Lightyear

[School of Movies 2022]

It is hard to approach the Pixar of the 2020s with the same eye as the Pixar of the 2000s. For a long while this was a barely-interrupted chain of truly excellent and game-changing 3D animated films which signified to other studios that they didn't have to copy Disney in order to attain success, they could get their own Shrek. Their story structure was always reliably potent and they could blindside you with poignancy. 

Then, as with disposable blockbusters, live action remakes of their hand-drawn heritage, unnecessary sequels, spin-offs, Star Wars and now Marvel, Pixar fell into the rhythm of the infernal Disney machine which appears to prize quantity over quality. But I feel uncomfortable even in the act of criticising a megacorporation who I want to see do better because there are so many bad-faith commentators out there getting performatively angry over every release. 

Lightyear is based on a premise which instantly neither works nor makes sense. It is ostensibly a film from 1995, and yet at no point does it NOT feel like Pixar's fifth film release since the Pandemic began. And this is where the missed opportunities only begin!