Anthony's Film Review - Lightyear (2022)

A science-fiction adventure in the Toy Story universe that manages to be sufficiently fun...

This movie focuses on one specific character from the Toy Story movies, but in a different fashion. Across four films, the toy spaceman Buzz Lightyear has been a memorable main character, especially with his catchphrase "To infinity and beyond." Now we get a film about Buzz Lightyear that is essentially a spinoff prequel. It's a prequel because it occurs before the toy Buzz Lightyear enters the first Toy Story movie in 1995. It's a spinoff because it focuses on Buzz Lightyear, though in a different form: as a human spaceman. As the film's text intro explains, Buzz Lightyear the toy was inspired by a science-fiction movie featuring Buzz Lightyear. This film, Lightyear, is that movie.

As the film begins, Buzz's mission is to transport a colony of humans to a place suitable for life. During the journey, the transport ship takes a detour as Buzz investigates a nearby planet, which turns out to be more hostile than expected. Unfortunately, the colony ends up being stuck on this planet. Buzz has to figure out a way to get everyone back on track and on their way to their intended destination. But another complication gets in the way. There is a horde of destructive robots, led by the evil Zurg, that get ready to destroy the colony.

Buzz isn't handling this mission alone. However, his allies are primarily a crew of misfits who lack military training. They provide some frustration for Buzz, but over time, they all find ways to pull their individual skills together to get the job done. Buzz is also accompanied by a talking robotic cat named Sox. This artificial animal is cute and funny, as well as resourceful thanks to the variety of technical capabilities it possesses.

From beginning to end, the story is not bad. Even though it isn't an incredibly spectacular story, it doesn't get dull either. One thing I did like is how, in certain parts of the story, the movie plays with a specific concept related to Einstein's theory of relativity. In addition, the climactic encounter between Buzz and Zurg involved a revelation I had not expected, which also lent itself, though only briefly, to an opportunity for presenting a message, which has often been a Pixar trademark. That being said, this movie felt a whole lot more like an in-house Disney studio movie than a Pixar movie.

But Lightyear is still an enjoyable adventure. It's a fast-paced story featuring the fictional inspiration behind a beloved Toy Story character. It's nice to see Buzz Lightyear in a way that we haven't seen before. I also like how the phrase "To infinity and beyond" comes into play here. At this point, I wonder what is next for the Toy Story franchise. It's probably not likely that there will be a Toy Story 5, but after Lightyear, could there be other prequel spinoffs, perhaps a fictional Western movie featuring Woody, Jessie, and Bullseye? I don't know. All in all, Lightyear is a decent but fun movie that may open the door for more Disney/Pixar movies like this.

Anthony's Rating:

For more information about Lightyear, visit the Internet Movie Database.

In addition, check out my reviews of the following:

The Toy Story Films