Lightyear Movie Review

I have said it before, Pixar has become one of the best animation studios in cinema history. Delivering classic after classic. The release of their 2022 film ‘Lightyear’ was met with a mixed reception from moviegoers. The choice to replace the iconic voice of Tim Allen who has voiced the character for nearly 30 years was one that fans didn’t understand. It wasn’t until it was revealed that the film would be rather the movie that the toy was based on, that people started to get more on board with the release. This time around, the titular space ranger is voiced by Captain America himself, Chris Evans, who does a great job bringing the character back to life. The film follows Buzz Lightyear as he battles the evil Emperor Zurg (voiced by James Brolin), and tries to return home to Earth. As a huge Buzz Lightyear fan, I was looking forward to seeing what Pixar would do with this origin film of sorts and the end result ended up being heart-warming and immensely satisfying.

The film is a space adventure of the highest quality, something we haven’t seen in quite some time. The animation here is gorgeous, with the textures and the vistas feeling real, lived in and realistic. The design of the Space Ranger suits is great too, with the iconic Green and White still in-tact after all these years. Chris Evans voice work as Buzz is also top tier. He delivers a great performance and is a worthy companion to Tim Allen’s iconic turn as the character. The supporting cast are all great with the likes of Keke Palmer as Izzy Hawthorne, Peter Sohn as Sox, Taika Waititi as Mo and Dale Soules as Darby. They are all fantastic and bring their own unique traits and personalities to these characters.

As mentioned, the animation here is top tier and ranks among some of the best ever seen on the silver-screen. The environments are all photo realistic and real; the action set-pieces are fluent and well-crafted, and the character designs are unique and memorable. Never has space looked this good in an animated film. I appreciate the level of detail that Pixar puts into their films, its not just the characters and the foreground, it’s the background, all of the elements that make-up a scene and the physics of how these characters interact with their surrounding environments. This level of care and detail isn’t found across most major animation studios and is part of the reason why Pixar have remained a powerhouse in the genre for so long. The emotional poignancy of the story is also a large reason why this film works. Buzz’s character is so carefully crafted, and his arc really does promote strong growth in correlation with the themes of acceptance and forgiveness. It is beautiful and one of the more memorable character journeys in recent years.

‘Lightyear’ proves that Pixar can just about do anything. They have created a memorable space opera with one of their best characters. It is funny, smart and beautifully crafted. Pixar once again shows they can go to infinity and beyond. Lightyear hits shelves on August 24th, be sure to head on over to your local Sanity to pre-order your copy on DVD, Blu-Ray or 4K UHD today! You won’t want to miss it.

Buy Lightyear on DVD, Blu-ray or 4K UHD here!

Christopher Pattison wrote this blog post for Sanity. See more from Chris here