Onward Review

After a bit of a sequel run as of late, Pixar is back doing what they do best. Original animated films. Prior to “Onward,” four of the last five movies that Pixar released were sequels. In fact, this whole past decade was quite sequel heavy for Pixar, which is in stark contrast to what they did during the beginning of their tenure as an animation studio. Starting with “Toy Story” in 1995 and going to “UP” in 2009, they made nine original films and one sequel, that of “Toy Story 2” in 1999, which itself was initially envisioned by Disney as a direct-to-video sequel. But in the 2010s, Pixar made 11 movies and seven of them were either sequels or other franchise continuations (“Monsters University” was a prequel, which is why I make that distinction). When you look at this whole picture, generally speaking, Pixar does much better with their original films, at least in terms of quality. Outside the “Toy Story” franchise, their sequels just aren’t quite up to par in comparison, which is why I’m glad they’re starting the 2020s with two original films, “Onward” right now and “Soul” in June. Is this going to be the beginning of a trend for Pixar? I don’t know. Pixar has announced dates for their upcoming slate of films, but have yet to reveal what any of those projects are. I hope it is, though.

Normally when it comes to Pixar, awareness is super high and I don’t have to spend much effort convincing people to go see their movies. The discussion is more or less centered around us comparing notes as to what we all thought of it, since a large percentage of people have already ran out to theaters. However, box office results from this past weekend suggest a slightly different story. Without adjusting for inflation, “Onward” came in just below “The Good Dinosaur” in terms of opening weekends with $39.1 million, and only ahead of “Toy Story” in 1995, which opened to $29.1 million, and “A Bug’s Life” in 1998, which opened to $33.3 million. As you might guess, ticket prices were much lower back in the 90s, which means Pixar did indeed suffer their worst opening weekend in their studio’s history with “Onward” in terms of the number of tickets sold. There’s probably a wide range of reasons as to why this happened, all combining together to hurt “Onward,” but I honestly think the awareness of this movie just isn’t as high. Those who are aware of this movie’s existence also just might simply not be as interested as they usually are when it comes to Pixar movies, so I need to put a little more effort into getting you out to see this, so long as you aren’t quarantined.

When I first saw advertising for “Onward,” I immediately thought of Netflix’s 2017 film “Bright,” the movie where Will Smith starred as a police officer and his companion was an orc. Essentially that was a fantasy movie where the fantasy creatures had lost their magic powers or chose not to use them and began to live normal, human lives. The premise for “Onward” is very similar, albeit without the heavy-handed political themes or the bizarre nature of pretty much everything involved. It’s almost as if people at Pixar watched that movie and decided they could do something similar, but much better. The only thing that throws a wrench into that theory is the fact that this was announced at D23 in July 2017, five months before “Bright” came out. Writer and director Dan Scanlon claimed his inspiration for the film came from his own personal history of his father dying when him and his brother were younger. He wrote the story after hearing an audio clip from his father. That makes too much sense to be false, but I still like my theory because “Bright” and “Onward” are awfully similar. Like “Bright,” our world here is also full of fantasy creatures living normal lives like humans or animals. Although their reason for transitioning away from magic is that technology made more sense than magic.

That idea of technology overpowering magic is an interesting parallel to reality. One could argue that constant flow of technology via all of our electronics and devices has hurt creativity. If “Onward” helps inspire more adventure and creativity, I certainly think that’s a great thing for the younger generation. However, that specific setting is used more of a backdrop to the current adventure rather than being a main focus. The movie’s driving force is precisely what I alluded to earlier with director Dan Scanlon’s personal experience with his father and brother. “Onward” is primarily focused on the two brothers, voiced by Chris Pratt and Tom Holland. Holland’s character, Ian Lightfoot, has never met his father as his father died before shortly before Ian was born. Ian’s older brother Barley Lightfoot, voiced by Chris Pratt, does remember their father, but was really young when he died. On Ian’s 16th birthday, he is given his father’s magical staff as a present with a spell included that will bring their father back for 24 hours. However, they fail in their execution of the spell, only bringing their father’s legs back. This immediately sends the two brothers on an adventure as they try to figure out a way to complete the spell properly before the 24 hours run out.

The first thing that I want to say about this is that it’s a lot of fun. I’m not one who has ever played Dungeons and Dragons, but “Onward” very much has the structure of a Dungeons and Dragons style of adventure. The end credits of the movie is what specifically clued me in on this as it mentions that there are specific elements of this movie that were taken directly from early Dungeons and Dragons games. When I saw that in the credits, it immediately connected with me that the movie I just watched was essentially Pixar’s “Dungeons and Dragons: The Movie.” The two brothers are on a quest to find a stone that will help them complete the spell. And there’s a lot of obstacles along the way that they have to overcome. The older brother, Barley, is super nerdy about all of this with his cards and games that he insists are historically based. Barley is also super outgoing and carefree, so the idea of risk excites him rather than scaring him. Ian, on the other hand, is a lot quieter. He’s working on his self-confidence, but isn’t sure of a lot, yet he’s the one that the staff works with. He’s also unsure of his brother’s plan, but he decides to go along with it. This sort of chemistry with the brothers adds a significant dose drama and excitement that propels the movie forward.

To go along with this high-octane adventure that doesn’t slow down, giving this a fairly unique flavor for a Pixar film, this is also a movie that has 100 percent of the Pixar touch. Every time you go into a new Pixar film, a high dosage of emotion is pretty much the expectation. Rarely, if ever, do they make your cotton candy style of kids film with a fun adventure and no depth. They always try to pack a huge, emotional punch. If you don’t walk out of the theater on the verge of tears or being deeply affected in other ways, then Pixar essentially didn’t do their job. With “Onward,” the second you hear that this is a Pixar movie where the plot centers around the death of a father and two brothers trying to bring him back for 24 hours, you know exactly what this movie is going to try to do at some point and thus you brace for impact and try to be strong through it all. This is why, in my initial Facebook reaction last week, I turned the word Pixar into a verb. “Onward” is a movie that you know is going to Pixar you, or hit you with a strong dose of emotion. Even though I was braced for impact, it Pixared me anyways, leaving me an emotional wreck. The reason why it was so effective is that it Pixared me in a way that I wasn’t expecting to get Pixared.

I don’t want to get into a whole lot of details in regards to the specifics here. The obvious reason is that I don’t want to give out any spoilers or even hint at any so that the experience for you is ruined. But I also don’t want to dive into my personal reasons as to why this affected me so much because that might be a backdoor way to give spoilers. If I tell you my personal experiences, then you might be able to connect the dots as to what happened in this movie. But nevertheless, this movie hit really close to home for me, which means I might value it slightly higher that some people because of that. And that’s OK. Pixar is really good at getting personal with their audience, which means the movies of theirs that you like the most are most likely determined by your own personal experiences. That said, I have no idea exactly where this movie ranks for me when it comes to Pixar’s filmography. I need to sit down and figure that out. I will say that the more movies that Pixar releases, the harder it becomes to get my exact ranking nailed down because we’re at a point where it might be difficult for a new Pixar movie to even make my top 10 due to the consistent quality that they put out. At this point, my top five might be set in stone given how many near perfect films Pixar has released.

Despite where this movie may end up on my Pixar ranking, one thing is for sure. This didn’t deserve to have the label of Pixar’s least attended opening weekend. And I don’t think the panic in the United States of the coronavirus is strong enough at the moment to convince enough people to stay away from theaters this past weekend to give it that label. In terms of the worldwide gross, of course it makes sense for Asia and Europe to not show up in huge numbers, but in the United States I wouldn’t say as much. I honestly think that a large percentage of the reason why the numbers were so low is because either the awareness wasn’t super high or people saw the trailers and weren’t too terribly interested. In which case, I’m here to tell you that, at the very least, this movie is fun and exciting. There’s never a dull moment. If you’re a Pixar fan, which most of us should be, I’m confident in my claim that you will at least find this to be an enjoyable ride that’s well worth your time. I can’t guarantee that the movie will effect you in the same way it did me due to how personal it felt, but it might. If you’re not in the mood to go to a crowded venue, go on a weekday night or a matinee showing. Or wait a week or two. But go see this. I’m giving “Onward” a 9/10.