“They’re taking their father to bring him back!” A Review of Onward

Ah, get the reference? It’s a Lord of the Rings “Taking the Hobbits to Isengard parody- no applause?… ok, I’ll shut up now

Hey everyone! For this week (and the first review post… YAY!!!), I thought it would only make sense to cover a relative in the form of Pixar’s newest release, Onward. Again, I don’t want to gripe too much on the current state of the world and the Covid-19 pandemic (because again, real world scary- this, hopefully fun??) but this movie was one of the ones affected by it the most. It was only two weeks after it released in theaters when it got put on digital with it also streaming on Disney by April 3 (this past friday). So yeah, to quote Hulk from Avengers: Endgame…

Yup… nevertheless, my goal here is to take your brain off of the world for a while so it’s time to put on a happy face (dear god do it not do that all Joker style- like, please?) and let’s get on with show!!! (What, were you expecting me to replace the on for ‘Onward’ in honor of the movie and the sake of a pun? Ha ha, you fool- I merely… didn’t decide to do that because… reasons?!?! Even I’m confused now!)

Now, usually what you expect with a typical style of professional of film reviewing is that a summary of the film’s plot would be included to give the reader some sort of knowledge of what the film is about (*cue curmudgeon groans like I’m sort of sophisticated guy when I call myself the Friendly Neighborhood Film Nerd for god’s sake). But to that I say in the most definitive way possible, “You have a phone. Look it up!”. Alright, I’m ACTUALLY not trying to come across an entitled jerk when saying it; rather, I just wanna’ get right into it the review so that’s why I’m not including it. And hey, at the very least a summary automatically popped up with the image I inserted, so hazaa for… not doing anything at all and getting lucky.

Err… anyway, time for the review! Now, when I watched Onward this past Sunday on Disney + as I actually already saw this two times in the theater. So in case it wasn’t obvious, I love this movie and as a massive fan of Pixar, I was definitely. “Alright, we’re all good. I reviewed it, so farewell and good day sir!!!” …kidding! Silly reader, you didn’t just think I would ACTUALLY keep the review that short, did you??? (Oh you didn’t. Um… woops)

Anywhoosers, the thing about Onward that everyone knew about was that Tom Holland and Chris Pratt were both the stars of the show and yeah, that is not just literal as they really are fantastic here! Pixar has always been known for some pretty strong duos (Woody and Buzz, Sully and Mike, you name it) and Holland and Pratt make no exception to that rule with some unexpectedly awesome chemistry; though, what else would you expect from a tale of two MCU Peters (If you don’t know what I mean, then now I’m just sad). With great individual performances (that play to their strengths really well), they really do make you feel like Ian and Barley are a real pair of brothers and in a movie where that connection is the entire core of its success, I’m glad to see it stuck the landing.

You wanna’ know what else stuck the landing? (Can I get a woop woop for that segue you homeslices?) The unique and fun fantasy world really clicked for me personally. The sequences here were really inventive and there were A TON of hilarious gags that really took advantage of what the story and setting had to offer. If that wasn’t clever enough for you (I mean, I sure do think it was), then Pixar infused so much of their well-regarded charm and attention to detail into every little corner of the world. Of course, it certainly helps that the animation here is unsurprisingly gorgeous as the immense boundary-breaking scope really does give me even more reason to believe that Pixar is still one of the best studios out there (all owned by our future overlord Mickey Mouse).

Look, I could keep gushing about this film for days and if it weren’t Dan Scanlon’s strengths as a storyteller, that certainly wouldn’t be the case. From all accounts I’ve heard, this was an incredibly personal story for Scanlon and it shows because his top-notch characterization, visuals, and emotional balance showed how much effort he, along with co-writers Jason Headley and Keith Bunin, put into this film. I mean, with the type of this movies that Pixar make, if Dan Scanlon didn’t put his into heart into Onward, it wouldn’t have worked and thankfully, he did. (I just hope he didn’t also do that literally because if he did then… oh no)

Though my love for Onward is strong, there is one key factor that keeps it back from reaching the heights of top tier Pixar (which is honestly more telling of how incredible Pixar’s library of films is because I still think this movie’s great).