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Onward film review: Pixar rolls a 20, nails homage to D&D-styled adventure:
Now that Pixar's latest film is officially in US theaters, we are resurfacing our review, which was originally published on February 21st.
Pixar's latest feature-length film, Onward, doesn't reach US theaters until March 6, and it's rare for us at Ars Technica to review a film so far in advance of its launch. When we do, it's usually for good reason.
In Onward's case, that's because we haven't seen a film so easy to recommend to Ars Technica readers in years. We know our average demographic: parents and older readers who are deeply fluent in decades of nerd culture and who appreciate films that offer genuine laughs, likable characters, and tightly sewn logic in family-friendly fashion without compromising the dialogue, plot, or heart—or beating an original, previously beloved franchise into the ground. Pixar has come out screaming with a film that feels focus-tested for that exact audience, and I'm already eager to attend the film again in two weeks.
We've seen our fair share of fantasy genre satires and comedies, but Onward delivers the most fully fledged, top-to-bottom homage to the fantasy genre since Monty Python and the Holy Grail sent up all things King Arthur. To be clear, Pixar's newest universe of characters draws more from the Dungeons & Dragons well of magical, class-based adventuring with its own twist.
[...] Onward's focus on the brothers' relationship means the film does something impressively subtle: it avoids tokenizing anybody in order to advance the protagonists' story. Barley and Ian's quest doesn't hinge upon saving helpless damsels, and everybody who gets significant screen time—even a few potential villains—is humanized or made three-dimensional in ways that you probably won't notice at first. I left this film really liking every significant character and wanting to see more of them—and as much as I like most Pixar films, their only feature-length production that left me feeling the same was the first Toy Story.
(Score: 2) by NateMich on Monday March 09 2020, @06:37PM (3 children)
So... it's one of their lesser films, is what you're saying.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Monday March 09 2020, @06:40PM
Yes. That is what I'm saying. I haven't seen it, I can't actually speak to the quality per se, but there's clearly some paramecium level analysis involved the GGP's analysis. Like
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @06:47PM (1 child)
ikantread is also letting you know that he is butthurt. File it away for future reference.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Monday March 09 2020, @07:06PM
I'm pretty surprised you're able to post twice in a row with that severe mental defect that makes you unable to reason cause and effect.