REVIEW: Pixar’s “Onward”

REVIEW: Pixar’s “Onward”

March 11th, 2020

Martin Goodman

Onward has the misfortune of being merely a very good film from a studio that produced the best animated films of the past two decades. This film has only a few flaws (more on that later) that are outweighed by its strengths. Still, in comparison with the best of Pixar I can only draw on the analogy of an NFL team that wins its division but gets beaten by a better team in the first round of the playoffs; the skilled players are there and the game plan is well executed, but somehow this film falls just short of Pixar’s finest.

Not that it makes much of a difference; Onward is a fine example of how to do things right in an animated film. It manages to take a bromance/road trip/quest formula and give it some fresh twists. In this regard it simply blows Sonic the Hedgehog out of the water. The story is backed up by Pixar’s homegrown (and awesome) Presto animation system, which takes twenty technicians to run. The resources of the Disney/Pixar monolith are unbeatable in this regard. I saw a trailer for another animated film before this showing. I won’t name it, but there was a wide and obvious chasm between what Pixar can do in relation to other animation studios.

The story is set in a mythical city called New Mushroomton. The original Mushroomton was a city that flourished under magic, with elves, wizards, and dragons straight out of 12-sided dice games. Eventually the magic was replaced by modern technology and products, and a huge city and its suburbs (where the houses still resemble mushrooms) sprang up in its stead. This was said to have happened because magic became too hard to use and the populace wanted to make things simpler.

This is a weakness in the film because the explanation is somewhat ridiculous. These beings had the power to wield magic, but eventually abandoned it so that they could work in factories, develop a capitalist economy, and purchase items that break down, need warranties, and face planned obsolescence? If you could fly, why build vehicles and superhighways? Not only that, but during the course of the film, novice Ian somehow performs almost all the magic spells contained in the “rulebook”, so how hard could magic really be?

The voice cast is small, a rarity in today’s animated films. Pixar dipped into Disney’s MCU stable and cast Tom Holland as Ian Lightfoot, a shy and insecure sixteen-year old elf and Chris Pratt as his older brother Barley. The shy insecure character who is revealed to be more than he seems and develops the strength and confidence to triumph in the end is an overdone character in many animated films; Holland does what he can with it and largely succeeds. Chris Pratt is very good as his magic-worshipping, blustery brother. Pratt brings nuances to the character in several scenes where Barley’s own insecurities are revealed.

Best by far is Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Laurel Lightfoot, the widowed mother of the two boys. Dreyfus is wonderful as the feisty yet protective mother of the two boys, and Lord (of the Rings) knows that they need all the protection they can get. Author/actress Octavia Spencer (The Help) is excellent as a manticore who gets her groove back after wasting her life in a dead-on parody of a family-friendly restaurant. Mel Rodriguez hits the right notes as the centaur cop boyfriend of Laurel. Don’t miss the tiny but hilarious turn by Tracey Ullman as the Gollum-esque proprietor of a pawn shop.

The writing and story are tight by today’s animated film standards. The brothers’ relationship is well-developed with realistic ups and downs as their quest continues (and misfires). I only caught one major error in continuity, but unlike most such mistakes, it did not compromise the scenes that followed it to an appreciable degree. Some of the emotional manipulation was over the top; in one scene Ian plays a brief tape recoding of his late father on an old boom box. If this isn’t sad enough, he replays the tape and fills in the pauses as if he’s talking to his father. This is less poignant than it is mawkish, especially when compared to a scene of true poignancy that appears near the end of the film (no spoilers here).

Onward, at the very least, does not display the sloppiness, false sentimentality, or tired tropes that plagued so many animated films last year. In most respects it is a fine addition to the Pixar compendium and a very enjoyable film. Director Dan Scanlon is best known for directing Monsters University but it’s worth noting that from 1998-2005 he was involved with at least five of Disney’s much-despised animated film “sequels”. It is encouraging to see that the experience taught him what not to do.