When I heard that Lightyear was going to be a thing, “why” was what I asked repeatedly. Who wanted decided to make this and who actually wanted it? It just feels like a movie that does not need to exist and had my wife who is a huge Disney fan, not wanted to go and see it, I would have been cool waiting for it to hit Disney Plus. Yet despite that, Lightyear was not a bad movie at all, it is not great, but it is not bad either.
How to Download Lightyear
Hopefully 45 days after its theatrical release (which was on 17 June 2002) you will be able to download Lightyear from Disney+. Click on the Download button at the end of this review to check the current availability. Check out also our reviews of Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Toy Story 3, and Toy Story 4.
Lightyear – the Movie Review
I liked how it flashes up at the start what exactly this movie is. In 1995 Andy got a toy (Buzz Lightyear) of his favorite character from his favorite movie and this is that movie. That is right, we are watching the movie that Andy watched back in the 90s. I have to be honest while I thought the idea of this movie was kind of dumb at first, I do think there is a lot of charm to this premise.
One of the things I thought I would have a hard time with was Chris Evans as Buzz. I am a big fan of Chris Evans, but Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear is so iconic and something we have been hearing for over 25 years at this point! However, Chris Evans does a wonderful job, he is not trying to be like Tim Allen, he is putting his own spin on it and it works, works very well actually.
As good as Chris Evans is, my favorite performance has to be Taika Waititi as Mo Morrison. I am a huge Taika Waititi fan and granted he is pretty much playing himself here like he always does, but it is hilarious as he is a space ranger cadet and not exactly a good one. All of the voice cast do a great job here and their great voice work is complemented by the incredible visuals.
Say what you will about Lightyear, but it looks absolutely fantastic. The colors and attention to detail in this movie are incredible and make everything pop. I would actually make the effort to watch the 4K release of this in my own home when it comes out as I am sure it will look even more incredible.
While I like the voice cast and think the movie looks amazing, the plot is just kind of ok. Hey, this is not a bad movie at all, but it feels like it takes a tad too long to really get going. I think they could have shaved around ten minutes off this and it would have been more exciting for it.
Buzz and the rest of the crew are stranded on a planet and Buzz is taking part in a test mission to try and get home. Something goes wrong and when Buzz returns, time has moved on considerably! If that is not bad enough Zurg is here and he and his robot army want all the fuel that the space rangers have. To be fair it is about what you would expect from a movie about Buzz Lightyear.
I would say that Lightyear is a pretty good time, if you like Disney/Pixar movies, you will more than likely have fun with this. I would probably put it nearer the bottom of my Pixar movies list, but to be fair, that is a pretty elite list. I just wonder if we may get a gritty and brutal Red Dead Redemption movie starring Woody next!
