B次元官网网址淚n 1995, Andy got a toy from his favourite movie. This is that movie.B次元官网网址�
So begins a new Pixar release that takes a meta approach to the animation studioB次元官网网址檚 flagship franchise. It isnB次元官网网址檛 a prequel to B次元官网网址淭oy Story,B次元官网网址� exactly, but instead presents the movie that inspired Buzz Lightyear toys in the first place. ItB次元官网网址檚 a potentially clever bit of reverse engineering by the Walt Disney Co., which, after decades of growing merchandizing out of its films, has reversed course. We arenB次元官网网址檛 exactly through the looking glass, but we may be through the Happy Meal.
ItB次元官网网址檚 honestly a gambit B次元官网网址� taking a fictional movie-within-a-movie and making it real B次元官网网址� that IB次元官网网址檝e wanted to see attempted before. Who hasnB次元官网网址檛 watched B次元官网网址淪einfeldB次元官网网址� and been curious to actually see Or like B次元官网网址淢er-manB次元官网网址� in Judd ApatowB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淔unny PeopleB次元官网网址�? IB次元官网网址檝e seen the B次元官网网址淗ome AloneB次元官网网址� movies enough to almost convince myself that is a real gangster flick.
But the truth is, the appeal of all these faux-film cameos B次元官网网址� like those that adorn Quentin TarantinoB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淥nce Upon a Time in HollywoodB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� is predicated on their brevity. So should B次元官网网址淟ightyearB次元官网网址� have been a feature film or a Pixar short? The answer, I think, is very much the latter.
The B次元官网网址淭oy StoryB次元官网网址� films, once an almost perfect trilogy, a nine-years-later-sequel that was perhaps propelled less by a need for narrative closure than it was box-office imperatives. But at the same time, Forky. Forky made it forgivable.
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WhatB次元官网网址檚 compelling B次元官网网址淟ightyearB次元官网网址� is harder to say, but there is a bland, vaguely B次元官网网址淧lanesB次元官网网址� feeling here that smacks of a straight-to-video spinoff. Yet unlike that B次元官网网址淐arsB次元官网网址� detour, B次元官网网址淟ightyearB次元官网网址� bears the Pixar imprimatur. And, ironically, itB次元官网网址檚 the first Pixar film in more than two years to debut exclusively in theaters. During the pandemic, B次元官网网址淟uca,B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淪oulB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淭urning RedB次元官网网址� were all routed instead to Disney+, sometimes reportedly against the objections of PixarB次元官网网址檚 own animators.
But B次元官网网址淟颈驳丑迟测别补谤,B次元官网网址� helmed by B次元官网网址淔inding DoryB次元官网网址� co-director Angus MacLane (who made some of the B次元官网网址淭oy StoryB次元官网网址� shorts and TV specials that have expanded the film series), arrives in theaters just as summer movies are reaching the stratosphere again. So it may be a bit of a buzzkill to call B次元官网网址淟ightyearB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� the biggest kids movie to come along in a while B次元官网网址� a failed mission.
ItB次元官网网址檚 a surprisingly self-contained film B次元官网网址� that opening title card is one of the only tethers to B次元官网网址淭oy StoryB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� in which the B次元官网网址渞ealB次元官网网址� Buzz (drawn more human-like and voiced by Chris Evans, stepping in for Tim Allen), not the toy version, is marooned on a distant planet with fellow Space Ranger Alisha Hawthorne (Uzo Aduba) and a spaceship full of people. Every time Buzz attempts to rocket into light speed to get help back on Earth, something goes wrong. Each trial takes a day but, back on the faraway planet, everyone else has lived through years. In a blip, Alisha (the first Black LGBTQ character in a major studio animated film) gets engaged, has a baby, sees her son graduate and grows old.
With its classic science-fiction framework, B次元官网网址淟ightyearB次元官网网址� borrows from B次元官网网址淭he Twilight Zone,B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淪tar Trek,B次元官网网址� Christopher NolanB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淚nterstellarB次元官网网址� and others. ItB次元官网网址檚 a little like Pixar made a straightforward sci-fi movie B次元官网网址� one with obvious affection for the genre but little of the big-hearted splendor of B次元官网网址淲ALL-E.B次元官网网址� It could be said that unorthodox approach to B次元官网网址淟ightyearB次元官网网址� allows Pixar to step outside the usual parameters of what the animation studio usually makes. B次元官网网址淟ightyearB次元官网网址� isnB次元官网网址檛 ambitious or existential or likely to make you cry. ItB次元官网网址檚 just a flavorless movie, not much different from others.
B次元官网网址淟ightyearB次元官网网址� picks up a little when Buzz unites with a ragtag crew including AlishaB次元官网网址檚 granddaughter Izzy (Keke Palmer), the accident-prone Mo Morrison (Taika Waititi, doing his best to add some comic life to the film) and Dale SoulesB次元官网网址� aged criminal Darby Steel. BuzzB次元官网网址檚 most notable companion, though, is a highly intelligent robotic cat named Sox (voiced by B次元官网网址淭he Good DinosaurB次元官网网址� director Peter Sohn), an especially familiar kind of Disney sidekick surely designed to kickstart a new merchandizing opportunity.
That may be the only circle of life at work in B次元官网网址淟颈驳丑迟测别补谤,B次元官网网址� a dead-end wrong turn in the usually boundless Pixar universe. Buzz, himself, is a bit of a bore, too. ItB次元官网网址檚 a character that, since he isnB次元官网网址檛 the Buzz we know, must prove his mettle as a protagonist. But with little to distinguish him beyond a chin that makes Jay LenoB次元官网网址檚 look petite, itB次元官网网址檚 enough to make you wonder what Andy saw in him in the first place. Maybe someone should have shown him B次元官网网址淩atatouille.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淟颈驳丑迟测别补谤,B次元官网网址� a Walt Disney Co. release, is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for action/peril. Running time: 105 minutes. Two stars out of four.
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
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