Lightyear Movie Review: Animation craft is superior but the narration is enervating

A still from the Lightyear

Lightyear
Cast (voices): Chris Evans, Uzo Aduba, Keke Palmer, Taika Waititi, Peter Sohn, Dale Soules, James Brolin, and Isiah Whitlock Jr.
Director: Angus MacLane
Rating: 2.5/5

The ‘Toy Story' hero Buzz Lightyear's advent into solo territory isn't one to warm the cockles of your heart. Pixar has done a fabulous job on the animation tech front but the story-telling craft is just too woebegone to be entertaining. Directed and co-written by Angus MacLane who worked on a number of Pixar projects since 1998's A Bug's Life, this chance to step up and helm his own feature was definitely a challenging one. But Angus MacLane isn't up to snuff here.

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Pixar gives Lightyear a new voice in Chris Evans (replacing Tim Allen). This story is set millions of light-years from our planetary home. The screenplay sets off with "Toy Story" references before Buzz begins to set-up his own dramatic path. That's disaster for Buzz. Mistakes ground The Turnip, Buzz and fellow ranger Alisha Hawthorne are in charge of an impossible rescue plan to get the space station back home. Their badly damaged ship needs a new hyper speed crystal to power it - and this will have to be made from scratch from the elements available on the Planet they are marooned in.

It's all very well to mine nostalgia for entertainment benefits but if you stretch it too long it all goes up in smoke - that's exactly what happens in ‘Lightyear.' Buzz's individual story is not something that feels heroic or challenging even though the set-up tries hard to make things look that way. This story isn't much of an emotional rollercoaster. It's a long drawn attempt to rectify a past mistake and by the time he achieves that lifelong yardstick, there's nothing much to hold on to here. The vast empty space beckons and it's neither pretty, exciting nor adventuresome.

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The film has an ‘Interstellar' sort-of sci-fi construct but much of it seems childish and disengaging. Even kids in the audience weren't paying attention to what transpired on screen. The action was peripatetic and even though Lightyear is made to try and try till he succeeds eventually, the interest levels cool off. It doesn't feel earned or satisfying. The utter dumbness of the plotting is debilitating to its enjoyment. Every obstacle/ incrementing degree of difficulty feels rather dumb, silly and clumsy. There are quite a few cringe inducing cheesy moments here and the undoubted great animation craft fails to save this film from being a downer in the Toy Story franchise.

This film feels like one of the lamest and laziest Pixar films to be released in a long while. The lack of energy, emotion, entertainment, adrenaline gushes and the fact that the story was a little too complicated for the demographic the film caters to, spells doom for its enjoyment.

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