MOVIE REVIEW – It’s been ten years since Wall-e set the post-apocalypse in order, where the question of homecoming was central (as it was for Lightyear). Still, Buzz’s approach to his adventures has moved light-years away from his predecessor, pushing the crusty (wormy) boundaries of his space journey (and space tunnel too).

The irony is no coincidence, as the public often sniggered at a brief ‘kiss-stealing’ scene in the movie – which led to Lightyear’s character story being banned (black screened) in several countries. It’s not necessarily for us to decide whether such drastic censorship is justified. After all, the ‘light-year ring’ of 12 is high enough, but it’s hard not to see that there must be a sharp borderline inside that circle. If everything is limitless, we might see a princess with a round beard somewhere over the glass mountains, so some level of censorship can be reasonable. By the way, Disney was recently bought off by a reduced tax rate because they hide too many bi-sexual motives in their stories.

Not a Tolstoy, but not a Troll Story either.

Toy Story, which debuted in ’95, was introduced as the first full-length animated motion picture. Never-existing objects come to life, team up, and maximize their daily adventure: their adrenaline dose. Plastic figures were also a great idea because a long time ago, it was tough to put lifelike 3d shapes on the canvas, so there was no need to do so. Although I never saw that epic first part, it was a big hit in its day, and Buzz was my favourite character: on my classmates’ pencil cases J As I spent my very first school ‘semester’ at elementary.

First, the driver; second, the mechanic

On Lightyear’s adventures, think carefully when you plan to blink because one move hits (and gets) the other. It’s sometimes a bit tiring on the eyelids, but Pixar always has a satirical approach to visuals. The characters are like hoop-tours, but that’s their trademark. Buzz’s good friend is a biorobot cat called Sox, a crawling ‘steward-cat’: whose crystal mind can solve the fuel problem of a successful trajectory. The drama is not over-calibrated, but it can’t be to everyone’s taste either, as it’s not a pure Disney’ life appeal’.

The story’s build-up is a bit like blocks next to each other: most twists and the main villains seemed a bit forced to me. The excitement is not exponential; more over layers of linear adventures are stacked on top of each other. The happy ending did not bring catharsis to me, leaving the ‘dimension-door’ open for a possible sequel. It lacks the natural hidden scenes we used to see in the Marvel pictures, but this is not necessarily a shortcoming. The cat character is fun, and the built-in mechanical steward (feature) is generally more fun than nerve-wracking. Annoying only for the passengers – but not negligible.

Time equals misery on the cube.

And a small body means a big fear of space. In a century where inverted meat sandwiches are fodder (ham on the outside, a slice of bread on the inside), we wouldn’t be surprised by anything. Indeed, Captain Lightyear has to test a trajectory, by which time the ‘land’ unit is intermittently, but the faster he speeds up, the faster time flies by to the people on the ‘earth’. If you’ve ever studied electrical engineering, you’ve probably calculated time dilation in Physics 2 exam. Believe me, it’s less sci-fi then: but if you do the math, it’s beautiful to see you have passed your mission impossible.

This film is rounded in my book as a square B. Earth’s gravity doesn’t as pull the ‘captain’ of the unknown planet as I think he should be.

Pixar and Disney wanted to display a re-colonization – but not necessarily on our green Earth. You will find fighting gadgets inspired by Star Wars spin-off characters, Cyber Bugs like in Wreck-it Ralph. The action, however, has minimal -if any- parallel adventure driving. At times, the question arises: okay, someone gets taken by the UFO, but are the others down there Unoing, Uzzoing, or they are just ‘annoying’. For me, these are the big questions, not the kiss cam on women – but hey, let’s add Earth Day propaganda to the mix then (which was not given). Live the greens, and I don’t mean aliens and space robots. There are still Buzz and ‘Zurg’ in my mind about this topic – leaving some space around. There’s still an important message in the story: a hardy (but clumsy) team can be a super crew if they want to go far-far (away) for each other. And they learn to concert for the overall game, and thus for a nobler – but more actual – mission.

Visually, the rushes are good, but I missed well-cut slow motions’ Pixel Arts’. The universe felt a bit runway-like to me, but it’s been long since I’ve taken part in a space-robotic sky (and sci) fight. You’ll look at the character of Buzz Lightyear with different eyes after this story, but he won’t be your favourite movie protagonist. However, if a sequel to the space adventure is made, the sky’s the limit.

Jay P. Sonix