Onward Is The Rare ‘Just Pretty Good’ Pixar Movie

Onward is the story of two brothers set in a fantasy land where magic has largely been replaced by modern convenience until they are gifted a magical artifact by their deceased father and bring him back for a day. Well, kind of. They are only able to bring back his lower half and in true fantasy world fashion a quest is in order to bring back the top half of their father before the sun goes down so they can spend time with their old man. But as anyone who’s played a game of D&D knows there are always unexpected challenges on a quest and this one’s a doozy. 

Pixar’s film catalogue is largely very well regarded. There have been stumbles, sure (The Good Dinosaur, Cars 2) and scandals (what happened with former head of studio John Lasseter and the “frat house environment” he fostered). I really feel that this film may have been affected by the upheaval.

In classic Pixar fashion this film is a treat to look at. The modern fantasy setting is a fun sandbox that the designers seemed to really play with — I smiled every time I saw one of the mushroom houses. The characters seem pulled from the Dungeons and Dragons creature guides. The modernization of that setting felt deliberate too, and I really dug that. 

This film lacked a lot of the thoughtful details that often make Pixar films exceptional. The first two acts of the script I found fairly standard. The biggest failing of this movie for me was the comedy. This movie was very comedy forward and clearly wanted to make commentary on the modernization of the world but boy did the movie’s “takes” feel tired and out of the box. There seems to be a message about industrialization and connecting to our “real instincts” as well as a few barbs at Millennials, I think? Many of my notes during the film were something along the lines of boy, that’s “topical.” It felt at times that the film was almost dunking on its target audience. 

The strength of this film, as many Pixar films before it, is its heart. That is strongest in the relationship between Ian (voiced excellently by Tom Holland) and Barley (Chris Pratt) as well as their trying-her-best mother (an almost unrecognizable Julia Louis-Dreyfuss). The third act of this film largely revolves around that relationship and is easily the strongest part of the movie. Despite my struggles with this film I still cried in the third act and was fairly satisfied with the film’s resolution. The supporting cast of this film also really shined, Octavia Spencer’s Manticore is ridiculous and fun and Mel Rodriguez’s Colt Bronco had some of the funniest lines and bits in the film. 

I enjoyed the film overall, I did, but it felt more like Dreamwork’s Abominable than it did a Pixar joint. Could this film be fixed? I absolutely feel one or two more passes at the script could really have made this story shine. The bones are there — the strong family characters, the interesting plot problem (only half their dad?!) and an interesting conflict and quest narrative. It was just unfocused in its details. 

Pete Docter (Monsters Inc, Up, Inside Out) is the head of Pixar and seems to be doing an honorable job leading the studio (Toy Story 4 was a great film, whether or not it held up to the previous 3 films is up for debate). Who is their fixer now? Do they have a fixer? Docter is directing this year’s Soul and I’ll be interested to see how it lines up in the Pixar Pantheon. Dan Scanlon (director of Onward) makes a valiant attempt to help this story hang together and is largely successful. 

I give Onward (Pixar Animation Studios; PG; 1hr 54mins) a 3 out of 5.