Review: ONWARD is a moving story of loss, heavy metal, and suburban elves

After redefining the scope of what animated films could be with releases like the Toy Story series, Up, and Inside Out, expectations for Pixar films have been set so impossibly high that anything that doesn’t feel like an immediate classic (or emotionally devastate adults while enthralling children) can feel like a letdown. Such is the case with Onward, a totally fun and poignant film that nonetheless feels like Pixar treading water.

As with all Pixar films, Onward is focused on family; in this case, the Lightfoots, two brother elves trying to get on with their suburban lives while mourning the loss of their father Wilden who died when they were young. Older brother Barley (Chris Pratt) is a gregarious metalhead who devotes his free time to fantasy role-playing games, while Ian (Tom Holland) is a shy introvert who is consumed with the thought of one day being able to speak to his father. On Ian’s sixteenth birthday, his mother Laurel (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) presents him with a gift his father set aside for him years earlier; a staff, a gem, and a spell that can revive Wilden for one day.

With Ian diving headfirst into magic for the first time, his skills are a bit lacking; he’s able to conjure up exactly half of his father, from his feet to his waist. The brothers soon realize that they need one more gem to fully revive their father, and embark on a dangerous quest to retrieve it, pitting them against a series of challenges including a gang of pint-sized fairy bikers and a dragon, all while their mother is hot on their tails with a feisty manticore (Octavia Spencer) riding shotgun.

There’s really not much more to Onward; the plot is a basic quest tale that we’ve seen countless times before, but director/co-writer Dan Scanlon wisely keeps the focus on the relationship between the two brothers, which gets put to the test as their journey becomes increasingly more perilous. Pratt and Holland make for a perfect big/little brother dynamic; it’s especially fun to see Pratt letting loose again, a great contrast to Holland’s more reserved and insecure character, who eventually gets his own moments to shine as he literally begins working his magic.

As expected for a Pixar release, Onward looks incredible. The world of New Mushroomton essentially looks like any drab suburb, but populated with colorful fantastical creatures and some knowing winks to fantasy lore; a local restaurant advertises that it’s “Now serving second breakfast,” which should get a chuckle out of diehard Lord of the Rings fans.

That sort of clever humour goes a long way here and balances nicely with what is essentially a story about coping with the death of a loved one. There are moments of melancholy throughout the film, but the film really makes you dive for the tissues in its closing moments. It’s the sort of emotional catharsis you know is coming, and will likely strike parents and children in very different ways, particularly anyone who has recently lost a loved one.

While Onward is tinged with a real sense of loss, this is still a fun, action-packed movie that does a great job of immersing the audience in this fantasy world. Surprisingly, where Pixar films get overtly complicated and hard-to-follow as the climactic moments kick in, the massive sequence that closes Onward is a wildly fun bit of fantasy-action that manages to move the story forward while delivering an exhilarating sequence that ranks among the most rousing Pixar has ever produced.

Onward might not be as memorable as Toy Story or as stunningly creative as Inside Out, but it’s a quirky and highly entertaining story about coping with loss that feels like it truly means something to the filmmakers. Onward will definitely work its magic on you if you open your heart up to it.

Onward is available as a digital rental as of Friday, March 20, and begins streaming on Disney+ on April 3.