Movie Review: Lightyear

At the start of Lightyear, a brief title card explains that this 1995 movie was what birthed the Buzz Lightyear toy line in Toy Story was based on and that it was the favorite movie of a young Andy Davis. As Lightyear progressed, my mind kept returning to this framing device. The naturally more cynical and critical adult mind will have a field day pointing out the abundance of plot holes and unfavorably comparing it to other Pixar titles that have more emotional weight and higher narrative ambitions. But to be honest, those flaws aren't particularly relevant since Lightyear isn't intended to speak to or dazzle the people of legal voting age that choose to watch it. In the world in which Toy Story takes place, this is a movie something that captured the imagination and heart of a child and while too much time has gone by for me to fully access the part of my brain that viewed everything with a wide-eyed glee, Lightyear is something that I fully can see a real kid loving just as much as Andy did.

Lightyear is one of those movies where space just looks and feels like this magical place where cool stuff is always happening. Rockets are flying around at warp speed, people are shooting laser beams at each other and there's helpful, adorable robots that are aiming to help people achieve their goals instead of murdering them in their sleep. Add some funny, likable sidekicks (voiced by Keke Palmer, Peter Sohn, Taika Waititi and Dale Soules) that help Buzz Lightyear (who is voiced by Chris Evans this time around) shed his selfishness to become the hero he was born to be and a happy ending where everybody is basking in the glory of friendship and getting the job done and you've created a really fun, hopeful adventure that 5–8-year olds around the globe will be watching repeatably for years to come. A piece of art that is geared towards kids may not be the most impressive display of craftsmanship or the strongest bet to have a lasting cultural impact, but the sentimental or spiritual value they can hold for individuals gives them an unsung yet essential purpose. Lightyear is something that will certainly inspire some young people to fall in love with science fiction/movies on the whole or maybe even pursue a career in the space exploration field and if that's the case, it met its goals and then some.   

Grade: B