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Onward Movie Review

“We’re going on a quest!” - Barley Lightfoot
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Onward is an animated fantasy movie starring the voice talents of Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Octavia Spencer, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.  The film is directed by Dan Scanlon and is the 22nd film from Pixar Animation Studios.  It tells the story of Ian Lightfoot, a young elf celebrating his sixteenth birthday.  After magically bringing back the lower half of his deceased father, Ian and his older brother Barley go on a quest to try and bring their father back completely before sunset.  
Onward has everything that people have grown to love in a Pixar movie.  It has humor, heart, adventure, fantastic animation, and a stellar voice cast.  It also has enough new elements to keep even the most seasoned Pixar fan satisfied.
The story is heartfelt, and it deals with difficult topics in ways that are easy for kids to understand without ever talking down to them.  It explores how the loss of a loved one can make life difficult.  It addresses the issue of technology, and how we as humans have become attached to it.  It also deals with topics such as brotherly bonding and self-confidence, and the ways these topics are dealt with are clever and creative.  
All of the voice acting is brilliant.  There are never any moments where the voice acting could’ve been better.  It always felt like the actors were giving everything they had to their roles.  There is a level of emotion in every voice performance in this film, and it made the characters feel more realistic.
Speaking of realistic, the animation in Onward is beautiful, although this almost goes without saying, because Pixar has set the standard for what great CG animation should look like.  Even from the trailers alone, you can see how dedicated the animators at Pixar are when it comes to making their films look as good as they can.  Pixar’s animation quality keeps getting better and better, and I can’t wait to see what their films look like later on down the road.
My favorite aspect of Onward is the world-building.  The world in which the characters live is fully realized.  Like any good fantasy story, there are multiple different species and races, diverse locations, and magical spells, but the ways those fantasy tropes are presented here are unique and new.  
As far as my issues go, I noticed that the pacing of some scenes was very frenetic and fast.  Fast pacing is normally not a problem for me, but there were a few scenes that went by almost a little too fast.  I also noticed a pretty major plot hole after thinking about the film in detail.  However, even with those flaws I still had a blast with Onward.  I don’t think it’s Pixar’s best film, but it’s certainly not their worst either.  It has some great messages for both children and adults, and it will most likely resonate with you if you have siblings in your family.  I had a great time with Onward, and I definitely think this is a film worth seeing.
Rating: PG
Grade: B+


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