Review of Onward (2020) by Theredsky — 07 Apr 2020

I truly love Pixar. It’s still probably one of the best animation studios working today but I have noticed a slight decline in the quality of their films since 2011. Not to say their films from 2011 on are bad (except Cars 2), they just aren’t as good as their films from the 90’s and 2000’s.

I would say Pixar’s last truly great films would be Inside Out and Coco and unfortunately, their mediocre streak is carrying over into this decade. Onward is a very mixed film for me. On one hand, I liked the animation, music, 3rd Act, and themes of brotherhood but I also didn’t like the first two acts and the characters.

Characters are essential to making a Pixar film interesting to watch and I found the characters here not that interesting. Pixar has a fantastic track record for making interesting characters such as The Parr family from The Incredibles and Remi from Ratatouille.

I’m not comparing the characters from those movies to the ones in Onward but I’m just trying to make a point that Pixar is very capable of making great characters but for some reason, they couldn’t do it here.

I do like the brotherhood message that they share but that’s really about it. I didn’t find any of them relatable nor did I find myself interested by their actions. They change as people but it didn’t follow an interesting path.

They just kinda changed suddenly and without question. The build up to the 3rd Act of the film was slow and dull to me. I wasn’t interested in the adventure at all and it felt like it took a really long time before the 3rd Act started but after that point, I found myself enjoying the film which is a shame because I finally started to enjoy the film when it was about to end.

The final action scene used the environment well and was enjoyable to watch and the realization that Ian has was good. I just wish the lead up was much much more interesting. That’s not to say there weren't other factors that I liked about the film.

Obviously, the film looks fantastic. This is something that has remained consistent with almost every Pixar movie. The visuals are spot on and the locations look really good and somewhat realistic for a fantasy world.

I also thought the music was great. It was the only thing I really noticed during the first two acts and some of the music in the 3rd act can/do have the potential to bring some to tears. Overall, Onward is a step down in terms of characters and interesting stories for Pixar but it still retains its great visuals and music streak going.