My Review of Lightyear (2022)

 

Written by Angus MacLane And Matthew Aldrich And Jason Headley

Directed by Angus MacLane 

Zurg: "I'm going back, Buzz! I'm going to matter again! And you will have never existed... So... Prepare to Die."

Buzz: "Not today, Zurg!"

Before I watch the fifth Toy Story movie, there was this movie to watch. Yup, Buzz Lightyear got himself a solo outing and on top of that, he also got to be voiced by Chris Evans to boot.

Yes, this one was a film within a film where Buzz was a real life Space Ranger who had missions of his own to complete. He also had a best friend named Alisha Hawthorne (Uzo Aduba) and she was a great friend to have. 

However due to various time shifts, Buzz kept seeing Alisha at different points in her life. There was a point where Alisha married another woman and then there was Izzy Hawthorne (Keke Palmer). Yes, Buzz had gotten to the point where Alisha had a fully grown granddaughter who wanted to be just like Alisha.

Throw in a robotic cat named Sox (Peter Sohn) and some crew members such as Mo Morrison (Taika Waititi) and Darby Steel (Dale Soules) and this was something of a motley crew of characters. As a team, they're a fun bunch that take a while to fully work well together.

As for the villain of the piece. It's Zurg. No, wait, it's an older version of Buzz himself and he's voiced by Josh Brolin. Older Buzz wanted to change the events of the movie itself. Younger Buzz having learned some lessons here, well he didn't want to change anything.

Things played out in an expected manner. Buzz and company saved the day, older Buzz was defeated and a new team was formed to go off and take on new missions with the Space Ranger Corps being revived. It's a satisfying ending for this crew.

- Credit scene did reveal that Zurg actually survived. That wasn't too shocking.

- I'm not surprised that there were complaints about Alisha having a wife. I am annoyed because it was a subplot that was handled well and the movie didn't deserve negative press for it.

- Standout music: Boston's Smokin'.

- Chronology: Set in a far away future setting. At some point, sandwiches become very different and with less bread.

While I definitely would rank it lower than any of the movies from its parents series, Lightyear (2022) in itself was a perfectly decent movie. It told a simple enough adventure, had some likable supporting characters and overall, I found it fine.

Rating: 7 out of 10