Movie Review - Lightyear

Director: Angus MacLane
Genre: Science Fiction/ Animation/ Family/ Adventure/ Action
Runtime: 100 minutes
Year: 2022
Starring: Chris Evans, Keke Palmer, Taika Waititi, James Brolin, Peter Sohn, Dale Soules, Uzo, Aduba, Bill Hader,
 
Description: While spending years attempting to return home, marooned Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear (Chris Evans) encounters an army of ruthless robots commanded by Zurg (James Brolin) who are attempting to steal his fuel source.

Review: In 1995, audiences were introduced to “Toy Story”, in which lead roles were played by toy cowboy Woody and toy astronaut Buzz Lightyear. It was the beginning of a four-part series that concluded in 2019. Or so it seemed. This year, Buzz gets to appear in “Lightyear”. But not as a toy or puppet. According to the opening titles, “Lightyear” is the film that inspired the creation of toy Buzz Lightyear. In other words, this is a movie in the world of “Toy Story”, a movie within a movie.

In the distant future, Buzz is a respected Space Ranger who, together with comrade Alisha Hawthorne, crashes on a planet. The only way to escape is by using a crystal that can take the ship to hyper-speed. Daredevil Buzz is crazy enough to try it, but encounters a problem. Every time he wants to reach hyper=speed, he travels four years through time. At least, his surroundings age four years. He doesn’t. with each escape attempt, time literally slips through his fingers.

Certainly don’t try to fathom the contrived time-travel story; it’s mainly designed to put pressure on Buzz’s stubbornness. He wants nothing more than to escape from this planet, but he pays a high price for it. Losing four years each time is quite something. Alisha gets older, meets her life partner, has a son, a grandchild… Life just goes on. When will buzz realize that sometimes letting go is the best option?

Noe of it has to get super-serious, either, and fortunately “Lightyear” offers the necessary humor. There’s a robot who makes map-reading mistakes, Buzz’s vanity is a rewarding source of jokes, and then there’s robot cat Sox who acts as Buzz’s mental coach. Let’s also not forget that there are plenty of reference to “Toy Story”(like the evil Zurg, “to infinity and beyond” and the quote at the beginning of the movie “there’s seems to be no sign of intelligent life anywhere”, which I happen to use on a daily basis).

“Lightyear” doesn’t possess the brilliance of its four predecessors and neatly ticks off the boxes of what a Pixar title should meet. Still, it’s a delightful film that I really enjoyed.

Rating: 3,5/ 5