Onward (2020)
March 22, 2020 7:11 AM - Subscribe
Set in a suburban fantasy world, two teenage elf brothers embark on a quest to discover if there is still magic out there.
Also the McElroys should have tried to get cameos in this movie instead.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 6:11 PM on March 23, 2020
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 6:11 PM on March 23, 2020
Was it any good? I love animation and Tom Holland, but I've read this is just ok. Is there anything great about it?
posted by mediareport at 6:17 PM on March 23, 2020
posted by mediareport at 6:17 PM on March 23, 2020
My six year old loved this, I really enjoyed it. As a father of two boys it was effective in making me cry. It is basically your odd couple road trip as per standard Pixar, but it at least makes a bit of an effort to actually have some active female characters, with the mum having a (much smaller) role to play.
The thing that got me is that the central conceit is that magic is hard work so the world switches to technology instead, but honestly it didn't seem that hard, and was able to accomplish lots of things technology couldn't.
posted by Cannon Fodder at 2:08 AM on March 24, 2020 [2 favorites]
The thing that got me is that the central conceit is that magic is hard work so the world switches to technology instead, but honestly it didn't seem that hard, and was able to accomplish lots of things technology couldn't.
posted by Cannon Fodder at 2:08 AM on March 24, 2020 [2 favorites]
I feel like the movie was trying to say "magic is hard work" but what it really said was "things were better when only a few people had magic instead of everyone having technology"
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 11:15 AM on April 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 11:15 AM on April 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
As a D&D guy and Disney customer-but-also-cynic, I had a hard time getting past the sense that what I was watching was Disney testing the waters of just how pervasive the current RPG wave is.
I found it enjoyable, but IMO almost everything thematic was laid on way too thick, even by Disney/Pixard standards. The exception was the emotional climax w/r/t Dad—it was so perfectly handled that I actually smiled to myself.
But Disney/Pixar really, really needs to knock it off with the adverb titles. This may the least justifiable of them.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 9:16 AM on April 6, 2020
I found it enjoyable, but IMO almost everything thematic was laid on way too thick, even by Disney/Pixard standards. The exception was the emotional climax w/r/t Dad—it was so perfectly handled that I actually smiled to myself.
But Disney/Pixar really, really needs to knock it off with the adverb titles. This may the least justifiable of them.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 9:16 AM on April 6, 2020
I felt so weird but I found this unwatchable, and I'll sit through almost anything. The combined feeling of the really-sad kid desperate for his dad and the kind of Weekend at Bernie's half-dad who couldn't hear, see or talk somehow just gutted me. Watching the kid in the early part of the movie try to eat breakfast and have it always be eaten by others or knocked out of his hands, it just felt weirdly traumatic. So I read about the movie later and it seems like it wraps up okay but MAN, this was a really heavy start to it with a kid who seemed like he was getting bullied and ignored and no one helped him!
posted by jessamyn at 5:57 PM on June 26, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by jessamyn at 5:57 PM on June 26, 2020 [3 favorites]
I laughed really hard at the dragon's eyebrows forming. That was a great gag.
The little bit of writing where the stranger at the McDonalds recognizes the kids sweater because it has the family name sewn on it just so he guy could tell him about his dad being bold and wearing purple socks bc socks were all we were really going to see of the dad. So strained the bolts were bursting out of the seams. My SO and I often remark aloud, "tight script", with various levels of sarcasm at the payoff for things like this.
There was a confusing moment when they got to the theme restaurant and for a second it looked like a surprise birthday party for Ian, but was a really cheap lame "ha ha annoying restaurants right" joke.
For awhile I was surprised at how small the scope was with just the two brothers as characters without fleshing anyone else out. Then I saw why it was doing it, for MAXIMUM FAMBLY, and I was like, ok I guess.
Overall, pretty serviceable, a bit clunky, not very inspired. But what can I say, I teared up when they panned over those photos at the end. Then my SO asked me what I thought Ian's wizard name would be and I said Ian the Iannoying.
posted by fleacircus at 2:51 PM on February 21, 2023
The little bit of writing where the stranger at the McDonalds recognizes the kids sweater because it has the family name sewn on it just so he guy could tell him about his dad being bold and wearing purple socks bc socks were all we were really going to see of the dad. So strained the bolts were bursting out of the seams. My SO and I often remark aloud, "tight script", with various levels of sarcasm at the payoff for things like this.
There was a confusing moment when they got to the theme restaurant and for a second it looked like a surprise birthday party for Ian, but was a really cheap lame "ha ha annoying restaurants right" joke.
For awhile I was surprised at how small the scope was with just the two brothers as characters without fleshing anyone else out. Then I saw why it was doing it, for MAXIMUM FAMBLY, and I was like, ok I guess.
Overall, pretty serviceable, a bit clunky, not very inspired. But what can I say, I teared up when they panned over those photos at the end. Then my SO asked me what I thought Ian's wizard name would be and I said Ian the Iannoying.
posted by fleacircus at 2:51 PM on February 21, 2023
Maybe my 3rd rewatch today and: I think this might well be the great lost Pixar movie? It just got buried by opening in theaters immediately before lockdowns; it's basically never spoken of; but it's really fucking good.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 10:57 PM on July 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 10:57 PM on July 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
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posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 2:05 PM on March 22, 2020 [4 favorites]