A departure for Pixar
On February 29th, Disney and Pixar released Onward to theaters. I first heard of Onward more than a year ago with a teaser that featured unicorns acting like street cats and some wisps of magic. The early teaser, like Disney does with most of its films, did not give anything away. Over time, the creative team shared more information about the film. It became clear that Pixar was making a movie with classic fantasy elements.
The setting of Onward is set in a modern time but it is juxtaposed over its fantasy based history. The stories we tell of orcs, goblins, elves, and wizards is real in this land. Fantastic stories we would tell are the real history of that world. That is, until technology makes magic obsolete. The reday, , I sidents of Onward’s world forget their magical past and soon begin to lives very similar to ours.
We meet two brothers, Ian and Barley Lightfoot. They are played by Tom Holland and Chris Pratt, respectively. The two brothers have broadly different personalities; Ian, who is celebrating his sixteenth birthday, is unsure of himself and struggles to find his way in the world. Barley, his older brother, is a history buff. He laments the passing of the days of magic and adventure. He also spends most of his time playing Quests of Yore, a role playing game modeled after Dungeons & Dragons. Although in their world, the game becomes something of a guide book for the adventures they are about to go on.
Half the man I used to be
In Onward, the boys are getting through life after the loss of their father. They were young when he died, but the loss is still felt strongly. They handle it in very different ways, even after learning they may be able to bring him back to life. I will not say any more except to say that the father is their companion through most of the movie, but as a half complete form. As the trailers show, he is only resurrected from the waist down.
I was happy to see Disney and Pixar make a movie with boys as the protagonists. Disney, a company most known for princesses, went out on a limb here. The irony is in the manner in which the story telling is accomplished. On the surface, the tale is one of fantasy and adventure, but it is the power of family that is front and center. Pixar is known for making you cry in their movies.
At the very end of Coco, I was bawling my eyes out as the credits began to roll. Up gets me right in the feels in the first 15 minutes of the film. Onward has one moment, an awakening of sorts for Ian, that I had strong emotional reaction to. I thought of my parents and my brother during that scene. It is a thought-provoking concept that takes place. Again, I don’t want to spoil anything, but is a very mature sentiment for a “kids” movie.
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Disney dropped the ball
I would like to pause with my review of the movie itself by discussing the marketing for the film. There has been basically no marketing. That is so odd for a movie that I so thoroughly enjoyed. Perhaps Disney and Pixar do not know how to market Onward to boys since its not a Star Wars or Marvel property. Who know? Regardless, I knew little about this movie before its release and was shocked when I heard it was already in theaters.
The other thing I would like to comment on is how terrible we are becoming as a society. The theater was nearly empty. We saw it in Regal’s RPX theater, which is a premium experience. Perhaps the cost kept people away or maybe it was the marketing, as I mentioned before. Regardless, there was less than 35 people in the theater. Directly behind my family was group of people with two obnoxious children. I could not believe the behavior of the children, but it was the lack of parental involvement that struck a chord with me.
A good time regardless
Don’t get me wrong. Disney and Pixar make family films. Family films will draw families. Families have children. I was not upset that there were children sitting behind me. That was to be expected. What I could not believe was that the parent was alloying the child to cry for half the movie. Dad did take the little girl for a walk, but then brought her back where she proceeded to start crying again. They had a younger boy with them too who repeatedly grabbed and pulled on the back of our seats. The final nail in the coffin was the Chinese food they brought in with them.
Coincidentally and unbelievably, this is SECOND time I have had people eating Chinese food behind me in a theater. Who does that? Seriously…who?”
Annoying people and poor marketing aside, Onward was a fun movie. It did a wonderful job of addressing family and the difficult nature of parenting and complexity of brotherhood. Along the way, there were some very funny moments and some real emotion. Not all the jokes landed however, with my girlfriend even saying she expected it to be funnier. All in all, as a geek who grew up playing Dungeons & Dragons and as a brother, I thoroughly loved Onward…even with some idiots behind me.
Christopher Hess, LMT
