Review of Onward (2020) by Ajzeg01 — 14 May 2020

When I first heard about this movie, I was really excited. It’s the first movie in Pixar’s new initiative to focus only on original films once again. That, and I like the idea behind the movie. What if a Lord of the Rings-esque fantasy world progressed into the modern era with technology? I know there was that Netflix movie Bright with the same idea, but that movie sucked.

I expected that Pixar would do something a lot more interesting with the idea and tell a better story with it. However, and it pains me to say this, but this movie is not very good. It’s not a terrible movie by any means, but by Pixar standards this is definitely on the bottom half of their filmography.

First of all, the universe this movie takes place in it not very interesting. It’s literally just a modern setting that just happens to be inhabited by fantasy creatures. There were some interesting ideas, like fantasy RPGs being based on history, but there weren’t really any interesting design choices and it doesn’t feel very well thought-out.

I can’t help but compare Onward to Zootopia, another animated film that takes place in an alternate universe, in which animals evolved and became civilized. In that movie, every detail of the world was fleshed out.

There was real thought and attention to detail given to this world and how it would function with its different-sized inhabitants. There’s nothing like that in Onward. The comedy did not work for me at all.

I never laughed once. The writing and dialogue just isn’t that great. Also, one of the main characters is a disembodied pair of legs. It was an interesting idea, but I don’t feel like the character was expressive enough and I don’t feel like he had enough of a connection with the other two main characters when he really should, he’s their resurrected dead father.

He’s treated like a prop half the time. The story felt very repetitive and way too familiar. I feel like I’ve seen something like it in a million other movies. As for the animation, it’s fine. It’s appealing and colourful and energetic, but nothing about it stood out or felt like it was pushing the boundaries of technology.

Personally, I thought Toy Story 4 looked a lot better. Even some of the Pixar SparkShorts on Disney+ look more impressive. Releasing the trailer for Pixar’s next movie Soul before this movie was a big mistake.

The animation in that looks a million times better and more interesting. The voice acting was also fine, but I have to say I’m getting pretty sick of Chris Pratt and Tom Holland. They’re in everything! Give some other actors a try! Not every movie needs to have a Marvel actor in it! Give it a rest! Now, believe it or not, there actually is one thing that I really enjoyed about this movie and think is very well-done, the third act.

Without giving anything away, all the creativity, emotion and heart that you would expect out of a Pixar movie can be found in the third act. It has a really great climax, some great character moments and a great message.

If the whole movie were more like act three, I would have liked it a lot more than I did. However, I can’t really give the movie any extra credit if it only starts getting really good at the end. As for my recommendation, well, if you’re a Pixar fan you’ve probably already seen it.

I actually highly recommend that you show it to your kids. I don’t think the unoriginal story or worldbuilding issues would bother them and it does have a really good moral. There’s a lot in it for kids to like.

As for older audiences, if you’re a fan of Tolkien or D&D you might get some enjoyment out of it. Otherwise, you could watch it if you’re curious, it’s on Disney+, but I say skip it and wait for Soul.

It really doesn’t appeal to adults in the same way that most of Pixar’s other movies do. Man, what is up with Disney lately? It seems ever since Ralph Breaks the Internet, they haven’t been able to make many good non-Marvel movies.

All those remakes, Frozen II, The Rise of Skywalker and now Onward, among others, have not been up to Disney’s usual quality. But who cares about quality when you have all the money? Damn shame.