Lightyear

Pixar's first theatrical release since Onward in early 2020, Lightyear is the movie that inspired the Buzz Lightyear toys in the Toy Story films and from which Andy was highly inspired by to get his own Buzz action figure. Chris Evans takes over from Tim Allen as this Buzz scouts the area of a new planet that his Star Command exploration vessel has landed in. When he and other officers, including his best friend Alisha, are attacked, their attempt to escape causes the vessel to crash and trap the rest of its inhabitants to make a new home in this planet until they figure out a way off. Feeling guilty over these events, Buzz volunteers as a pilot to test out experimental fuel that each time causes him to travel forwards two years in the future. Due to still feeling guilty and obsessed with his mission of finding a way home, Buzz keeps experimenting with the fuel to the point that he witnesses Alisha aging the more he flies out until she dies during one of his flights. With the help of a robotic cat assigned to help him, named Sox, Buzz figures out the right way to use the fuel and despite this last test flight being a better success than before, it caused him to return over twenty years later. When he lands back however, Buzz finds the colony under attack from a robot army led by the mysterious Zurg. With the help of Alisha's granddaughter Izzy and other recruits, they must figure out how to save the colony and defeat Zurg's robots. The story itself may not be entirely new, but being a movie that is apparently from the 90s a lot of that familiarity makes sense. Angus MacLane and Jason Headley's writing has subtle touches that call back to certain story tropes from other films of that era. I do feel that much of it does feel slow at times and some jokes don't land as much, but one thing it does right is the characters and how well written they are. Another strong aspect is the twist over Zurg's identity and how that fits into Buzz's character arc throughout the film. Alongside Evans, you also get strong and fun vocal performances from Keke Palmer, Taika Waititi, James Brolin, and Uzo Aduba. While Pixar's work is always great, this has definitely been some of their strongest work that they've ever done. So much of the background feels so real and the characters are all highly detailed, while the lighting is exquisite. Unlike the Toy Story films, this has Michael Giacchino composing instead of Randy Newman, and his work definitely has a lot of inspiration from other big sci-fi franchises like Star Wars but still being its own. Lightyear is a fun adventure that while not having the most original story ever, doesn't mean it doesn't tell it in its own unique way. Over all: 100%

2022 top list so far:

1. Top Gun: Maverick

2. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

3. The Northman

4. The Batman

5. Lightyear

6. Dog

7. Everything Everywhere All at Once

8. X 2022

9. Scream 2022

10. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

11. Jurassic World: Dominion

12. Sonic the Hedgehog 2

13. Uncharted