Pixar delivers fantasy adventure and heartfelt family emotion in ‘Onward’

Posted on March 6, 2020

By MARK VIOLA

Pixar’s newest movie, “Onward,” continues Pixar’s trend of delivering high-quality, emotionally-driven films that are a delight for audiences of all ages. Although the competition is admittedly weak so far, “Onward” is easily the best movie of 2020 I’ve seen to date.

The story is set in a fantasy realm like that of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy or from the pages of a “Dungeons and Dragons” game, filled with elves, trolls, gnomes, dragons and more. Only here, those races discovered electricity and other technological advances, which ultimately led their societies to leave magic behind and become like our own modern world.

In this colorful, yet rather ordinary, suburban life is Ian Lightfoot (voiced by Tom Holland, “Spider-Man: Far From Home”), a shy teenager who is about turn 16. He lives with his older brother Barley (Chris Pratt, “Guardians of the Galaxy”) and his mother, Laurel (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Veep”).

For Ian’s birthday, Laurel presents her sons with a gift from their father, who died while she was pregnant with Ian. The gift turns out to be a wizard staff and the directions for a spell that will bring him back to life for one day. When the spell goes wrong, the two brothers will have just 24 hours to go on a quest to bring the spell to completion or lose their chance for one last visit with their father.

Based on the premise alone, you can tell this movie is going to be rife with the feels. At the core of most of Pixar’s films — outside of the studio’s down period in 2011 to 2013 — are emotional relationships and situations, no matter how fanciful the trappings. “Up” contemplated loss, while “Toy Story 3” made us reflect on growing up. “Inside Out” did the latter again, and “Coco” made us want to hug our families.

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