There seems to be a weird cyclical nature of Pixar movies for me. Most of the time, when the trailer comes out, I honestly don’t have much interest in the movie. It’s usually some weird concept that doesn’t seem like it’ll work, and we barely get any inclination for what the movie is actually going to be about. However, Pixar has built a lot of goodwill among audiences, and so even when I’m not interested I always remind myself “it’s Pixar, so it’ll be good.” Then, I watch the movie, and I still end up being surprised that it’s as good as it is. It’s weird, too, because the Pixar movies have been following some pretty formulaic beats for a while, but it’s a formula that somehow just works. There’s always some deeper meaning or purpose to the movie than the trailers presented, and so I’m always blown away through a mess of emotions at how much I liked the movie. Onward followed this exact pathway for me. I wasn’t interested, but watched it because I knew it was Pixar, and it ended up being way better than I thought it would be and carried a lot of emotional resonance.

All that the trailers really seemed to indicate to me is that Onward takes place in some sort of magical world, with its two main characters being creatures that you would see in some sort of “Dungeons and Dragons” type world. However, much like with the plot of Game of Thrones, the magic has kind of left the world as its inhabitants have become reliant and placated by modern technologies. Why put in the energy to fly yourself when you can just use an airplane?

This is the setting that we find ourselves in with Onward, but the movie centers specifically on two brothers, Ian and Barley. Their dad died at a very young age, with Barley barely having any memories with his father, and Ian having none. On Ian’s 16th birthday, his mom reveals that his father left a mysterious gift for them to be opened once they’re both of the right age. It turns out to be a magical staff, with a spell included that will allow the boys to spend 24 hours with their father. However, the spell gets kind of messed up, and so they only end up with the bottom half of their father, a literal walking pair of pants. So, Ian and Barley set out on an urgent quest to find a way to restore the rest of their father before their 24 hours with him ends.

While the world is rich with lore, the movie smartly keeps its focus mainly on the brother road trip journey. This allows Onward to hit all of the emotional beats that you’d expect from a Pixar movie. This is the kind of movie where the first act is really slow, but it ends up laying some important groundwork that gets great payoffs in the rest of the movie. Because of this, though, it’s hard to talk about some of the reasons why Onward is as great as it is, because it definitely heads into spoiler territory. You can kind of infer where some of the magic comes from in terms of the movie literally being about two brothers who are trying to spend some time with the dead father that they never knew, but the movie does even go one step further in terms of being about the importance of the relationship between brothers.

Weirdly enough, this is one of those movies where my subjective opinion of it feels higher than my objective view of the movie. I don’t consider this to be one of Pixar’s absolute bests by any means, since it still doesn’t really hold a candle to some of their harder-hitting movies like Toy Story or Up. However, this one really hit close to home for me personally, and I think it will for anyone that’s had a complicated relationship with a father or brother. Unsurprisingly, I cried at a Pixar movie, but with Onward my voice even started to shake afterwards when I was talking about some of the strong character moments and what they went through. I’ve always been impressed that Pixar doesn’t try to shy away from really heavy topics, and so this one in particular resonated with me.

I’m writing this after opening weekend, and apparently it didn’t do too well at the box office, being one of Pixar’s worst openings. I think this is a shame, because it’s a really easy movie to overlook. I didn’t really see that much hype being built up for it, and the trailers left something to be desired for sure. I think this is one that you should make sure not to miss out on, though. I will admit that it’s not one of my absolute favorite Pixar movies, since it definitely has some problems, especially with the pacing in the first act. Still, it really struck a cord for me, and so I think it’s an emotionally powerful movie, bringing exactly the level of quality you would expect from a Pixar movie. Don’t miss out on Onward.

4/5