What’s It About
The story of Buzz Lightyear and his adventures to infinity and beyond. Based on the origin of the fictional astronaut who inspired the toys.
MOVIESinMO REVIEW
Lightyear is what happens when you only think about how much money you can make. It’s an idea with potential, but the execution was all Disney. A company known for not knowing when to stop. Toy Story was great, and Toy Story 2 was even better. Then, someone at Disney said, lets do it again. And out popped Toy Story 3. The public said, stop, that’s enough, don’t ruin it. But those high-stakes gamblers at Disney rolled the dice and produced Toy Story 4. Miraculously, it was still a decent film. Future spoiler – Disney has plans for a direct-to-video ToyStory 5 on December 17th, 2023. That leads us to the latest in the Toy Story universe, Lightyear. This is supposed to be the “real-life” person that led to the creation of the Buzz Lightyear toy. There are so many reasons why that could not be possible, but to explain why or why not, I would need to go into great detail and spoil the movie, and I don’t do those types of things. I would just like to know what year Lightyear is set in. With all of the hi-tech devices they were using, along with the Star Trek, I mean Star Wars-type of space crafts mixed with interplanetary travel, it had to be far into the future. That is, of course, not possible if Andy in Toy Story got the trendy Buzz Lightyear toy for his birthday. I guess that, along with so many other questions, will need to use time travel as an answer. Anyway, the Lightyear movie is based somewhere in a time when we could travel to planets exploring and searching for intelligent life. Lightyear and his crew set out to explore the latest world they’ve landed on as a member of an elite team called Space Rangers. Turns out the planet is not as “friendly” as they hoped. This leads to a narrow escape and a quick launch that failed at Lightyear’s hands. Scientists and engineers work tirelessly to create a hyperspace fuel to repair and fuel the enormous craft that brought them there. Buzz test-flies ships, hoping to reach hyperspeed. If possible, he can fix the mistake that caused the crew and its thousands of inhabitants to be stuck on the uncharted planet. Now there’s a montage to cover the creation of the crew’s current home and the many attempts of Lightyear’s hyperspace efforts. The montage is somewhat reminiscent of the one from UP, where Carl and Ellie grew old together. That was a heartbreaking part of that film, but it wasn’t what you were left with as a final memory. In Lightyear, the montage is only the beginning of how sad, depressing, and ultimately mentally traumatizing. Watching the “real” Buzz makes me wonder how and why he’s beloved by anyone. He’s not a team player. His work comes before any of his friends. It has to be his way, or it’s wrong. Even when he’s being sincere, it still feels belittling. In the film, everyone treats him like a superstar. He walks around with an overly inflated sense of entitlement, of which seventy percent was skillfully earned. But the more you see him, the more you hate him. By the movie’s end, you’re left with an empty feeling. Lightyear has slightly changed, and the solution to his problem creates a moral dilemma. So I’ve wasted nearly 2-hours on a Disney/Pixar film with an ending that can be summed up in one word – whatever. Lastly, like most movies these days, there are post-credit scenes, three to be exact, but honestly, at this point, who cares.
OUR RATING – A NOWHERE NEAR BUZZ-WORTHY 4
MEDIA
- Genre – Fantasy
- Street date
- Digital – August 2nd, 2022
- DVD/Blu-Ray/4K – September 13th, 2022
- Video – 1080p
- Screen size – 2.39:1
- Sound – English: DTS-HD MA 7.1, French: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1, English ADS: Dolby Digital 2.0
- Subtitles – English, French Canadian and Latin American Spanish
Extras
- Audio Commentary – Director Angus MacLane, Director of Photography Jeremy Lasky, and Writer Jason Headley all deliver a fun and informative commentary track that gives some insight and technical information on the making of the movie, casting, and the mythology of Pixar and its characters. This is a good listen.
- Building the World of Lightyear (HD, 15 Mins.) – A good glimpse of the design of the movie, the settings, and how other films inspired the look of the movie.
- The Zap Patrol (HD, 9 Mins.) – Some supporting roles and voice casting are shown here.
- Toyetic (HD, 10 Mins.) – This tackles how well toys and LEGO toys inspire the film.
- Deleted Scenes (HD, 27 Mins.) – There is seven sequences total, including a new opening. All of these are worth watching.