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Movie Review: Onward

Mike Tyrkus

The latest offering from the pairing of Disney/Pixar, Onward, asks audience to imagine a world without wizards or magic. At first, you may think that wouldn’t be so hard to do, but there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye (there always is in cases such as this). Onward ponders this existential question and balances a heartfelt message along with some exquisite lead performances from Chris Pratt and Tom Holland to deliver another solid entry to the Pixar canon.

The film is set is the unique suburban fantasy world of New Mushroom. This is a place where fairy-tale characters such as centaurs, unicorns, centaurs, and dragons all co-exist and live “normal” lives as everyday people. In short, it’s a world where everyone has forgotten about magic, except for Barley (voiced by Chris Pratt) who plays a kind of “Dungeons and Dragons” type game that’s more history research than a meaningless pastime. Barley lives with his brother, Ian (voiced by Tom Holland), who is turn sixteen. For his birthday, the boys’ mother (voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfuss) produces a wizard’s staff that was left to Ian by the boys’ recently deceased father. As it turns out, the staff (and accompanying spell) were left so that the boys could conjure up their father for a twenty-four-hour visit for him to see how they’ve grown up. Unfortunately, something goes wrong with the spell and their father is only partially rematerialized (the bottom half) and the brothers head off on a quest to complete the spell so that they can finally have the proper final moments with their dad that they never had before.

Chris Pratt and Tom Holland in “Onward.” © 2019 – Disney/Pixar.

Along the way, there are a few flamboyant characters that the boys interact with along the way, most notably a creature called the Manticore (voiced by Octavia Spencer) who aides them on their quest after they successful awaken her inner self. There are also countless lessons learned during their quest, including the brothers’ importance to each other that is truly the emotional core of the film.

Co-writer and director Dan Scanlon (who also co-wrote/co-directed Monsters University for Pixar in 2013), does a fine job balancing the relationship between the two boys and their halved father, allowing for some real character development along the way. It’s rare in a film that the lesson learned by the main characters feels this genuine as well as earned. But, the success of the film is dependent on the dynamic between Pratt and Holland and they are more than up to the task of carrying the emotional weight of the picture between them. The relationship between the two brothers is something that not only grows organically throughout the film, but it feels honest and truthfully gotten and that makes the picture more special for it.

Ultimately, Onward is another hit for Disney/Pixar, though not on the same level of their best, but it’s still worth the time and the healing it can achieve for any broken familial relationship makes it even more impressive and enduring.

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Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com
An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

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