Film Review: "Lightyear" (2022).

From the studio that brought us Toy Story comes Lightyear. This computer-animated science fiction action-adventure film directed by Angus MacLane, written by MacLance and Jason Headley, based on the characters created by John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton and Joe Ranft, and produced by Pixar Animation Studios. A sci-fi action adventure and the definitive origin story of Buzz Lightyear, the hero who inspired the toy, Lightyear follows the legendary Space Ranger after he’s marooned on a hostile planet 4.2 million light-years from Earth alongside his commander and their crew. As Buzz tries to find a way back home through space and time, he’s joined by a group of ambitious recruits and his charming robot companion cat, Sox. Complicating matters and threatening the mission is the arrival of Zurg, an imposing presence with an army of ruthless robots and a mysterious agenda.

After the completion of Finding Dory, development on the film began. After co-directing Dory with MacLane and Andrew Stanton was allowed to pitch the idea of making a Buzz Lightyear film, having always wondered what movie Andy Davis saw in the original Toy Story (1995) to get interested in a Buzz Lightyear action figure. MacLane, also a science fiction fan, had felt attracted to the character of Buzz since he started working at Pixar, feeling that the film's story was very "personal" for him, whose favorite movie since childhood had been Star Wars (1977). When asked about the relationship between the film and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000-01), a Toy Story spin-off series that also serves as an in-universe production starring the Buzz character, MacLane said that he did not have the series in mind while working on the film, but always pictured the series being developed in-universe after a trilogy of films. In February 2019, Tim Allen, the original voice actor of Buzz, expressed interest in doing another film. In December 2020 at a Disney Investor Day meeting, Lightyear was announced as a spin-off film depicting the in-universe origin of the human Buzz Lightyear character, with Chris Evans providing the character's voice. Keke Palmer, Peter Sohn, James Brolin, Taika Waititi, Dale Soules, Uzo Aduba, Efren Ramirez and Isiah Whitlock Jr rounded out the film's voice cast. The animators wanted the film to look "cinematic" and "chunky" in order to evoke the feeling of the sci-fi films MacLane grew up with. In order to achieve this, they asked a former Industrial Light & Magic employee to build a spaceship model for them, from which the animators drew inspiration; this technique was inspired by designers for early sci-fi films using models as inspiration for their sets and props. MacLane said the animation took several "visual lessons" from early sci-fi and space opera films such as the Star Wars franchise, though without intentionally imitating such films.

We've seen and loved the characters before so this wasn't a "must have" prequel, still they do entertain, partly thanks to the cast.

A decent enough way to pass the time, but it pales in comparison to the modern classics that Pixar has delivered before.

Simon says Lightyear receives:

Also, see my reviews for Finding Dory and Turning Red.