THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 53 FEBRUA RY 26, 2020
Rev iews
DISNEY/PIXAR
Film
nothing much that happens en
route to the climactic realizations
is particularly funny or exciting.
Given the hilarious gallery of
supporting characters that have
enlivened past Pixar journeys
(think of all those wondrous
sea creatures in Finding Nemo,
for instance), Onward features
a pretty uninspired bunch —
including cyclops and satyr patrol
cops voiced by Lena Waithe and
Ali Wong, respectively, and a rep-
tilian pawnshop owner with the
cack le of Tracey Ullman.
And the writing is just not
clever enough to capitalize on the
comedic gifts of actors like Louis-
Dreyfus and Octavia Spencer, the
latter voicing a fire-breathing
creature who has retired her war-
rior ways to run a restaurant.
Mychael and Jeff Danna’s thun-
dering orchestral score works
hard to create suspense.Elf brothers voiced by Tom Holland and Chris Pratt do some wizardly bonding in Pixar’s latest fantasy.The biggest hurdle standing in the
way of every Pixar film is Pixar’s
own history. Beginning with To y
Story in 1995, the studio set the
bar high and has raised it since
with emotionally rich tales full
of insights that speak as much to
adults as to kids. Not every entry
can be a classic, but the majority
of Pixar’s films are special for one
reason or another. Which makes
the generic bro humor and famil-
iar Dungeons & Dragons vibe of
Onward a letdown.
This fantasy adventure quest,
about two teen elf brothers rac-
ing against the clock to spend a
day with their late father before
a reanimation spell wears off,
will be agreeable entertainment
for many children. But it lacks
infectious magic. Any promise
of originality fueled early on dis-
sipates as the siblings’ journey
gets underway, their progress
marked by slapstick gags, predict-
able close shaves, encounters with
characters that often feel like plot
padding and lots of life lessons.
The movie is at its best in the
last stretch, where the personal
investment of director/co-writer
Dan Scanlon (Monsters University)
pays off with moments that tap
into feelings of loss as well as
the balm of connection. The
story was inspired by Scanlon’s
relationship with his brother and
their yearning for knowledge of
their father, who died when the
director was a child.
Like many Pixar films, Onward
is full of nostalgia, in this case
for a time of wonder that’s been
misplaced as a world populated by
elves, mermaids, dragons, trolls,etc., learned that magic was tough
to master, and started relying on
technology instead. That mashup
of reality and fantasy allows pro-
duction designer Noah Klocek to
have fun with the toadstool sub-
urbia of New Mushroomton and
cities full of skyscrapers shaped
like fairy-tale castles. But mostly,
the look is pedestrian.
Ian (voiced by Tom Holland)
turns 16 as the story begins but
is too shy and awkward to invite
classmates over for birthday cake.
His gonzo older brother, Barley
(Chris Pratt), is spending his
gap year either railing about the
developers destroying the town’s
history or playing Quests of Yore,
an RPG that harks back to earlier
times and magic now mostly for-
gotten. Their father, Wilden (Kyle
Bornheimer), died before Ian was
born, so the teen clings to Barley’s
few memories of him.
While mom Laurel (Julia Louis-
Dreyfus) is supportive, Ian is
convinced that growing up with
a father would have made him
the man he dreams of becoming.OPENS Friday, March 6 (Disney)
CAST Chris Pratt, Tom Holland,
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Octavia Spencer
DIRECTOR Dan Scanlon
Rated PG, 103 minutesOnward
Tom Holland and
Chris Pratt voice elf siblings
on a magical quest to
spend a day with their late
father in Pixar’s uneven
adventure By David RooneyA gift Wilden left behind for the
boys gives Ian the chance to test
that belief with a wizard’s staff, a
magic stone and a spell that will
bring their father back for one
day. But the spell only half works,
conjuring Wilden from the waist
down. After the stone is acci-
dentally destroyed, the brothers
have one day to find another and
complete the magic before they
lose their father again.
Wilden wanders through most
of the movie with a hastily impro-
vised top half that turns dead
Dad into a mobile mannequin; he
staggers around on a leash like
the corpse in Week end at Ber ni e’s,
generating klutzy comedy to
diminishing returns. So even
though the central theme of sons
longing for the father cruelly
taken from them is touching, it
becomes secondary to the bond-
ing experience of two brothers
vastly dissimilar in nature.
This is nicely played by the
voice actors. But the problem with
the screenplay by Scanlon, Jason
Headley and Keith Bunin is thatBERLIN
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