“Lightyear” Review
Chris Evans steps up to voice iconic space ranger Buzz Lightyear in “Lightyear,” a spin-off film centered on the character who inspired the iconic action figure voiced by Tim Allen in the “Toy Story” films.
For me, “Toy Story” was my childhood. I adored the first two films, had both Woody and Buzz toys and had the privilege of seeing both “Toy Story 3” and “Toy Story 4” on the big screen. So, as a lifelong fan of this series, I am happy to say that “Lightyear,” a spinoff of this series, managed to delight me and even take me back to watching the first two “Toy Story” films on VHS.
The idea behind this film is that it’s the movie that Andy Davis saw when he was a child which caused his mother to get him the Buzz Lightyear action figure which started it all back in 1995. In this film, Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Chris Evans) is a space ranger whose exploration vessel, along with thousands of scientists, civilians and space rangers, is marooned on a remote planet. While Buzz is trying to find a way off the planet using hyperspace travel, the Evil Emperor Zurg (voiced by James Brolin) attacks and threatens the lives of everyone Buzz is supposed to protect. With a team of wild cards, Buzz must defeat Zurg and save the day.
While I, at first, found it unthinkable that someone other than Tim Allen was voicing Buzz, I realized that Tim Allen was Buzz Lightyear the toy. This is a different version of the character which needs a new person to portray him. Chris Evans does a fantastic job of bringing Buzz to life and his performance is particularly layered. In this film, Buzz is someone who prefers to do things on his own and has to learn to work with others. However, the lesson isn’t hammered in but pans out organically.
The complex ideas of the film also enhance Buzz’s ark. When doing hyperspace tests to find a way off-world, Buzz discovers that, due to time dilation, the test may have taken four minutes but four years have passed on the planet due to the speed he was traveling and the relativity of time.
This causes him to age very little as he watches his best friend and fellow space ranger Alisha Hawthorne (voiced by Uzo Aduba) fall in love, get married, have a child and grandchild and then pass away. She lives a whole life while he only gets to see snippets of it. This experience clearly has an impact on him as he works with Alisha’s granddaughter Izzy (voiced by Keke Palmer) to take down Zurg.
The supporting characters are a lot of fun and add a lot of life to this film. Alongside Izzy are paroled convict Darby Steel (voiced by Dale Soules) and cowardly Mo Morrison (voiced by Taika Watiti) all of which are inexperienced compared to the heroic Buzz. But together, they overcome their flaws and discover nobility within themselves.
Alongside a rag-tag team of misfits, Buzz (right) fights the evil Emperor Zurg and tries to rescue the thousands of people stranded on a remote planet.
Even Buzz’s cat Sox (voiced by Peter Sohn) has a lot of depth to him and I found that the characterization of this film was more complex than it needed to be. The film’s action was breathtaking and several of the chase sequences involving robots and spaceships gave me chills, especially when paired with Michael Giacchino’s fantastic score. Also, as a “Toy Story” fan, not only was it amazing to see Buzz Lightyear’s suit as a tactical uniform but also to see it upgraded with the famous lazer and jetpack throughout the film.
However, as a filmgoer, I don’t think that this is the strongest work of Pixar. I think “Lightyear” is a good film but I think the ideas the film pushes could have been further explored. The film touches on loss, nihilism versus hope, atoning for your mistakes and finding family in unexpected places. I think that these themes could have been explored further, especially in the climax which ended about five minutes too early. The relationship between Zurg and Buzz is fascinating and the final fight deserved to be embellished a bit more.
None of these problems made the film a waste of time in my eyes. In fact, I’m still thinking about the film and remembering what a good time I had. Every time there was a callback to the original films, the little kid in me appeared. I may have been 22-years-old watching this film but I felt like I was five. But it’s not simply nostalgia that made me enjoy this film. AS we saw from “Jurassic World: Dominion,” nostalgia alone doesn’t cut it. “Lightyear” took me on a fun journey and I was so glad to have seen it on the big screen.
Now all I need is to see a full series based on “Woody’s Round-Up,” a black-and-white “Howdy Doody” type series, from “Toy Story 2” and all will be right with the world.
