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FILM REVIEW:
ONWARD Barley is the roleplaying geek who – with some of the good-natured doziness of Emmet Brickowski, the Lego Movie protagonist previously brought to audible life by Pratt – teaches Ian more and more of the spells he needs to succeed in his adventure.
Although the prolific animation studio Pixar’s latest portrays what, at first glance, is a stereotypical fantasy world, it’s much more relatable than you might expect, as the actual magic has largely lapsed among the populace. So, a centaur cop drives a car, a dragon is kept as an overexcitable if ultimately tame pet, and unicorns rummage like squirrels through rubbish bins. It all makes for a lot of delightful silliness while setting the stage for the film’s more poignant moments. In amongst this world are our two leads, elf brothers Ian and Barley Lightfoot – voiced respectively by Tom Holland and Chris Pratt, with the Avengers stars’ chemistry consistently sparkling. The ever-reliable Julia Louis-Dreyfus voices the kind-hearted mother Laurel, who breaks the news that, now that Ian has reached his 16th birthday, the boys can inherit a very special item from their late father: a magical staff capable of
restoring him to life for just 24 hours. Alas, the brothers mess up the spell – leaving them, creepy though it sounds, with just their father’s sentient legs. The only hope for bringing back the rest of him before the 24 hours elapse is a rare gem waiting at the end of a Lord of the Rings-style quest. The brothers eagerly embark on it while towing along their literal half-dad, who becomes a riveting character of his own even sans torso. The first stop? A tavern where the boys hope to meet a mighty manticore – who, it turns out, is now rushed off her feet as an embattled restauranteur, Corey (Octavia Spencer). That’s just one example of how Onward has fun updating a number of fantasy cliches. As the awkward self-doubter who initially knows next to nothing about magic, Ian represents probably most of the parents in the audience. Meanwhile,
Director Dan Scanlon lost his own father early, and has spoken of how Onward is written from a place of “personal truth”. Even despite Onward’s lack of a clearcut antagonist, the emotional stakes are certainly high for Ian and Barley as they race against time before their patriarch has to disappear again, this time for good. No spoilers here about how the situation eventually resolves itself, but it will certainly resonate with viewers who have also lost a loved one in gut-punching circumstances. Pixar has a long and established history of moving audiences close to tears; the love story told in the opening scenes of 2009’s superb Up particularly springs to mind. Onward doesn’t quite scale the heights – either creatively or emotionally – of that film, but that probably says more about how high the Disney-owned studio has set the bar than Onward’s own (few) shortcomings. Like Ian and Barley, Pixar has hearteningly succeeded in rekindling a little magic from a bygone era.
Craig Lenaghan Copywriter
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