There are issues with this film, possibly even too many to mention in a quick review such as this, but despite them I have to say that I did have quite a good time. It’s all a bit throwaway, and I’m not sure I’ll think back to it with anywhere near the same adoration I hold for any of the Toy Story films, but it was alright. I certainly don’t think it’s just a corporate exercise in boosting shareholder profits like some reviews have implied.
The story is interesting enough. It isn’t the usual hero’s journey that would’ve been quite an easy way out, and I was actually surprised at how nuanced it appeared. Buzz isn’t really a straight up good guy, he’s complicated and he lets his ego and his absolute sense of duty blind him to the world around him. Much like his toy counterpart, to be fair, so credit where it’s due for remaining faithful to the original franchise. There’s also some neat stuff about time dilation that drives the narrative, which is mostly quite well thought out and effective.
I’m not sure it particularly needed to be made and I don’t think I’d be all that upset if I never saw it again, but for the near-two hours that I was in the cinema for, there was something a bit magical going on. In a way, I did feel like I could’ve been Andy. But perhaps that’s more down to how sentimental I am and how much Toy Story meant to me as a kid. Either way, Lightyear isn’t the smear on cinema that some reviews would have you believe it is.
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