“Lightyear” Review: A Great Sci-Fi Animated Movie

For those who don't know, " Lightyear" tells the story of the astronaut behind the toy that inspired Buzz Lightyear in the iconic toy saga. In other words, Buzz Lightyear was, within the Pixar canon, an important real character from which certain marketing was generated, later represented in the movies.

This implies that the story is independent of what happened in "Toy Story", which is why the tone is also different. Here, Pixar bet fully on science fiction, with inspirations from movies like "Star Wars". Although it is something different from what was expected, the result has been more than satisfactory.

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The Virtues of Lightyear: What's New from Pixar

In this sense, the first thing to keep in mind is that the target audience for this film is different. While it is true that children will be able to enjoy this adventure, the tone always seems to point more towards realism, with a more important humanistic undertone than in the classic "Toy Story" family stories.

The film introduces us to Buzz Lightyear and Alisha Hawthorne, two companions who must carry out a new intergalactic adventure. After an accident, the ship in which they travel is left on a hostile planet more than 4 million light-years from Earth. Consequently, they must find a way to adapt to it. This premise is very positive since it implies that the characters leave their comfort zone and must face the dangers of the universe. The truth is that the character of Buzz Lightyear, to whom Chris Evans lends his voice, wants to find some ways to fix his mistake and return home.

And there appears another very interesting character, who is none other than Zurg, the historical enemy of Buzz Lightyear in the movies. If previously they made references to a parallelism between him and Darth Vader, as we could see in "Toy Story 2", here the analogies to "Star Wars" are reinforced and we will learn more about the link between both characters

Although the film is aimed at an adult audience, this does not mean that there is no message behind the story. For example, the idea of facing failure, the possibility of persevering to meet goals and even issues related to friendship, family, and love are clearly identifiable.

On this last point, there is also a quite prominent element that caused talk on social networks and it has to do with the LGBT scenes. This is a step forward from Pixar, who had already flirted with the idea of rendering such scenes, but now definitely generates them in a natural way.

The element of humor is also very present , with the appearance of a character who "steals" the screen. We refer to Sox, Buzz Lightyear's cat companion, who brings a solid share of fun in each of his interventions. This is the closest thing to "Toy Story" in the movie, hands down.

Another interesting element lies in its animation. We already know what Pixar is capable of, but they seem to give it a much more cinematic touch here. The idea was to generate an animation style very close to what was seen in "Soul", which, without ceasing to be a children's film, tried to leave a much deeper and more realistic message.

All this is seen in "Lightyear", which has shots reminiscent of "Interstellar". His almost solemn tone plays him a good trick, but it is also true that viewers should know what they are going to see. This tape works independently of "Toy Story" because this is only the excuse to present us with a space story.

In any case, it is an adventure that you need to know and that is already available in theaters. Do not miss it!