Myself, my son, and my wife are huge Disney fans that eat up everything the House of Mouse does. However, with Onward, we were all extra excited from that first teaser trailer and this was one of our most anticipated movies of the year. Pixar has had some big hitters and I feel that Onward is one of their best.
How to Stream or Download Onward (2020 movie)
To stream or to download the movie, click on the Download button that is located at the end of the review. Onward is a Pixar production. Check out also the previous ones: Toy Story 4 (2019), and Incredibles 2 (2018). Fun fact – there is also a game called Onward, which is a first-person shooter.
The Movie Review
One of the reasons I was excited about this movie was the talent behind it. Dan Scanlon is the director and it has a ton of great voice talent. It was Tom Holland and Chris Pratt that I was most interested in. These are the two main characters with Holland playing the younger brother Ian and Pratt playing Barley his older brother.
The setting for Onward is just awesome. It is set in a fantasy world, but this fantasy world has lost its way and magic has kind of disappeared. People are obsessed with technology and in many ways, it is an interesting mirror of how society is today. Our two main characters, Ian and Barley could not be any more different.
Ian is quiet and reserved and just trying to get by. Barley, on the other hand, is loud, outgoing, and believes in magic! On Ian’s 16th birthday, he is given a special present from their mother. This is a gift from his late father and it is an old spell that will allow them to see each other for just one day.
Ian has never met his father so of course; he and Barley go all-in on this. Things do not go as planned and only half of their dad appears! The brothers are then on a frantic quest to finish the spell so that they can see their dad. The whole “going on a quest” thing is something that Barley is all about, but Ian is much more reserved and hesitant.
Look, Onward is a movie that has a ton of jokes. If you have any interest in things like Dungeons & Dragons, RPGs, and fantasy, in general, you will get a lot of laughs here. However, at its heart, Onward is a movie about family, loss, and being there for each other. The relationship between Barley and Ian is very special, even if Ian doesn’t realize it right away.
For all the times that Onward made me laugh, it also made me think and made me sad too. Yes, you could say that this is a “kids’ movie” but I feel it is far more than that. I am not scared to admit that I had a few tears in my eyes during the very dramatic and emotional ending.
You know, now that I think about it. I would go as far as to say that Onward has the best and I mean the best ending of any Pixar movie so far. It has everything that you could want and it just absolutely nails it. With the whole COVID-19 thing happening, Onward never got the time to shine theatrically as it deserved. I highly recommend that you check this out, it is great if you have kids and just as much fun even if you do not.
