JASON EVANS' 100-WORD REVIEWS: Lightyear

Sub-par for Pixar

Film critic Jason Evans is on a mission to tell you everything you need to know about movies faster than a shot from a space blaster. His reviews are exactly 100 words long (99 is not enough but 101 is too much). Here is his 100-word review of Lightyear.

The Premise: Set hundreds of years in the future, Buzz Lightyear (the character, not the toy, voiced by Chris Evans) is a space ranger, tasked with protecting a ship full of scientists as they explore the galaxy. When they crash land on a planet full of dangerous creatures, Buzz vows to get them home by fixing the lightspeed drive on his ship. But when it fails again and again, Buzz finds this may be a mission he cannot accomplish on his own.

The 100 Words: More of a sci-fi adventure than an emotional story with lessons about the human condition, Lightyear is not up to Pixar’s usually high standards. It feels like it is aimed at children without having much for adults. I connected more with Buzz as a toy than as a human being and the side characters are paper thin and uninteresting (except for Buzz’s clever robotic cat, Sox). The animation is still first rate and the script moves at a good pace – you won’t hate it – but this never reaches the heights of other Toy Story films and certainly doesn’t go, “beyond.”    

Reach out to Jason Evans on Twitter @JasonDukeEvans