SNAPSHOT
The definitive origin story of Buzz Lightyear, the hero who inspired the toy, Lightyear follows the legendary Space Ranger after he’s marooned on a hostile planet 4.2 million light-years from Earth alongside his commander and their crew. As Buzz tries to find a way back home through space and time, he’s joined by a group of ambitious recruits and his charming robot companion cat, Sox. Complicating matters and threatening the mission is the arrival of Zurg, an imposing presence with an army of ruthless robots and a mysterious agenda.The film features the voices of Chris Evans as accomplished Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear, Uzo Aduba as his commander and best friend Alisha Hawthorne and Peter Sohn as Sox. Keke Palmer, Taika Waititi and Dale Soules lend their voices to the Junior Zap Patrol’s Izzy Hawthorne, Mo Morrison and Darby Steel, respectively, and James Brolin can be heard as the enigmatic Zurg. The voice cast also includes Mary McDonald-Lewis as onboard computer I.V.A.N., Isiah Whitlock Jr. as Commander Burnside, Efren Ramirez as Airman Diaz, and Keira Hairston as Young Izzy. Directed by Angus MacLane (co-director Finding Dory), produced by Galyn Susman (Toy Story That Time Forgot) and featuring a score by award-winning composer Michael Giacchino (The Batman, Up) (official synopsis courtesy Pixar YouTube channel)
Prequels are all the rage.
It turns out we want to know, or at least Hollywood’s big studios think we want to know, what came before the character we all know and love and what led to them being who they are and making the movie/s we love so compulsively watchable.
Ordinarily, they don’t usually add much beyond curiosity value but I have a feeling that Lightyear, which clues us in on the real Buzz Lightyear became he became the heroically over-the-top toy in Toy Story, may prove to be a highly-enjoyable exception.
As Forbes’ Scott Mendelson points out, there’s also something else entirely going for this film.
“Sure, there’s some Captain America to this (I’m assuming Lightyear isn’t going to hook up with young Izzy Hawthorne), but the core set-up is also quite reminiscent of a film that’s about to celebrate its 25th anniversary, namely Mike Myers’ Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery … [also] this plot, involving the false hope of nostalgia and a reluctance to embrace the future and the unknown, well, it would certainly be something that makes Lightyear more than just a cash-grab.”
There’s a lot on offer in film that the trailers suggests is going to be funny, thoughtful, epic and intensely, poignantly human, another likely triumph for the brilliance that is Pixar.
Lightyear drops out of hyperspace on 16 June in Australia and 17 June in UK & USA.