The latest film in theToy Storyfranchise, and the first theatrically released spin-off in the series, is here.Toy Storybecame a classic of cinema as it beat all the preconceived negative thoughts and feelings many audience members had about animated movies with its first three films, even getting nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture for the third outing (animated titles typically tend to remain confined to their own categories, bar a few exceptions). In recent years, especially after the rising success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Disney has attempted to broaden theToy Storyfranchise, first with a fourth film. Now, 2022’sLightyearis the next installment.
Unlike the previous outings, which followed toys exclusively,Lightyearis the movie that the action figurethat Buzz was based off of. In essence,Lightyearis a movie within a movie, as toy Buzz‘s human owner, Andy, went to see this flick in his childhood years. From this, it’s clear thatLightyearhas an abundance of references and connections to the broaderToy Storyfranchise, but these are ultimately not enough to compensate for a weak story and a lack of a concrete reason for its mere existence.
RELATED:Lightyear Review
As stated,Lightyearwas made as a result of Disney’s desire to mine preexisting franchises to produce more content. The abundance of Marvel shows on Disney+, for example, in the last year alone, is a clear sign of the studio’s parent company’s goals and enacting of their plans. To a lesser extent, the same can be said ofStar Wars, withThe Mandalorianseason three,Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Star Wars Visionsseason 2,Andor,andAhsokaall coming within the next year or so, and those shows are joined by the recently concludedObi-Wan Kenobi. The important thing to note is that most, if not all, of these stories within the Marvel andStar Warsfranchises further add to the property, and are tales that are genuinely worth telling.
However, theToy Storyfranchise has not been afforded the same luxury in recent years.Toy Story 4was serviceable, but ultimately lacked the emotion of the previous three films. More glaringly,the fourth outing dampened upon the extremely emotional, beautiful ending ofToy Story 3by giving audiences a sequel that simply shouldn’t exist. The future adventures of Woody, Buzz, and the rest of the gang would be better left to the imagination of the audience, thus furthering the poetic ending they once had.
Lightyearwas, on the surface, a more promising filmin that it wouldn’t interfere with the near perfection that is the originalToy Storytrilogy. Rather, it would serve as an interesting and unique tale that was connected to those movies, but had complete storytelling freedom to go wherever the writers at Pixar deemed fit. Unfortunately, though,Lightyeardoesn’t live up to its promise. The movie has manyToy Storyconnections, the most obvious being the title character of Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Chris Evans).Lightyear is a young astronautwho is on a long and tiring journey while dealing with the threat of Zurg, another character from theToy Storymovies. The list of these connections go on and on, but they can only lift the movie up so much.
The reasonLightyeardoesn’t impress is ultimately down to its weak story, and that it lacks a reason to exist, much likeToy Story 4. The story simply isn’t compelling, and although the space setting is meant to invokeStar Warsand the instant popularity of that franchise, it seems hard to believe that it’s this movie that inspiredthe in-universe fascination with and love for Buzz. Of course, these are kids' movies at the end of the day, but the fact remains thatLightyearfalls flat — kids can still tell when a movie’s story isn’t the best.
This isn’t to say thatLightyeardoesn’t have some good elements, as it is visually interesting and includes some much-needed LGBTQ+ representation (although arguably not enough). Still, these good elements and theToy Storyconnections aren’t enough to save it from mediocrity, and it seems that this is the consensus for audiences that went to see the movie. The amount of fans that actually turned up in the film’s opening few days disappointed the parent studio, as it looks set to fail to make a profit. That, along withLightyear’spredictably large budget, means that Disney might just begin to rethink their approach for movies in this franchise. Given the inherent weaknesses in the story, this might just be the best course of action if a high quality future for the franchise is to be secured.
