To infinity and beyond it … to streaming.
If you missed Pixar’s Lightyear in theaters, you have a second chance. As of today, the movie is now available on Disney+.
The film stars Chris Evans — not Tim Allen, who was definitely very chill about the whole not being Buzz Lightyear thing — as the “real” Buzz, or at least the voice of the character in Lightyear, which was presented as the old movie that Andy from the Toy Story franchise saw as a kid and fell in love with, prompting him to want that Buzz action figure we saw in those movies.
Lightyear got decent reviews from critics, but it failed to score at the box office, earning just $215 million worldwide against a reported budget of $200 million, making it the lowest-grossing film in the entire history of Pixar besides Onward, which came out just before the Covid pandemic began shutting down theaters. The previous three Pixar movies — Soul, Luca, and Turning Red — all went straight to Disney+, bypassing theaters entirely.
Lightyear was on the lower end of recent Pixar movies; Turning Red and Soul were both definitely better, but it was about on par or slightly better than Luca. Still, it was a fun and entertaining sci-fi movie with some interesting themes. Here is an excerpt from our review:
If we’re being totally honest, Lightyear doesn’t quite live up to its premise. A series of opening title cards explains that in 1995, a kid named Andy got a Buzz Lightyear action figure for his birthday because he adored a movie — this movie. I was about Andy’s age in 1995, and I can tell you; they didn’t make movies this good-looking, thoughtful, or sensitive back then. Taken on its own merits, though, Lightyear works.
In other words, if you stayed away because of the bad buzz (Ha! Can you believe this website is free?) it‘s worth at least sampling the film on streaming. If you’ve already got a Disney+ subscription, what do you have to lose?
Sign up for Disney+ here.
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