Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Lightyear review says that while it doesn’t quite lift off the way other Pixar films do, it’s slow, harmless fun.  

You know how you watch Toy Story or its sequels, and there are moments of emotion so moving that tears come to your eyes, and you find yourself both embarrassed and thrilled that a “kids'” movie could do that to you?

Well, don’t expect any moments like that from Lightyear. It seems a somewhat half-hearted attempt better suited to streaming only on Disney+ than a big event theatrical release.

And don’t expect anything near the quality of Pixar’s animated space epic WALL-E. Having been gifted with that, it makes Lightyear seem all the more vapid.

The premise, however, is oh-so-clever. This is the movie that Toy Story’s real boy Andy saw and loved so much he was compelled to get a Buzz Lightyear action figure. That’s explained right at the beginning, so we buckle up and feel like we’re in for a rousing rocket ship ride.

Instead we get a bland and redundant story of how Buzz is partially responsible for shipwrecking his crew on an aggressive vine infested planet, and joins forces with a motley crew to try to find a way to take his colleagues back home.

I suppose there are lessons to be learned as Buzz tries the same thing over and over again, and eventually figures out how to work well with others, but I didn’t feel or see the heart in them. I also didn’t see any of the “wow!” animation moments we’ve come to expect from Pixar.

It’s certainly not the fault of the voice leads. Chris Evans as Buzz, Keke Palmer as Izzy and Taika Waititi as Morrison were especially fun.

But Helmer Angus MacLane, who also co-directed Finding Dory and is responsible for 2013’s animated Halloween short Toy Story of Terror, seemed slightly off his game.

In any case, what we have here is a perfectly serviceable, if not stupendous animated feature. From Pixar, we expect quite a bit more.

Rated PG

1 Hour 40 Minutes

Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Lightyear review says that while it doesn’t quite lift off the way other Pixar films do, it’s slow, harmless fun.

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