Lightyear

Lightyear ★★½

It was fine, I guess. The story was very mixed, with separate acts feeling incredibly disjointed despite some strong narrative concepts. The continuous tests and resulting time dilation is a great example of this, as it is equal parts bold and ill-suited for engaging the primary audience of young children. The objective of the initial journey they were on is never explained, as is Star Command's actual role/authority and whether or not they have any communication with earth. I hated what they did with Zurg. I dunno. None of this was good enough to justify the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command erasure. Visually, the animation lacked the typical flair of either design or expression that Pixar will often give its characters, due to this being a more serious/action-oriented story, which only reinforces the way it fails to be great entertainment for children.

This reminds me of what does work, though, which is the visual world-building and many, many homages to classic sci-fi films which prove an expertly created CGI film may be a viable avenue for adult-oriented sci-fi films rather than live-action epics which are already 60%-90% CGI already, thanks to green screens. Just like Ralph Bakshi's Fire and Ice was a Conan cartoon for adults, a fully animated CG film may be the way of the future if you're a filmmaker itching to tell an epic sci-fi story whose name isn't Christopher Nolan or Denis Villenueve.

Block or Report

danielscalph liked these reviews

All