Getting a toy based off your favorite movie as a kid is probably one of the best things that can happen. For Andy in Toy Story, that is what happened when he got his Buzz Lightyear toy for his birthday. But when Pixar’s Lightyear made it to the big and small screen, we all understood why Andy wanted his very own space ranger. 

Lightyear was released to Disney Plus on August 3 of this year. This is the spinoff movie to the 1995 Pixar film Toy Story, which focused more on the toys rather than what they were based on. In this film, we get to see the backstory of Buzz Lightyear and how he came to be a popular toy for kids like Andy.

One thing that stood out in this film was the aspect ratio switch that happens within different scenes. The movie is usually on a cinemascope screen, which has black bars above and below the screen. During scenes with a lot of action, the film switches to widescreen, making the movie feel more cinematic. Though this wasn’t a favorite thing of mine, it served its purpose well and made some scenes look really cool.

Other than the aspect ratio, the animation of the movie was very smooth and clean, almost as if it was a live-action movie. Pixar always has great animation in their movies, but this one stood out with how they showed what it was like to be near the sun or how it would be to fly through the sky, trying to get away from robots chasing you.

During the first couple of scenes of Lightyear, Buzz says some phrases that are relevant to the introduction of the Buzz Lightyear toy in Toy Story, like “terrain seems a bit unstable.” Pixar has always done a good job with making their movies connect with small details, and they did a good job showing how the Buzz Lightyear toy is based on the real Buzz.

The introduction of Zurg, the villain of the movie, was not quite how I expected it to be. Sure, it was a grand introduction with villainous music, but we never got a full reveal of Zurg until later in the movie. Although the first couple of scenes of him weren’t really a grand entrance, it was worth the wait to get a full reveal of the evil Zurg in all his might.

Throughout the film, we are introduced to many robots such as Sox, who is Buzz’s personal companion robot, I.V.A.N, which is a portable virtual assistant mainly used in the spaceships, D.E.R.I.C, a minor character who is known to help the characters out, and the Zyclopes, robots who follow Zurg’s orders. 

The more we get to see these robots on the screen, the more we start to see them display human characteristics. Sox thinks that space is scary while D.E.R.I.C makes mistakes when trying to give directions. Things like that allow audiences to like these robots more and show that they are similar to humans in a way. 

Although Buzz’s mission is to try to reach hyperspeed in order to bring everyone back home, his friends Izzy Hawthorne, Mo Morrison, and Darby Steel also try to face their own challenges while trying to help Buzz as much as he will allow them to. 

Throughout the movie, Izzy is afraid of space but wants to become a space ranger, just like her grandma Ailisha Hawthorne. Mo wants to overcome not messing up all the time and wants to be and feel useful to everyone. While these two characters try to overcome their challenges, Darby just wants to get out of her parol as soon as possible.

They all start to overcome their challenges by working together. Buzz came to realize that in order to reach his goal, he would need to work with his team, Izzy was able to face her fear of space with the motivation of her team, and Mo was able to be helpful in a time of crisis. Pixar did a great job showing the audience that sometimes you need help from other people in order to face your fears.

Within the movie, the music really helped with making the action scenes more intense and the sad scenes more emotional. Those sad scenes really messed with my emotions.