Movie Review: Disney & Pixar's Onward

Pixar has come out with a lot of great movies over the years, and this one is no exception. Onward is about two boys who lost their father, but after coming across a magical staff and a spell, they have the ability to bring him back for only one full day.

Tom Holland is best known for his Spiderman movies, and of course, I enjoyed those a lot. I think having him voice the main character (Ian Lightfoot) was a good and obvious choice since he has the talent (and is still young in age). Of course, the rest of the cast is very much talented as well, so I don't have any complaints about that.

The story line keeps a nice pace as it usually does with most Pixar movies, so there's no shortage of action and dialogue (and humor) to help keep it going. I also have to admit that the studio continues to improve with its attention to visual detail and animation. If you watch this movie in a Dolby theater, you'll feel even more in touch with what's going on in this world of magic and wonder.

To paraphrase what one reviewer has said (Sandie Angulo Chen from Common Sense Media), I can see a similarity with how these animal-like characters decide to adapt themselves into a more suburban/modern kind of society, like what Zootopia has. We have elves living in houses, centaurs driving in cars, and tiny, yet tough looking sprites riding motorcycles. The only difference here is that the setting has its moments where it crosses paths with something mythical or ancient, knowing that most of this world's population doesn't believe in magic or old spells.

So because the anchor for this movie's story is the loss of a father figure, the ending had me feeling appreciative of my own father still being in my life. I honestly can't imagine how hard it must be to only have one parent around, so for that, I'd say this movie captures those feelings well without having too much dialogue. Overall, the movie still follows a formula that's true to Pixar, but with a direction that's still exciting, endearing and unique, which makes the experience worthwhile every time.