One of the most popular characters from Toy Story was space ranger Buzz Lightyear, initially voiced by Tim Allen. In 2000, the spin-off series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command premiered on ABC, running for one season with 65 episodes. One of the show’s animators was Angus MacLane, who got his start working on several Pixar feature films and shorts. MacLane co-directed 2016’s Finding Dory with Andrew Stanton, which grossed over $1 billion worldwide, becoming the third-highest-grossing film of 2016. Following this success, he pitched a Buzz Lightyear movie after becoming interested in the character through his love of science-fiction. While Tim Allen expressed interest in returning to voice the character, Chris Evans was cast as the space ranger. Given MacLane’s love of the genre, the animators took inspiration from Star Wars for the overall look of the film. Finally, Lightyear premiered at the El Capitan Theater in June 2022.
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Synopsis
While piloting a ship housing thousands of personnel, Buzz Lightyear (Chris Evans) gets a signal to investigate a nearby planet. Accompanied by fellow space ranger and best friend Alisha Hawthorne (Uzo Aduba), he scans the terrain for intelligent life. Unfortunately, the ship gets badly damaged, forcing Buzz, Alisha, and the thousands of passengers to colonize the planet. After a year, the colony becomes a base, and Buzz volunteers to test new hyperspace fuel to return to Earth. Sadly, the test fails, and four years have passed, but Buzz insists on continuing until he gets it right. After years of failure, his robotic cat Sox (Peter Sohn) develops a formula for hyperspace fuel that works. Buzz successfully manages to travel to hyperspace, but when he returns, 22 years have passed, and robots have invaded. With help from Alisha’s granddaughter Izzy (Keke Palmer), it’s up to Buzz to stop the mechanical menace.
Review
Going into Lightyear, I had doubts about whether this spin-off could work, let alone be a good movie. Admittedly, the story is relatively basic, essentially an origin story that follows the standard beats you’d expect. You’ve got the protagonist who goes through an arc of working alone before realizing he needs help. There’s also the ragtag group of ambitious yet untrained rookies that step up to the challenge and ultimately succeed. However, while it has flaws, I’m happy to say that this is an entertaining and heartfelt sci-fi adventure worth watching. While the story isn’t revolutionary, it helps that the film has many characters you’ll come to love. Of course, there’s Buzz Lightyear, the heroic yet headstrong hero driven to prove himself and atone for his mistakes. Then there’s Sox, who I feared would be an annoying comic relief but ended up becoming endearing.
Even though she’s not introduced until halfway into the film, Izzy Hawthorne makes for a good sidekick alongside Buzz. Izzy’s teammates Mo Morrison (Taika Waititi) and Darby Steel (Dale Soules) have quirks that make them memorable. The animation is stunning, as with many Pixar movies, and the character design has a vintage 90s feel. Alisha helps add to the film’s heart, motivating Buzz to keep going despite getting older and eventually dying. Despite being a bit light on action, the action sequences we get are exciting and thrilling to watch. Though I mentioned how basic the story is, some genuine twists and turns here and there add to the drama. Before I forget, there is a same-sex kiss, but it’s incredibly brief and doesn’t amount to much. Overall, Lightyear may not be one of Pixar’s best movies, but it’s still a fun time worth checking out.
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