Psycho's Movie Reviews #247: ONWARD (2020)

Onward is a 2020 American computer-animated urban fantasy adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The film is directed by Dan Scanlon, produced by Kori Rae and written by Scanlon, Jason Headley, and Keith Bunin, and stars the voices of Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Octavia Spencer. Set in a suburban fantasy world, the film follows two elf brothers who set out on a quest to find an artefact that will temporarily bring back their deceased father.

Onward premiered at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival on February 21, 2020, and was theatrically released on March 6, 2020. The film received positive reviews from critics, but only grossed $141 million worldwide. Its financial shortcomings were a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to widespread closure of movie theatres, making it Pixar’s second box-office failure after The Good Dinosaur (2015) and its last film to date to get a worldwide theatrical release. Like several other films released in the early months of 2020, it found far greater success on VOD.

Plot

In a world inhabited by mythic creatures, magic was commonplace millennia ago, though difficult to master. After technological advances over the centuries, magic became obsolete and was largely discarded.

In the modern day, Ian Lightfoot is a teenaged elf struggling with self-confidence; his older brother, Barley, is an enthusiastic and impulsive role-playing gamer. On Ian's sixteenth birthday, the boys' mother, Laurel, gives her sons a gift from their father, Wilden, who died shortly before Ian was born: a magical staff, a rare Phoenix gem, and a letter describing a "visitation spell" that can resurrect Wilden for a single day. Ian succeeds in casting the spell but, interrupted by Barley, is unable to finish it. As a result, only the lower half of Wilden's body is reformed before the gem disintegrates. The brothers embark on a quest to acquire another gem and complete the spell before sunset, taking Barley's beloved van "Guinevere." Finding the boys gone, Laurel leaves to look for them.

Hoping to finding a map to another gem, Ian and Barley visit the Manticore's Tavern–once a gathering-place for would-be adventurers, now a family restaurant managed by the Manticore ("Corey"). While arguing with Ian over the map, Corey realizes how unfulfilling her life has become and loses her temper, accidentally setting fire to the restaurant and the map. The brothers' only clue to the gem is a children's menu suggesting "Raven's Point," a nearby mountain. Laurel later arrives at the scene and befriends Corey, who warns Laurel that the gem is guarded by a curse that can only be defeated by an enchanted sword. After stealing the sword from a pawn shop, they set out in pursuit of Ian and Barley.

Traveling to the mountains, Barley proposes following what he calls the "Path of Peril", but Ian insists on taking the freeway. As they travel, Ian begins mastering magic spells that Barley remembers from his role-playing game. They narrowly escape a motorcycle gang of pixies at a gas station and have a tense encounter with the police, which the boys disguise themselves as their mother's boyfriend, Colt Bronco, during which Ian inadvertently reveals that he considers Barley to be a screw-up. To apologize, Ian agrees to follow the Path of Peril. Ian's self-confidence is boosted when he successfully uses a spell that allows him to walk across a bottomless pit, where unbeknownst to him, was walking without the rope that Barley tied him to over the second half of the pit. Bronco catches up to the boys and forces them to come home, Ian agrees, but as he starts the van, he drives away, leading to a wild police chase. When they are pursued by the police, Barley sacrifices Guinevere to cause a landslide, blocking their pursuers.

"Raven's Point" turns out to be a series of raven statues leading them into a cave. As they explore the cave, Barley confesses that he was too afraid to say goodbye to Wilden when he was dying. The brothers evade a series of traps, including a Gelatinous Cube that dissolves anything it touches. Emerging from the cave, they find themselves back in front of Ian's high school.

Ian lashes out at Barley for leading them on a wild goose chase and walks away with Wilden's legs to spend whatever time he has left with his father. Rereading his list of things he wished to do with Wilden, Ian realizes that Barley has been a father figure for him throughout his life and returns to make amends. Barley, refusing to give up, discovers the needed gem inside a fountain across the street from the school and retrieves it, unwittingly triggering the curse Corey spoke of: a stone dragon, built of pieces of the school building, bent on claiming the gem. Corey and Laurel arrive and distract the dragon long enough for Ian to finish casting the visitation spell, but they aren't able to defeat the dragon on their own. Ian runs off to fight it, allowing Barley to wish Wilden a final goodbye. He uses the magic skills he has learned to defeat the dragon by propelling Corey's sword into its heart. Trapped behind a pile of rubble, Ian sees Wilden's body briefly reappearing to talk to Barley. After Wilden dissipates, Barley tells Ian that their father is proud of him, and the brothers share a hug.

Some time later, as the world begins to rediscover the past's magical arts, the brothers set off on a new quest.

Production

Development

In July 2017, Pixar announced a "suburban fantasy world" film at the D23 Expo, with Dan Scanlon directing and Kori Rae producing. The film was inspired by the death of Scanlon's father, when he and his older brother were very young children, and their relationship with each other. He decided to write the story after hearing an audio clip of his father. On December 12, 2018, the title was revealed. In 2019, Jason Headley and Keith Bunin were hired to rewrite the screenplay and story.

Casting

On December 12, 2018, Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Octavia Spencer were announced as starring in the film. While having recorded most of their lines separately, Holland and Pratt had some of their recording sessions together since, according to Scanlon, "they've worked together before and hung out together." Rae stated that Holland and Pratt improvised some of their lines while recording together. On December 17, 2019, Ali Wong, Lena Waithe and Mel Rodriguez joined the cast of the film. On February 18, 2020, Wilmer Valderrama, Tracey Ullman, Kyle Bornheimer, and George Psarras were revealed to have voice roles as well, and John Ratzenberger's appearance was officially confirmed.

Music

On April 16, 2019, Mychael and Jeff Danna, who both previously worked with the studio on The Good Dinosaur (2015), were revealed to be the film's composers. On February 12, 2020, Brandi Carlile revealed she recorded the song "Carried Me With You" for the film's end credits, co-written with Phil and Tim Hanseroth. The film's soundtrack was released on February 28, 2020.

All music is composed by Mychael and Jeff Danna.

Animation

According to effects supervisor Vincent Serritella, the animators wanted the spells to be "something that's abstract" but also "personify it", so they "had to converge on the idea of an image of magic, go back to the base level of the sequences and the spells, and what level of complexity would be given, and how it affects the environment". Director Dan Scanlon said that Ian's arc "was helpful to the animators because they could use that for all of the magic we designed". The animators chose to give the film's magic a unique style after studying several animated films featuring magic such as Fantasia, Aladdin, and Hercules. Animators wanted the film's magic to fit with its suburban setting.

Animators first developed the film's magic using hand-drawn animated drawings, before turning them into computer-animated effects, with Serritella saying that "they made shapes and graphic elements that really lend themselves to what’s happening in a 2D environment". Serritella also said that "the key" was mixing hand-drawn and computer animation, arguing that "going one way or the other didn’t work. Going too graphic didn’t fit into the world that the background and the characters were created in. And going too physical in an animated world seemed too real", so "they found the right balance" by turning hand-drawn animated graphics into "light objects" and giving them "a true volumetric, glowing atmosphere". He further added that the choreography during the "visitation spell" sequence "came directly from 2D", while they CGI animation and lighting provided "depth perception". The film was completed on November 21, 2019.

{Oh I liked Octavia Spencer's character though, the Manticore. She was funny, I just wish she had more screen time}

Release/Reception/Box Office

Onward premiered at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival on February 21, 2020 and was theatrically released in the United States on March 6. A short film titled Playdate with Destiny, which is centred around Maggie Simpson of The Simpsons, appeared before the feature film. As the COVID-19 pandemic appeared to recede, the film was released in Australia and New Zealand on April 24, 2020, South Korea on June 17, 2020, Italy on August 19, 2020, and Japan on August 21, 2020.

The movie was also released in 3D, 2D, Dolby Cinema, 4DX and ScreenX worldwide and in IMAX and Dolby Atmos in selected theatres.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 88% based on 337 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "It may suffer in comparison to Pixar's classics, but Onward makes effective use of the studio's formula – and stands on its own merits as a funny, heartwarming, dazzlingly animated adventure." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100, based on 56 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale (tied with Cars 2 for the lowest score received by a Pixar film), and PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian rated the film three out of five stars, and called it "a likable family comedy that finds an easy rhythm without effort," though he felt that the movie's "attitude towards death" is not as radically powerful as in Coco. In a same star review Peter Travers of Rolling Stone said "It's no Toy Story—but the animation juggernaut's latest, about two elf brothers on a quest, is still worth your while." Reviewer James Berardinelli praised the film's originality and emotional weight and called it "engaging and enjoyable," adding "there’s something here for everyone," though concluded it is not the next Disney/Pixar classic. Ben Travis of Empire gave the film five out of five stars, and wrote, "Pixar returns with a great big power-chord of a movie—heart-pumping, resonant, and positively harmonious."

Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times called Onward a step back for Pixar, giving it two out of four stars. He said, "The story fluctuates between the uninspired and the just plain weird and then gets even weirder." While he praised the animation and said that the movie "begins with an intriguing premise," he concluded that it "doesn't come close to fully fleshing out the possibilities."

Onward grossed $61.6 million in the United States and Canada, and $79.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $141.4 million. The gross of the film was significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced most movie theatres to shut down within two weeks after its release.

In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside The Way Back and the wide expansion of Emma, and was projected to gross $45–50 million from 4,200 theatres in its opening weekend. The film held early advance screenings on February 29, making $650,000 from 470 theatres. It then grossed $12.1 million on its first day, the 6th, including $2 million from Thursday night previews. The film went on to debut to $39.1 million, topping the box office but marking the third-ever lowest start for a Pixar film. While the film remained in first in its second weekend, it dropped 73% to $10.5 million (the worst-ever second weekend for a Pixar film), and was part of the lowest grossing box office weekend since October 1998, with all films combining for just $55.3 million. In the film's third weekend, due to the mass theatre closures around the country, it made $71,000 from 135 locations, mostly drive-in theatres.

Budget $175–200 million

Box office $141.9 million

{I see what they were trying to do with the dragon, but it's really not that intimidating at all. I'm sure it sounded like a good idea on paper, but the execution wasn't up there. Like those wings are cool, I just feel that they don't belong on... well, whatever that's supposed to be}

My Review

{It exists... that's it, that's my whole review. Just it exists😂}

The premise for 'Onward' is a good one if not unique. Pixar have more creative concepts than the one here, such as 'Inside Out', 'Soul' and 'Coco'. Pixar has not been as consistent in the 2010s compared to before, more though when it comes to its sequels and prequels. The studio was very consistently high quality up to 'Toy Story 3' and has varied since that film in my view. 'Onward' is one of two, and the first, of their films released in 2020, the other being 'Soul'.

For me, 'Soul' was the marginally better film, more imaginative and more ambitious without being overly so. Yet 'Onward' is a great film in its own way and worthy of more attention than it does. Is it the most original film in the world story-wise? No, absolutely not though sometimes lack of originality is not always a bad thing (it's when it goes too far on that where it matters). It is good though that many liked or loved it. Pretty much all of what makes the studio's output when on particularly good form so high quality though are here in 'Onward'. While it is not one of their best, it's relatively under-appreciated.

Very little wrong here in 'Onward'. Other than the lack of originality, the only thing that could have been better is that if the pacing slowed down a little towards the end.

'Onward' however is highly successful in every other regard. The animation is stunning as has nearly always been the case (the only exception actually has been some of the character designs in 'The Good Dinosaur'), with such beautiful colours and meticulously detailed backgrounds. The music is always dynamic with the action and is never at odds with it, full of character, energy and pathos. The script is a perfect balance of genuinely hilarious humour and moving and not too sentimental emotion.

Pixar always did have mature storytelling, especially apparent in almost all the non-sequel output since 'Inside Out' (and including that film). 'Onward' is one of the particularly mature ones in this period and one of their particularly mature ones overall. For what it may lack in originality, 'Onward' more than makes up for it in exciting and nostalgic action, hilarious entertainment value, affecting (but not over-sentimental) emotional power and affectionate honouring of the fantasy genre.

It is also hugely successful in its depiction of the relationship between the brothers (doing for brothers what the 'Frozen' films did for sisters), a beautifully and realistically written bond that was also hugely insightful and relatable. Will admit that the ending did make me cry, one of Pixar's most poignant endings. The characters felt real and didn't come over as too perfect or have negative characteristics over-emphasised. The voice acting is on point, with Tom Holland being particularly splendid and the bond between him and Chris Pratt felt authentic.

Onward is a beautiful film to watch, and so as usual a Pixar film is among the best looking CGI movies you can find. I especially love the look of the twilight scenes. This being said, the story itself is only okay...and the big finale is a bit of a let down.

There are some touching moments in this film. But there also is a strong feeling that the story itself wasn't especially logical or polished. The characters, their motivations and the like all seem a bit confusing and slight....and the ending seemed more action-packed than being true to the characters and story. In fact, many will likely see the ending as a let down...and the entire reason for the brothers' quest seemed amazingly unimportant and irrelevant. Not a terrible story by any stretch...but certainly not among the studios better films. And, it's a clear case of a film being rushed to market before the story was adequately polished and ready to be filmed.

Concluding, wonderful; I wish I'd liked this more but nope. 8.5/10