Review: Onward (2020)

Onward (2020)

While not its all-time best, Onward is, predictably, yet another great and highly enjoyable Pixar feature. The film is a prime example of the animation studio's unparalleled understanding of story structure and its unique ability to take a compelling premise/set up and tell a relatable story within it. In the case of Onward, it is a story of family - specifically, the bonding of brothers while each tries to come to terms with the premature loss of their father. What makes this story a Pixar story is that the film is set in a richly-detailed fantasy world that has since moved past its magical trappings to the point that it closely resembles our own world where people rely fully on technology and gadgets, albeit it is still filled with fantasy creatures like elves, dragons, cyclops, and so on. 

Despite taking place in this fantasy setting, the story of the brothers, Ian and Barley (Tom Holland and Chris Pratt), actually plays out like a fairly conventional road trip story as the two brothers travel together to acquire a Phoenix Stone in order to cast a spell that will bring back their father for twenty-four hours. There are the familiar action set-pieces and the emotional story beats along the way as the brothers venture to different locales, run into odd creatures and obstacles, and go through their own fights and bonding sessions. Though the beats and the flow are predictable, they are all done well and the emotion-packed back-end of the film will pull at the heartstrings as they intend to do. As anticipated, the animation throughout Onward is gorgeous to take in. The detail present in this kind of feature really is astonishing, from the detail of fabrics, to hair, water, blades of grass, and mystical fogs and other elements from the magic being used.

There really isn't a lot to criticize about Onward - it is another example of an extremely well-crafted an enjoyable Pixar movie. However, that may also be it's singular impediment; that there are not a ton of true surprises in-store or cases of risk-taking in the filmmaking. Not only is there a slight feeling of lost potential for a setting with such brimming potential, but story-wise, there is an underlying feeling of 'been there, done that' that tends to pop up in the lower echelon of Pixar films. Nevertheless, Onward is great fun for families, children and adults alike with laughs, action and lots of heart, making it a film still definitely worth a watch.