Legendary space ranger Buzz Lightyear (Chris Evans) embarks on an intergalactic adventure alongside ambitious recruits Izzy Hawthorne (Keke Palmer), Mo Morrison (Taika Waititi), Darby Steel (Dale Soules) and a feline robot SOX Peter Sohn). As this motley crew tackles their toughest mission yet, they must learn to work together as a team to escape the evil Zurg (James Brolin) and his dutiful robot army that are after a fuel source that Buzz has. It seems that every time Buzz and the crew attempt to conquer Zurg and escape, Zurg and company are never far behind.
Others to round out the cast are Uzo Aduba as Alisha Hawthorne, Mary McDonald-Lewis as I.V.A.N., Isiah Whitlock, Jr. as Commander Burnside, Angus MacLane as Eric, Bill Hader as Featheringhamstan, Efren Ramirez as Airman Diaz and Keira Hairston as young Izzy.
This was effectively directed by Angus MacLane ("Finding Dory" (co-dir.) '16) plus shorts. Certainly this filmmaker has very limited experience in the director's chair, however, what he lacks there, he more than makes up for with working in the animation departments on many films for many years. He clearly honed his talent working with so many directors being in the animation side of films. He will surely receive more work because of this. It was paced and staged in its writing by writers Jason Headley ("A Bad Idea Gone Wrong" '17, "Onward" '20) plus shorts and MacLane (shorts), based on a story by MacLane, Matthew Aldrich and Headley, which is based on characters created by John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton and Joe Ranft. It would've been wise for Pixar to hire some of their past writers who were able to create such inventive plot stories, but with the writers used, the screenplays weren't bad, but not expressly inventive or original. Plus, there were a couple of places where the storyline was a bit slow. And, I'm not sure why they decided to make Alisha Hawthorne a lesbian with a partner, and, of course, had the controversial kiss, but whether she was gay or straight, it didn't seem to matter. I guess since the film was rated PG and it was obviously geared to ward young children, I guess I just had a bit of a problem. If it was rated PG-13 and garnered a target audience of a somewhat old demographic, I probably wouldn't have nearly an issue with it. Even without the infamous kiss, this was definitely not one of Pixar's best efforts. The animation by Presto was its usual consummate, but the writing wasn't their usual spot on.
If you like Pixar, and more importantly Buzz Lightyear, you'll love this. It does leave its audience with the possibility of a sequel, but I'm sure that has everything to do with how much profit this film pulls in. Remember, Disney, who owns Pixar, are the marketers of the planet. If you like that up, close and personal feeling, it's also presented in an IMAX format as well.
Out of 4 Stars: 3 Rated: PG 105mins.
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