Review of Onward (2020) by Compi24 — 07 Mar 2020

The talks of "B-tier Pixar" rearing its ugly head yet again are lost on me when it comes to "Onward," director Dan Scanlon's second feature-length effort (after the uninspired "Monster University").

This may come off as an entry into the "hot take Olympics," but I honestly found the film more creative, entertaining and emotionally resonant than Pixar's last effort, "Toy Story 4." It, at the very least, justifies it's own existence better than that film did.

There's a genuinely beautiful and original message at the center of this story here that culminates into what's easily the best ending to a Pixar movie I've seen since "Coco." "Toy Story 4" tried this, but ultimately ended up doing the same "saying goodbye because it's the right thing to do" type of ending that "Toy Story 3" did.

I don't mean to bag on "Toy Story 4" so much, but I think we all hold these movies to a certain standard. Mine were just about met with "Onward." Each set piece is engaging and memorable, the world feels lived in and different, even the progression of the narrative surprised me with how much it hearkened back to early Pixar.

I guess I'm in the minority on this one, but I very much enjoyed this.