A large part of the fun and playfulness of the Toy Story films has always been the self-aware recognition that a human child’s playthings are inanimate objects that come to life when humans aren’t around. What a great bit that has always served the franchise well.

The new Pixar movie Lightyear, a spin-off of Toy Story, completely ignores that distinction and makes the Buzz Lightyear character a real person. Sure, Lightyear opens with a prologue telling us that this was Andy’s favorite movie back in 1995, and that the Buzz Lightyear toy was from that movie. But stripping that foundational element from this spin-off leaves it sadly, feeling as if it has nothing to do with the Toy Story franchise.

Unless you’re okay with that separation, you’ll probably find yourself a bit underwhelmed by Pixar’s new sci-fi adventure that acts as an origin story, of sorts, for the Buzz Lightyear character.

Lightyear follows the legendary Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Chris Evans who takes over for Tim Allen) on an intergalactic adventure where we find him, along with his commander Alisha Hawthorne (voiced by Uzo Aduba), and a crew of more than 1,000 scientists and technicians heading home to Earth from their latest mission.

When Buzz detects a signal from a previously uncharted, potentially resource-rich planet, he makes the call to reroute the mission to the barely hospitable planet where an accident destroys their exploration vessel’s fuel cell rendering it inoperative.

As the crew accepts their fate and settles in for the long game, Buzz is consumed by the desire to fix his mistake and get everyone safely back to Earth. The key to getting their space ship up and running is perfecting the fuel cell that will get them up to hyper speed for the journey home. However, each test run lasts four minutes for Buzz, but four years for everyone back on their host planet. After each attempt, Buzz returns to find his friends and crew mates tour years older, having families, and eventually dying.

The film’s villain comes in the form of a giant robot who visits the planet with ideas of stealing their fuel cell technology for his own nefarious purposes. The robot’s identity is actually a quite nice little twist that will get the attention of the adults and sci-fi fans in the audience, but will undoubtedly confuse the youngsters with its heavy time dilation element. The math is complex, but hopefully Buzz’s summation will help when he says, “the faster I fly, the further into the future I travel.”

As expected, all the wholesome messaging we’ve come to expect from Pixar – things like believing in yourself, the importance of family, and the value of teamwork – is there. In addition, the CGI is some of the best the studio has ever done. But sorely missing is much of the whimsy and fun we’ve come to expect from a Toy Story film, particularly in the cocky ineptness of the old Buzz which brought about a playful mockery from his friends. In Lightyear, that familiar Buzz has been replaced by a less likable and more stubborn space ranger who ignores his friends and defies authority.

Another sorely missing element from director/co-writer Angus McLane’s Lightyear is the signature heart and humor we’ve come to expect from a Pixar film. While the occasional amusing quip from Buzz’s motley crew of space ranger colleagues – including Taika Waititi as Mo and Dale Soules as Darby – dots the landscape from time to time, nothing really sticks. Even the film’s court jester, a robotic sidekick cat named Sox (voiced by Peter Sohn), misses more often than not. In addition, it would be easy to point out the script’s (from MacLane, Matthew Aldrich, and Jason Headley ) inability to effectively tug on the ol’ heartstrings with real human emotions, but I’m not quite certain an attempt was even made.

Nonetheless, as previously mentioned, the CGI work here is absolutely stunning in both its beauty and technical prowess. Some scenes are so realistic it feels like animation over the top of conventional camera work, however, not sure if the video game look and feel is necessarily a good thing, as impressive visuals can only carry an anemic story so far.

“To infinity” … *yawns … “and beyond!”

4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital HD

Home Video Distributor: Disney/Pixar
Available on Blu-ray - September 13, 2022
Screen Formats: 2.39:1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos; English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1; English: Dolby Digital 5.1; English: Dolby Digital 2.0; Spanish: Dolby Digital Plus; 7.1French: Dolby Digital Plus 7.1
Discs: 4K Ultra HD; Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set
Region Encoding: 4K region-free; blu-ray locked to Region A

Disney/Pixar buzzes the home video tower with a pretty sweet 4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital Code Ultimate Collector's Edition that comes with a 4K UHD disc, a blu-ray dis, and a Movies Anywhere redemption coupon and a Disney Movie Club promo advertisement.

Also included is over an hour of bonus material, including Deleted scenes (which always seems silly in an animated film), several featurettes, as well as an audio commentary that is included on the blu-ray disc.

Video

As you might expect, the 2160p Ultra High Definition 2.39:1 picture is a thing of pure beauty with the blackest of blacks (particularly in the outer space scenes) that highlight the vibrant hues of the space suits or interiors of the spaceships. The first observation is how film-like the presentation looks with background scenes that look like they could be real. This ain't 1995's Toy Story!

Fast-forward to the 51:40 mark when our crew crash lands on the dark side of the planet. The scenes are bathed in deep blacks and dark indigo blues. Color saturation is spot on and absolutely gorgeous. Another noticeable factor of the entire presentation is the amount detail seen in nearly every scene. This is what 4k is made for!

Audio

Included are an English language Dolby Atmos, and english language Dolby TrueHD 7.1, an English language Dolby Digital 5.1, and english language Dolby Digital 2.0, a Spanish language Dolby Digital Plus 7.1, and a French language Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 track.

The Atmos track is a thing of beauty with the films making great use of the entire spectrum. Lasers and spaceships zoom across the top of the room, while the deep bass from the spaceships engines rattles the walls. This is the film that will really tax your system. Crank it up! Let's see what she's got! To infinity, and beyond!

Supplements:

Commentary:

• Filmmakers Commentary - With director Angus MacLane; Director of Photography Jeremy Lasky and Writer Jason Headley.

Special Features:

Included on the blu-ray disc is a handful of featurettes, deleted scenes and a fun filmmaker commentary. Must admit, we're a bit disappointed that, being a Collector's Edition, closer attention wasn't paid to the Bonus Features.

But all-in-all this is a very nice edition and exactly what 4K UHD format was made for.

• Building the World of Lightyear
• The Zap Patrol
• Toyetic
• Deleted Scenes
• Filmmaker Commentary

	Movie
	Video
	Audio
	Extras
Composite Blu-ray Grade

MPAA Rating: PG for action/peril.
Runtime: 110 mins
Director: Angus MacLane
Writer: Angus MacLane & Matthew Aldrich & Jason Headley
Cast: Chris Evans; Keke Palmer; Peter Sohn
Genre: Adventure | Comedy | Family
Tagline:
Memorable Movie Quote: "Buzz Lightyear mission log. After a full year of being marooned on this planet, our first test flight is a go."
Theatrical Distributor: Disney | Pixar
Official Site: https://movies.disney.com/lightyear
Release Date: June 17, 2022
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: September 13, 2022
Synopsis: While spending years attempting to return home, marooned Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear encounters an army of ruthless robots commanded by Zurg who are attempting to steal his fuel source.