Buzz Lightyear Back to Infinity and Beyond

The most loved space ranger of the last 30 years has finally become the main character in his own movie, detailing his origins and creating a spin-off to one of the biggest film franchises of this generation. 

The concepts are great on paper, Buzz Lightyear tries to save the world after a mistake he’s made and loses important people along the way, a classic hero movie (no surprise he’s voiced by Chris Evans, known for playing Captain America.) The other concept being that this film is a prequel, meant to be set before 1995 when Toy Story came out as it’s Andy’s favourite film. Which is why he’s so excited to receive a toy Buzz for his birthday in the start of the first movie, but I thought it was a little disappointing on screen.

I like that we are being taken back in time without it being obvious or a focus point in the story, in fact, it never comes up. Maybe it’s me, but I think it would have been much more interesting if they had set it more to look like it was filmed in the early 90s. Instead, it is visually high-tech animation which makes look like it is set in the 2020s, let alone the 1990s.  It’s a minor detail and makes total sense as to why they decided to make it look the way they did, the technology we have now is much more advanced, but just for my liking, it would have made the film interesting and authentic.

Clearly, people of all ages were excited to see the film with every age group possible in attendance. Men by themselves, just kids when Toy Story came out. Groups of teenagers and families with young children. I loved this aspect, the fact that people who saw the first Toy Story in cinemas are now taking their children to the cinema to see the spin-off while being just as excited as their kids brings a certain nostalgic element.

I think this film is good as a stand-alone production compared to fitting it into the Toy Story universe. It’s definitely worth a watch if you enjoy the characters and want some backstory for Buzz. The new characters bring great representation in terms of race, sexuality and nationality which once again brings the movie world into the modern day real-world of its current audience that weren’t explored in the earlier movies. It’s fun, engaging and a brilliant family film that everyone can enjoy.

Words by Ben Wheeler