Republished from the show notes of my other site, Fuds on Film.
Pixar’s latest is set more or less in a cuddly animal version of a Dungeons and Dragons scenario, minus the humans. Except, well, they’ve figured out magic is a bit of a pain in the ass, and that wizards are subtle and quick to anger. So when some elven Edison invents electricity and sets their world on the path to industrialisation, magic begins to fade from the world.
Later, in what’s now basically America with centaurs, Tom Holland’s Ian Lightfoot turns sixteen but still mourns for the passing of the father he never knew. So does his elder brother, Chris Pratt’s Barley although he seems to be burying it in an obsession with a fantasy game legally entirely separate from any intellectual property of Wizards of the Coast LLC, please direct any enquiries to Disney’s vast legal edifice.
As a last gift from their father, their mother, Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Laurel, gives the brothers a magical staff, a rare gem, and a letter describing their father’s “visitation spell” that can resurrect him for a single day. Barley can’t cast it, but unexpectedly Ian accidentally kinda half does. The bottom half, to be exact, to all appearances resurrecting his dad’s trousers.
Clearly they need to try again to complete the spell, but the process destroyed the gem. So, a call to action then, as Ian and Barley take off in Barley’s dilapidated van to find a replacement, followed close after by their mother and her new partner, Mel Rodriguez’s Colt Bronco, who, naturally has a strained relationship with the two kids.
I wonder if there will be any closure of that, and any other emotional conflicts in the family that will occur as they undertake this unexpectedly dangerous and stressful quest, preferably around the 80 minute mark so we can get the perfunctory action finale out of the way and wrap this up with a feelgood denouement and get home in time for tea OH WAIT WE’RE ALWAYS AT HOME WE CAN NEVER LEAVE THE HOME NOW. I’m coping well.
Onward is fine. Well, it’s better than fine. I quite enjoyed my time with it. I recommend it. It’s a very solid film. It’s maybe the best film we’ll talk about today. It’s just a little disappointing that I can’t be more excited about it. I always hope for another Coco (which had a much better take on the underlying theme), but this is more mid-league Pixar. Which is still many leaps and bounds ahead of other animation studios game, and perhaps unfair.
After all, there’s not a single thing I can think of in here that I thought was actively bad, with dependable performance and pleasant graphics. Perhaps a bit more world building wouldn’t have gone astray, and although it’s hanging a large lampshade on it, the “let’s go on a quest” plot line is still somewhat pedestrian. But none of that is too much of a detraction, and I’d certainly rather see a sequel to this than Bright, so, y’know, take the smooth with the rough. I can’t whip up a lot of enthusiasm, perhaps, but I certainly still recommend Onward to all.