Review: Onward

A Wizard did it.

Okay, lets talk Onward, by Pixar. I saw this on Sunday, and I really think it took a few days before I could talk about it. This movies is another original tale, and has one of the more often ignored modern fantasy settings. The trick to this modern fantasy setting is that unlike there being humans and a masquerade that needs to be maintained, there are no humans and this is a fantasy setting where technology evolved and supplanted magic. We will circle back to that in a bit. Ian and Barely Lightfoot have magically summoned the bottom half of their father back to life for twenty four hours. They go on a quest to find another magic gem they can use to finish the spell so they can talk to him before the spell ends.
Lets get some other bits out of the way first. The cinematography is great and the animation is outstanding. And whoever came up with the manticore mascot jokes needs all the monies. The Dungeons and Dragons jokes were on point, and whats more they didn't drive them into the ground. It was one of my worries in any case.

But lets talk some spoiler like talk. The themes built into this movie are pretty up front, no need for subtlety. Between the thought of what would you do to get just one more day with a loved one, and that sometimes a father figure isn't your father; there is quite a bit for the movie to talk about.

There is even a running theme of people not doing amazing things because they have some kind of technology in the way. Quick shout out to the Manticore, the Biker Fairies, and Colt Bronco. All of them can either do awesome flying things or running things, but don't because they have technology interfering with it in various ways. The Manticore spent so much time running her inn, she stopped flying. on a related point, you could write a large essay on how this movie hows off the modern service/retail industry. Colt is just to lazy to run at 70 miles an hour, so he just drives and is way out of shape. In fact the main reason there is no magic currently is that real life technology is just easier to use with less study.

Overall the humor is great, though the more familiar with RPG's the better your experience will be. There were chunks of the story that will seem a bit too foreshadowed, and thus more like an easy coincidence. Finally, I am happy that the adult authority figures were continually competent and did not regularly hold the idiot ball. Of course having gotten this far I now realize the eventual sequel is going to be 100% about how Magic will just destroy this society.