We were provided tickets to the advanced screening. All opinions are my own.
Set in a suburban fantasy world, Disney and Pixar’s “Onward” introduces two teenage elf brothers who embark on an extraordinary quest to discover if there is still a little magic left out there. Ian and Barley Lightfoot, voiced by Tom Holland and Chris Pratt, are gifted a magic staff that will bring their late dad back to life for one day. The magic brings his legs back but leads the brothers on a quest to help find a magical stone to bring back the other half of him. Their quest is filled with obstacles and unimaginative discoveries. However, when the boys’ fearless moms, voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, realizes her sons are missing, she teams up with a former warrior– The Manticore, voiced by Octavia Spencer, and heads off to find them. Perilous curses aside, this one magical day could mean more than any of them ever dreamed. Pixar Animation Studios’ all-new original feature film is directed by Dan Scanlon and produced by Kori Rae—the team behind “Monsters University.” “Onward” releases in theaters on March 6, 2020.
Ashley’s Experience
As someone who has lost a parent, I would do almost anything to have one more day with my mom. I did expect this movie to pull at my heart strings and brought Kleenex in anticipation but was found that this movie was much funnier and light-hearted than expected. This movie took us on a race-the-clock adventure following Ian and Barley as they try to find a magic stone that will give them the magic needed to bring their dad back for one day. Barley is obsessed with all things related to magic but can be an unreliable leader in Ian’s eyes making the journey one that the brothers struggled whether to trust their head or their heart. The brothers encounter pixie bikers, car problems, a death defying bridge and so much more. One of my favourite parts was when they used magic to make a cheese puff into a life-sized raft to get down a tunnel faster. While I connected with this movie on a personal level because I could relate to the brothers desire to be with their loved one, my 12-year-old daughter found it a bit slow. One thing that she really liked about the movie was that Ian would make a list of personal goals to accomplish and she found that really relatable and inspiring.
Leah’s Experience
Just like Ashley, I too lost my mother, we lost her fairly recently – just over two years ago. I have never been the type of person to cry during a movie especially an animated film but, I found myself holding back tears. While there very were moments of intense emotion for me there were tons of moments of laughter. Disney truly found a way to bring your feelings to the surface while still keeping it kid-appropriate ( with some adult humor of course). It had my four-year-old boy on the edge of his seat most of the movie and even made my husband hysterically laugh at moments which is no easy feat. One of our favorite moments was with Guinevere (Barley’s van ) when he had to sacrifice her to stop the police from reaching them and stopping their quest. I really feel this film is great for any age. I know my family and many others walked out of the theatre talking about how much we all loved it. We can’t wait for it to come out on DVD!