater by the fact that Alisha is a lesbian. Because when a gargantuan corporation with the global reach of Pixar knows there’s something worth seeing in lesbians (or any other marginalized group), audience members will begin looking for that too, if they haven’t already found it. Representation matters.
CRAFT: B
One of my favorite things to do during a Pixar flick is to find one specific moment that stands out in its vast ocean of animated awesomeness. In Lightyear, it’s the first time Buzz lands his fighter. The ship decelerates slowly, creeping toward the left edge of the screen. Its nose comes into sharper and sharper focus with every inch. It feels 3D, even though I didn’t go to the 3D screening. It’s an outstanding flourish.
The editing overuses repetition. For example, there is a great montage near the beginning that shows many years passing quickly. It’s a great montage, but it’s like watching a merry-go-round, seeing the same horses and drooling kids pass by over and over. There’s no variety, and that keeps it from being the second greatest Pixar montage ever (if you have to ask …) Later, there is a scene where a bunch of robots teleport to a hovering spaceship. It only takes watching them teleport once or twice to understand what’s happening, but we’re forced to watch several robots suffer the same fate.
Both these instances of repetitive editing slow the film’s momentum.
HAMLET-ING: D+
If you haven’t already, at some point you will be forced to read Hamlet. Try not to let the “forced reading” thing drag it down. It’s a ridiculously phenomenal play.
Anyway, Hamlet is famous for many things, one of which is the “play within a play”. Hamlet is pretty sure his uncle killed his father in order to take over the crown. But he’s not sure-sure. So, Hamlet quickly writes and puts on a play (which occurs within the actual play we’re watching) where the main character kills his brother. Hamlet analyzes his uncle’s reaction to see if he’s guilty or not. Your teachers will make a huge deal out of this (rightly).
So I now call any piece of made-up art I see inside of a movie as “Hamlet-ing”. The 4*Town songs in Turning Red? Hamlet-ing. The black and white movie Kevin watches in Home Alone (it’s actually a fake movie with a fake name -- Angels with Filthy Souls)? Hamlet-ing.
It’s hard to Hamlet - to make a great piece of art with a pretend piece of art that’s also great inside of it. And Lightyear attempts some next-level Hamlet-ing. It’s not just a movie within a movie. It’s a movie within an entire movie universe. I appreciate its boldness., but Hamlet-ing has to accomplish something.
Knowing how much 4*Town means to Mei Lee lets you know exactly what kind of kid she is. The audio from Angels with Filthy Souls plays a vital part in the final showdown with the hapless robbers. Lightyear doesn’t DO anything. What do I now know about Andy or Buzz that I didn’t before? How does watching this movie make watching Toy Story movies any better? It winds up feeling like a flimsy flex.
FINAL COMMENTS:
I’m not sure what Pixar wanted this movie to do. It doesn’t deliver anything new. It doesn’t make us look back at the old Toy Story films and think about them in a new way. When there’s no artistic reason I can find for making a movie like this, I immediately smell a cash grab. And that’s the last thing this movie, or any Pixar movie, should be.
Pixar diehards will dig it. I think younger audiences will also find it entertaining. But people who merely “really like” Pixar might be left wondering why this mission was necessary.