While on a mission exploring the inhabitable planet T'Kani Prime Buzz Lightyear and Commander Alicia Hawthorne finds a hostile environment that forces them to make a hasty retreat. But under the escape the ship gets damaged and crashes stranding the entire crew on this dangerous planet. Buzz is determined to rescue his crew and get them away from the planet and sets out to do what ever it takes.
Lightyear starts with a message stating that the movie was Andy's favourite movie as a child and it was the movie that inspired the Buzz Lightyear action figure. This is a different and interesting take on how to extend the franchise and/or universe of Toy Story. It gives the writers a chance to show a different version of the same character concept. Like what if Buzz Lightyear was not just a space ranger action figure, but instead 1995 action movie hero. What is the core characteristics that needs to be present in both the toy version and in the animated human version. From a writing perspective it is a fun plot device.
The thing about Lightyear is that it does not have a 1995 action movie vibe similar to that of our reality 1995. It has a very comedic "fall over your feet, everything goes wrong" approach to story telling which is more like action comedies of our 2020. The interesting here is, should the movie be more like Arnold Schwarzenegger's The Last Action Hero with the more gritty 1990's macho action comedy as it is plot-wise released in 1995. Or should it have the quirkier action comedy of 2020's with more social acceptance of the characters flaws as it is released in 2022. But that also raises the question of, what is 1995 cinematography like in the Toy Story universe? Is it like our 1995 or like our 2022? Personally I think that bit more serious and emotionally deep story telling would have made it more captivating. There was a bit too much of the side characters accidentally worsening the situation wackyness. And the whole Zurg plot twist was disappointing. Buzz Lightyear defeats his arch-nemesis in his origin movie. They should have held Zurg of to the sequel.
I found Lightyear slightly bland. It got some good humour and some great moments. It had a strong start but mellowed out and the ending could have been much stronger. Children are sure to love it with all its silly moments and characters. I will give it three stars out of five as I do not think it came close to its potential and Zurg was somewhat a disappointing twist.
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