Lightyear is a spin-off movie from the popular Toy Story franchise. This movie explores the origin of the character on which the Buzz Lightyear toy from the Toy Story movies is based. The movie opens with a message saying that this was the movie that inspired the Buzz Lightyear toy and is what prompted Andy to fall in love with space things in the Toy Story movies.

This movie is not a Toy Story movie and should not be confused as one. Although it uses many characters introduced in the Toy Story movies, Lightyear strays far away from the Toy Story franchise and can hardly be called a Toy Story movie. This movie is instead inspired by the Toy Story movies. That must be understood before seeing this film to avoid disappointment. 

In saying this, there were countless references to the original Toy Story movies. Some were more obvious than others, whilst some would have only been picked by people who had seen the Toy Story movies many times. And these references made sense. There were many lines that Buzz said which the toy Buzz says in the Toy Story movies, which makes perfect sense! I also loved how many Star Wars references there were in the movie. These references continued the tradition of referencing Star Wars in Toy Story movies. (I thought I even heard a Star Wars theme in the soundtrack!)

I have said this when reviewing other Disney or Pixar movies but the animation quality of these movies is only going up. The number of small hidden details that are captured by the animators is immense.

When I first heard about Lightyear and that they were replacing Tim Allen (the voice actor of Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story) with Chris Evans, I had my doubts. But after seeing the trailers, I started to understand a bit and now after having seen the movie, I think it was the right decision. Buzz Lightyear the toy and Buzz Lightyear the movie character are technically two different characters so it makes sense for them to have two different voice actors. And Chris Evans does sound a lot like the original Buzz Lightyear but different enough for them to be seen as different characters.

Although I loved Lightyear, it took a little bit for the film to take off. The start was a little slow and also didn't introduce the characters in the best fashion. It wasn't until partway through the movie that we got to know the characters. There was also one large part of the storyline which I didn't like all too much. I won't go into details about what it was because it is a big plot twist within the movie, however, I found it to be too confusing for viewers, especially children. Nonetheless, the movie is great and these small criticisms don't take away from the enjoyment of the movie. 

The Toy Story movies are known to be incredible family movies. Although Lightyear is not a Toy Story movie and should not be confused for one, the movie does not stray from this pattern of excellent family movies. The idea of making a movie that exists within the Toy Story universe is quite ingenious and could be very successful. I grew up with the Toy Story movies and Buzz Lightyear was my childhood hero and I think that people like me will be the kind who enjoy this movie the most. However, the current generation of children will also enjoy the movie and thankfully, so will the parents. A really well-done movie from Pixar.

Director: Angus MacLane

Starring: Chris Evans, Keke Palmer, Peter Sohn, Taika Waititi, Dale Soules

Year released: 2022

My rating: 8.5/10

Review by Tristan Carr

Last edited: 10/07/2022