REVIEW: LIGHTYEAR

 

3.5/5

You've Got A Space Ranger In Me.

100 Mins. Starring: Chris Evans, Keke Palmer, Peter Sohn, Taika Waititi, Dale Soules, James Brolin, Uzo Aduba, Mary McDonald-Lewis & Isiah Whitlock Jr. Director: Angus MacLane. 

Tom Hanks has a snake in his boots with Disney and Pixar's 'Lightyear' and all the buzz, thank you very much. Why is it not his best pal Tim Allen's voice? This feels like an unfair Ricky Gervais joke. And recent weeks have shown us you won't like Woody when he's angry (whoever dubbed that "back up" comment (he was right to say it) over Woody and Buzz is on a genius level like that meme of Will Smith slapping the bass and Chris Rock on sax). Turns out Star Command is coming in to an Avenger who told Hulk to SMASH as Disney continue their big-three reign with Marvel, Star Wars and their own magic kingdom. Hanks will have to just show 'Lightyear' whose boss as Colonel Parker in Baz Luhrmann's 'Elvis' epic set to step on everyone else's blue suede shoes this summer with 'Once Upon A Time In...Hollywood' new star Austin Butler. Everyone except another Tom, Cruise and his 'Maverick' season with the almost 40 year later 'Top Gun' sequel. Just what year is this? Maverick?! Buzz Lightyears back on shelves?! Presley!?! It's marvelous like two avenging heroes called Chris going to battle. 'Lightyear' versus Taika Waititi's (who's also in this movie) 'Love and Thunder'. Thor Hemsworth and Evans' Captain America striking on the streaming stage too with Netflix's 'Spiderhead' and 'The Gray Man' hero sounding movies going at it also this month. Super! 

Buzzing, 'Lightyear' is a meta movie inside a Pixar popcorn picture. And it's truly touching as fingertips point to iconic catchphrases. The set up to this 'Toy Story' spin-off isn't as simple. Is it an origin story? Or is that what the direct to video source material of 'Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins', or the television series of a similar name spawned is? One thing's for sure this space man is not imitation like the fun 'Small Fry' Toy Story Toon like a happy meal. Even if some wish for some home improvements. Marooned on a hostile planet with his commander and crew because of a mistake he made, this 'Lightyear' doesn't want to be a buzzkill as he tries to break the sound barrier through three halos like Cruise at the start of 'Maverick'. A ranger fit for the cap, who despite the hilarious meme saying he looks like he'd turn his body cam off, or the Biff big bro look with more chins than a Dominos diet, has Captain America like integrity to the salute. So who better apart from maybe Allen to voice him than Steve Rogers himself Chris Evans? Who now holds two iconic characters for Disney as the shield is passed. Finding his way home in a post Cap role that fits like the skull cap and the fuzzy hat hair you never knew he had. Evans said when embarking on 'Civil War' that when you play someone so good, for so long, "you take a little bit of that home for you". But you can tell that the former Human Torch (who has fantastically expressed a Multiverse desire (madness)) and 'Knives Out' cable-knit star has so much character. And he's a good man. So he's always going to make good on a role like this. To infinity. 

Beyond balloons however, look 'Up' and you might just see a Pixar poetic scene that stirs you with how much we lose as time passes in an 'Interstellar' instant. Because this will leave you crying when Matthew McConaughey realized his young daughter was Jessica Chastain. Faster-than-light though, this hyperspace takes you even further back to the future. So much so that a famous villain makes an appearance like you've never seen or thought he would be before. Now how's that for an Easter Egg? A scene stealing Keke Palmer (it's about to be her Summer, 'Nope'), 'The Good Dinosaur' Peter Sohn, Dale Soules, James Brolin, Uzo Aduba, Mary Mcdonald-Lewis, Isiah Whitlock Jr (sheeet) and of course Taika Waititi sound out the rest of the class cast with a voice for Angus MacLane's truly animated movie. Still nothing pulls this movie up more than Sox. A robot cat and emotional support animal that will evoke all your ooh's and ahh's with none of that 'Jurassic Park: Dominion' running and screaming from the multiplex, despite Jeff Goldblum. From its cat traits to what comes rolling off his tongue, this is the nip. Miaowing with white noise and coughing up gadgets galore like a Bond villain cat, by the hairball. You've never been this in love since Banderas' 'Puss In Boots' gave you those Minion eyes. Which another character does here thanks to a classic Bill Hader cameo. Cute characters created for Christmas list gifts and fun formula offset by real, earned emotion that will leave youngsters and big kids alike looking differently at their own lives and love are the Pixar product. And this one really is a gift like the Buzz Lightyear that was everyone's favourite toy, not just those who wrote Andy on the foot. Even if the favourite movie of the kid who brought the product placement space ranger home's moon boot clogging plot will sometimes make you wish it moved a little bit more at lightspeed. This is still lightyears ahead. To infinity...and a beyond that's great. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: 'Toy Story', 'Toy Story Toons: Small Fry', 'Captain America-The First Avenger'.