If one good thing has come out of this COVID-19 pandemic, it’s movies being put on streaming platforms earlier than they normally would have. This film also justified me keeping Disney+, even though I said the same thing about ‘Togo’.
‘Onward’ is a film about 2 brothers, Barley and Ian (Chris Pratt and Tom Holland), who embark on a quest to finish a spell that brings back their long-dead father. When the first trailer came out, I thought that ‘Onward’ looked like a Disney/Pixar film that was made specifically to make you cry with some filler scenes in between (ehh hem…’UP’), but this movie was a lot more than that. While the main goal in ‘Onward’ is that the two main characters want to bring back their dad from the dead for a day, the real story of ‘Onward’ is the relationship between the two brothers and what it means to them. I found that the brotherly relationship was relatable to my own relationship with my sister, because they had their moments of picking on each other and fighting, but in the end they had a real love for each other and were always worried for the other’s well-being.
The secondary theme to this movie is about how technology is taking place of old-fashioned ways of doing things. I could see how some people would think that this comes across as a very “okay boomer” message, but I took it as a head’s up to remember where you come from. Technology is great, but that doesn’t mean that the old tried and true ways of doing things should be completely obsolete.
The visuals of this movie were exactly what you expect from a Pixar film. Very bright and colorful, with some extreme photo-realism. Honestly a little too much at some points. While the animation was beautiful, I think such a mythical world could have benefited from a little more creative license in regards to the animation style. When there are fairies and monsters all around, it seems sort of strange for them to pull out a cell phone that looks exactly the same as the ones that we have in our own pockets.
That being said, I highly recommend this movie, and think that it is one of Disney/Pixar’s recent best. It is heartfelt, but for a reason and with a great message about brotherhood.
8.5/10
CinemAddikted 