Streaming early - Pixar's latest 'Onward' worth the journey
By TYLER WILSON
Coeur Voice contributor
Disney/Pixar’s latest animated adventure “Onward” debuted in theaters on March 6. Theater closures across the country ultimately crushed the film’s box office trajectory.
Like many recent film releases, Disney elected to release “Onward” as a premium streaming option on major platforms like Amazon, iTunes and pay-per-view outlets. The film currently costs $19.99 to own digitally. It will also stream free for Disney+ subscribers beginning on April 3.
The first of two scheduled Pixar movies this year (“Soul” is slated for release on June 19, but we’ll see), “Onward” earned generally positive reviews from critics though without the level of acclaim lodged at the company’s more beloved entries. Mid-range Pixar still beats most other animated entries.
“Onward” takes place in a modern world of elves, wizards and other mythical creatures. Because magic in this world comes with a high degree of difficulty, most of the citizens of New Mushroomton rely on electricity and modern technology to go about their lives.
The film focuses on two brothers, the pensive younger sibling Ian (voiced by Tom “Spider-Man” Holland) and excitable big bro/RPG fanatic Barley (Chris “Star Lord” Pratt). In classic Disney fashion, they’ve lost their father to terminal illness when their mom (Julia Louis-Dreyfuss) was still pregnant with Ian.
On Ian’s 16th birthday, mom gifts the guys a magical staff and a written spell left behind by their father. It grants Dad a temporary, 24-hour return trip to the living. The spell, however, goes wrong, and only Dad’s lower half appears (setting up a solid run of sight gags throughout the film. Ian, Barley and Half-Dad set off in Barley’s trusty steed (a junky van) on a quest for a rare crystal that can complete the spell before time runs out.
The modern-meets-magic setting allows for plenty of comic opportunity, including encounters with a motorcycle gang of sprites and a quest setting-turned-stressed restaurateur Manticore (Octavia Spencer). The Manticore and the boys’ mom, Laurel, also go on an amusing side quest of sorts to even out this otherwise guy-centric tale. There are also a couple bits about unicorns being this world’s equivalent of feral, garbage-feeding raccoons.
Swiftly paced and consistently amusing, “Onward” gains mileage from its appealing voice cast, especially Louis-Dreyfuss as the mom and Pratt as the well-meaning-but-unfocused Barley. Pratt’s oafish energy best resembles his delightful character of Andy Dwyer on “Parks and Recreation,” though Barley wishes he was more like Star Lord (or Burt Macklin for that matter).
The final stretch sees director Dan Scanlon (“Monsters University”) and his writing team flex Pixar’s signature tendency to tug at the heartstrings. As it focuses on the relationship between the brothers, the movie discovers a clever and poignant way to pay off its core “absent father” premise. “Onward” ultimately earns its sentimentality by building an authentic connection between Ian and Barley.
“Onward” will most likely endure as a Pixar also-ran, especially since a worldwide pandemic crippled its financial performance. Still, even when the world is shuttered, it’s nice to know Pixar can be counted on to still deliver exciting, fun and heartfelt stories to audiences of all ages.
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Tyler Wilson can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com. He’s been writing professionally about movies since 2000 and is the co-host of Old Millennials Remember Movies, available everywhere you get podcasts and at OldMillennialsRemember.com.