Onward

Onward, Pixar's latest, is set in a fantasy world wherein magical creatures are the norm and magic used to be done by the most skilled until electricity and technology was discovered and mastered leading to the mystical slowly forgotten. Some time later, similar to own period, the film centers on two elf brothers, shy Ian and adventurous Barley, who learn that their late father left them a wizard's staff and a rare gem so that he could be brought back for a single day to get to know them. Attempting to cast the spell, Ian's unfamiliarity with magic causes only the bottom half of their father to be brought back. Only having twenty four hours to complete the spell and the gem breaking, Barley uses his knowledge of ancient magic and adventures to get the two on a quest to finally get to see their father as they have to deal with a Manticore, a motorcycle pixie gang, and an ancient curse. While it's your very typical road comedy with a fantasy twist, it nonetheless does it with relatable backstory and an ending that hits you inside. Tom Holland as Ian and Chris Pratt as Barley are not only perfectly cast but also have such a powerful chemistry together. A lot of the animation, especially the cinematography, not only highlights the awe of Pixar's work, but also has certain shots and moments that evoke past large fantasy films like Harry Potter and The Hobbit. Even if the writing has a lot of basic fantasy and road trip comedy tropes, they are done in unique ways that perfectly blend the two and leads to powerful and heartbreaking moments. One unexpected result of having only the bottom half of a person walk around is not only the amusing and genius use of slapstick, but also how heartwarming it is whenever Ian and Barley feel like they will fail. What's a great detail to Onward is how Ian needs to learn magic, but the use of it takes not only time but a lot of practice and you get to see the many times he fails at it. Of course, there are a lot of things that don't work such as many of the jokes, certain magical creatures doing things in a more modern sense despite not really making sense, and certain characters not very well developed. Compared to most other Pixar films, while Onward is fun and emotional its not as big as say the Toy Story films or Coco. But nonetheless it doesn't take away from just how entertaining and memorable of a film that Onward is. Over all: 90%
2020 top list so far:
1. The Invisible Man 2020
2. The Gentlemen
3. Birds of Prey
4. Onward
5. Bad Boys for Life
6. The Call of the Wild 2020
7. Sonic the Hedgehog