Pros:
1.) Pixar Animation…Do I need to say more?
2.) You can buy that Chris Pratt and Tom Holland as Barley and Ian Lightfoot respectively are brothers. Barley is lighthearted, friendly, and overly adventurous, but is also a doofus. Ian is quiet, reserved, and nervous, but is willing to do anything to see his father alongside his brother. These two are clearly opposites, but fit together well and they have to learn from each other. They clearly carry the film together and it is a joy to watch these two (especially if you are a big fan of Star-Lord and Spider-Man).
3.) The world of Onward is an interesting idea. Magical creatures now going through the modern era has some potential ideas like a unicorn delivery service or a mermaid water museum. Visually, a variety of creatures walking around in suburbs and cities looks great (especially coming from Pixar) …
Cons:
1.) …However, the problem with how this world is executed is that if you change the magical creatures into normal human beings, there would barely be any change. Throughout the film and after thinking about it a bit, many of the sequences felt like cosmetic changes of stereotypical action and fantasy scenes. There is a motorcycle chase, but it is with pixies. A police chase occurs, but it is with a centaur driving a vehicle. There is even a scene that is too similar to another scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (still done well, but I might as well watch Indiana Jones over Onward). I would not mind that much, but they do not take advantage of the magical-creatures-living-in-modern-times aspect. If the best they can do is change the humans into creatures instead of adding to these scenes as its own world, then I might as well watch the original human scenes that these sequences originated from instead.
2.) Just because the characters (especially Barley) points many of the fantasy clichés, it does not make it less cliché. Throughout the film, Barley talks about many of the famous fantasy quest moments throughout his journey with Ian and his dad. Not only was that kind of tiring, but it also makes it predictable. There are two routes leading to the end of their quest, which one is the most viable option: the easy road or the hard path? There is one weapon that can take out a powerful being. Barley and Ian are heading to a chasm that has ABSOLUTELY no traps whatsoever…maybe. If anyone has been watching anything fantasy-related, you can easily call what is going to happen next.
3.) While some emotional moments do hit pretty well at times, there are those where those other emotional moments do not work. They do have a good setup, but their executions leave so much to be desired. For example, at one point, Barley is pouring his heart out to Ian about their dad, and soon as he finishes, they quickly moved on to the next scene. The film does not give much time to let the audience and the characters swallow what has happened. That does not occur in all those moments, but some of those could have been good if the film spends more time with it.
Overall:
Onward to another Pixar film!…Sorry. Anyway, another Pixar film on the horizon, and it about two brothers trying to see their father again on a quest to make him whole again…and it takes place in modern times with magical creatures. That sounds like a good idea, and while the film is good, it did not really have much an emotional impact on me. There are times that it did, but compared to other Pixar films like Inside Out and Toy Story 4, they are not as strong. It does not help that the story is not terrible, but it does not stand out among the rest of the Pixar films. Still, Chris Pratt and Tom Holland do help make this film stand. If you love Pixar films, this is a decent one to watch, but I think you may end up like Ian when Barley keeps talking about fantasy quests: you may wish for something better.
7/10
As for The Simpsons short, Playdate with Destiny, it is all right, though I did like the small reference to Disney in the very beginning since it is still not hitting me that Disney officially owns The Simpsons.
benzeyeview 