Who knew the 'Toy Story' franchise could be so expansive with this movie within a movie, from the perspective of Andy (and all the humans) of the original movie.
A quasi spin-off from the franchise that sees Buzz Lightyear return in a quasi sort of way whereby this actual Buzz Lightyear movie is supposed to exist within the 'Toy Story' universe. This Buzz Lightyear would be the 'live-action' version of Buzz within the original movie universe that inspires the toy line of Buzz which we all know and love from the 'Toy Story' franchise. This would also explain why Chris Evans provides the voice for this Buzz and not Tim Allen because they are supposed to be completely different characters. Chris Evans' voice would be the 'real live action' voice of Buzz and the CGI actor we are seeing would be the 'real live action actor' of Buzz, in the 'Toy Story' universe. Phew!
So if we all lived in the 'Toy Story' universe or world, we would go to the cinema to watch THIS 2022 movie of Buzz Lightyear as if it was the latest new live-action blockbuster which would in turn provide all the Buzz Lightyear doll merchandise (that magically somehow comes to life). Blimey! Surely there's gotta be a simpler way to make a 'Toy Story' spin-off?!
I can't help but feel all this will have probably gone way over every child's head and they'll all simply be asking why the hell Buzz sounds different to the other movies. Heck, this whole thing is even confusing for adults to the point where you just give up and ignore the whole movie within a movie premise and just enjoy. But will kids like the new CGI approach? Hmmmm.
But can you enjoy? Well yes, yes you can, hell I did and I'm pretty old and grumpy. For starters I loved the entire tech aspect of this movie. Despite this being a Disney spin-off from a wildly childish fantasy franchise the technology on display throughout this movie is really darn good! Everything actually looks logical, workable, and surprisingly grounded. It's like people really did think all this though to make it as surprisingly realistic as possible...with artistic license of course. The CGI is really nice looking overall from the alien world, the aliens, the humans, all their gear etc...I liked the ship designs, the small details on all the equipment, the look of ship propulsion blasts, the technological advancements we see over the years etc...
This might sound silly but to me the futuristic look and design of everything we see had a kind of 'Aliens'/'Warhammer: Space Marine' vibe about it all, but PG. Granted things take a silly turn when the evil robots and Zurg turn up because they have to stick to the 'Toy Story' franchise, but it's not too bad.
I can't deny this movie also got me in the feels too. The characters aren't anything special or unique but their story of getting stranded on an alien planet (luckily with a breathable atmosphere, nice weather, plants etc...) is engaging. Their mothership crashes on said alien world damaging their hyperspace crystal, rendering them marooned. In order to have any hope of getting back to Earth they must try and recreate the hyperspace crystal (not really explained how they manage this) with Buzz taking dangerous test flights with prototype crystals. Alas time dilation occurs for Buzz every time he flies and as the years go by the colony expands and his friends all die introducing us to new characters. This simple evolution of time with the characters is actually quite moving in classic Pixar fashion, definitely got me choked up. The evolution of the colony is also really well visualised.
As previously said I didn't really like the whole 'future old man Buzz' angle and the introduction of Zurg, kinda ruined the whole vibe and flow for me. It also doesn't say what or where old man Buzz got this highly advanced technology from. He just flew into the distant future and miraculously bumped into some advanced lifeforms and nicked their gear. Gear that he was able to fathom out and use apparently. I also didn't really like most of the supporting characters as we have our usual box-ticking from Disney and I'm really starting to not like Taika Waititi or his voice. Can't put my finger on why but more and more he seems like an overhyped fluke. Here his character was annoying and ridiculously useless.
I gotta be honest I was surprised by this one, expected garbage...didn't get it. I found myself enjoying the world building first half of the movie far more than the actual mission based second half. Do you forget it's based on 'Toy Story'? Yes, well I did. Apart from the odd line here and there that harks back to the classic franchise you do forget you're watching Buzz Lightyear in action. Although the little nostalgic verbal quips from Buzz are welcome little touches, they didn't go overboard with franchise key jangling. So overall I did actually find this a nice engaging animated sci-fi romp with just the right amount of humour and heart. A bit by the numbers for sure, familiar territory and safe, but hey it worked for me.
6/10
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