Synopsis:
Two teenage elf brothers, Ian and Barley Lightfoot, go on a journey to discover if there is still a little magic left out there in order to spend one last day with their father, who died when they were too young to remember him.

Cast: Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Octavia Spencer, Mel Rodriguez, Kyle Bornheimer, Lena Waithe, Ali Wong

Director: Dan Scanlon
Writers: Dan Scanlon, Jason Headley, Keith Bunin

Pixar is the gold standard of 3D animation with such an amazing track record that makes any new release from them must-watch content. Their latest, Onward, is the first of two films they are releasing this year and their first original film since Coco in 2017. With such high standards to live up to, how does Onward stack up?

Onward is set in a fantasy world with elves, centaurs, pixies and more different magical creatures. The world was once filled with magic but as science developed and was easier for the average creature to use, magic faded away and became a thing for stories and legends. In a modern version of that world, we are introduced to Ian Lightfoot (Tom Holland), a shy young elf who is struggling to make friends and be himself, and his older brother Barley (Chris Pratt), a hardcore fan of history and role-play whose prized possession is his cobbled-together van, “Guinevere.”

On Ian’s 16th birthday, their mother Laurel (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) gives them a gift from their father (Kyle Bornheimer), who passed away just before Ian was born. The gift is a magic staff and instructions for a visitation spell that would bring their father back for 24 hours. When the spell goes wrong, the brothers are left with their father only from the waist down. They soon set off on a quest for a magical gem so they can complete the spell properly and get the chance to talk to their dad.

For anyone familiar with Dungeons & Dragons — whether from playing the game or from shows like Critical Role — those elements are littered throughout the film. The spells that Barley gets Ian to use with the staff are from a game called “Quests of Yore,” set up on the kitchen table at the start and clearly standing in for the famous role-playing game. The story also feels like a campaign or one-shot, with smaller encounters our heroes must overcome to complete their quest — not all of which require violence. It wouldn’t have felt out of place for the film to pause for a dice roll to see if a character’s action succeeded. I wouldn’t be surprised if a role-playing version of Quests of Yore or Onward were announced; it feels like a tie-in that would work.

The encounter-to-encounter nature of the story does make it feel kind of simple and results in most of the journey not being very memorable. The third act does lift, delivering a fun confrontation and an ending that ties in a number of earlier elements. Director Dan Scanlon perfectly builds the emotional moments — something Pixar has built its reputation on. If you have a sibling or just feelings, bring tissues; I got teary-eyed at times.

Some of the best jokes in the film are based around their father’s lower half, to which Ian adds a fake upper body. In true Weekend at Bernie’s style, their dad accidentally gets them into trouble constantly, and it’s always amusing. The world of Onward is interesting, but we only get to see a small slice of it. A Disney+ series expanding on what’s set up here wouldn’t be a terrible idea.

Tom Holland and Chris Pratt are examples of perfect casting. Ian isn’t far removed from Peter Parker, while we’ve seen Pratt play a guy who’s completely unaware of how embarrassing he can be — and he does it well. Julia Louis-Dreyfus is good as the mother trying to find her boys, while Octavia Spencer’s Corey is the standout supporting character: a manticore (a mythical creature with a lion’s body, dragon wings, and a scorpion tail) who was once a warrior and quest giver and is now running a family restaurant. The inclusion of Lena Waithe’s character, Specter, as the “first openly LGBTQ character” in a Pixar film drew headlines, but Specter has a very limited role with only a line or two hinting that she’s LGBTQ — something likely to be easily cut for certain foreign markets.

When I initially saw images of Onward, I thought it looked more like a Walt Disney Animation Studios film than a Pixar film — which, in hindsight, says more about how far Disney Animation has come in 3D. Onward is still an incredibly beautiful film with amazing landscapes and stunning magic effects. There are fun visual gags and character designs, particularly the unicorns — the raccoons of this world — going through garbage and shrieking if startled.

The D&D-inspired Onward is a fun, heart-warming, family road-trip one-shot that hits the emotional notes Pixar has mastered. While not as memorable as other entries in the studio’s library, it’s an enjoyable film worthy of the world-renowned animation house (and deserving of much better box-office numbers than it’s likely to end up with). I’m hoping we get to experience more of the world of Onward, whether on-screen or with the help of some dice.

Onward releases in Australian cinemas March 26th

Ashley Hobley attended an advance screening of Onward thanks to Disney Australia, Shout Communications and Event Cinemas.