Onward
- It’s a second-tier Pixar movie, but that still makes it better than 90% of all other movies.
Full Disclosure: In my opinion, Pixar employs the best and most consistent storytellers on the planet, and have done so since Toy Story in 1995. They are true puppet masters of the human heart. All of the Pixar movies make me laugh, most of them make me cry, and they balance the two in a way that makes these films more than movies, but unmissable experiences. They are our modern fables. Needles to say, that makes my expectations sky high for anything they put out.
Review
Due in part to the coronavirus, and partly because of poor marketing, Onward will not go down in the pantheon of Pixar as one of the greats. By their standards, Onward is both a financial and critical disappointment. That said, it still dominated its competition at the box office until all theater chains in the known world were shut down. I say Onward was poorly marketed because the trailers didn’t give much of an indication of what the movie was about. Audiences don’t want the whole plot spoon-fed to them in a trailer, but we should get an idea of the world, the main characters, and the journey they set out to complete. The early trailers only gave us a sense of the world, not much in the way of character, and zero indication of the journey. That was rectified as the opening weekend got closer, but by then the moviegoing public had soured on the film.
That’s unfortunate, because Onward is the best movie of this young year, and depending on when the panic surrounding the global pandemic subsides, it might be the last time anyone gets to see a good movie (or any movie) in a theater for the foreseeable future. It has everything you want in a Pixar movie, even if it may be a bit formulaic. I’d put it on the same level with Brave, which I loved and thought was underrated, but not one of the top-tier Pixar outputs.
Tom Holland’s Ian (left) and Chris Pratt’s Barley (right) both put in some great voiceover work in Onward.
Onward takes place in a modern fantasy world. Think Middle-Earth, but thousands of years after the conclusion of the Lord of the Rings saga. There are cars, electricity, indoor plumbing, all of the modern comforts we enjoy in today’s world. With the convenience of these modern inventions, magic has all but disappeared from the world. Dragons are kept as dog-like pets, centaurs patrol the streets as beat cops, and unicorns are trash-eating scavengers. It’s a great idea for the premise of a movie, but Pixar’s always been about story and relationships between characters, not premise alone.
Luckily, Onward has a great story to match its original and unique world. Two brothers (who happen to be elves), Ian (Tom Holland) and Barley (Chris Pratt) are being raised by a single mother (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). As with 99% of Disney/Pixar movies, a parent (in this case their father) died a tragic death when Ian and Barley were babies. Ian and Barley could not be more different. Ian is the youngest. He’s nerdy, bookish, socially awkward, and lacks self-esteem. Barley is bold, outgoing, boisterous, and lacks self-awareness. Suffice to say, they don’t get along very well. It’s a prototypical big brother/little brother teenage relationship.
Ian discovers his magical gift.
The boys find a bond when their mom brings them a gift that their father left them before he died. He wanted the mom to wait until both boys came of age before this gift was given. The gift, as it turns out, is a wizard staff, supposedly imbued with very powerful magic. Ian is skeptical, but Barley is stoked. Barley is obsessed with a Magic: The Gathering-style card game, so he thinks he knows all of the ins and outs of the arcane arts. The twist is, Ian is the one with the gift to perform magic, not Barley.
Before his death, Ian and Barley’s dad created a resurrection spell, which would allow his sons to bring him back to life for 24 hours. Ian has no memory of his dad, while Barley has only rudimentary toddler memories. Ian wants nothing more than to meet his dad, so he tries the staff… and it works! (To a point.) Since Ian is a novice in performing spells, he only manages to bring back their dad’s legs. The 24 hour clock begins to tick, and the race to bring their dad back to full form is on!
Spoilers Ahead
Ian, Barley, and Dad (kind of) reunited.
What follows is an equally hilarious and heart wrenching quest that sees the two opposite brothers come to truly love one another. Just about every fantasy trope you can think of is subverted along the way, from biker gang pixies to a manticore who’s lost her ferocity. Fans of traditional high-fantasy will be particularly pleased with Onward, but in typical Pixar fashion, this is truly a movie for everyone.
As it turns out, Onward isn’t a movie about Ian realizing his dream of finally meeting his father. In a major Pixarian twist, it’s all about brotherly love. As a toddler, Barley couldn’t bring himself to visit his dying dad in the hospital. It was too much for him to process at such a young age. Thus, he never got to say goodbye to his dad before he passed. It’s a heartbreaking reveal, and one that anyone who’s lost a parent can identify with.
Ian realizes that Barley was the one who raised him. Barley was the father figure he always had, but Ian just never realized it. He lets Barley say goodbye to their dad, sacrificing his one and only chance to meet his father. It was the beautiful, tear-jerking moment we’ve come to expect from Pixar over the years. (Yeah, I cried. Big deal. You’d have to have a heart of cold stone to not get choked up here.) Nobody got what they wanted, but everyone got what they needed. That's storytelling and character work at its finest. Ian didn’t get to meet his dad, but he grew to love and appreciate his big brother. Barley didn’t become a wizard, but he got to fill the hole in his heart he’s had since he was a toddler by finally getting closure and saying goodbye to his dad. This was Ian’s story, and that was illustrated by the POV shots while we watched Barley engage in brief conversation with their dad. It was a beautiful end to a great movie.
So while Onward doesn’t quite measure up to some of the all-time Pixar greats like Up, Toy Story 3, or Inside Out, it’s a more than worthy entry into the Pixar catalog, which is very high praise for a studio that strives for perfection with each and every outing.
Ian and Barley share a heartwarming hug that’s sure to bring a tear to your eye.
5 Quick Hits
While it’s unfortunately too late to catch this in theaters, I hope that The Simpsons short that played before Onward is released along with the film once it’s available for home video. It’s an adorable little story about baby Maggie’s first love and first heartbreak. I’ve never been a big Simpsons fan, but it looks like the much-maligned Simpsons+Disney relationship is off to a very good start.
It was a cool (and bold) move for Pixar to finally include a gay character in one of their movies. It of course was banned in the more homophobic nations across the globe, costing them some cashola in those countries. It was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, but Lena Waithe’s portrayal of a lesbian cop is a step in the right direction for inclusion in kids’ movies.
Octavia Spencer is an incredible actress who elevates every movie she’s in. Her portrayal of the manticore who rediscovers who she is is a great secondary arc in this movie.
The soundtrack was really cool here too. It managed to mix medieval instruments like the lute and pan flute with electric guitar and heavy drums. This was especially rousing during Barley’s beloved van’s “Ride to Valhalla”.
The pseudo product placement in this movie was hilarious. There were too many to remember, but the one that stuck out at me in particular was the video game “Prance Prance Revolution”.
