1 July 2022
Today, I went to watch Disney's and Pixar's Lightyear movie with my friends - Joyce, Kendall and Joseph.
About the movie
Lightyear is a animated science-fiction action-adventure film that serves as a spin-off to the Toy Story film series. However, unlike the Toy Story Series, the film does not take place in the same fictional universe. Also, in this movie, Buzz Lightyear is an actual human being instead of just one of Andy's toys in Toy Story 1-3 or Bonnie's in the fourth movie (that I watched during the flight to Melbourne on my school trip).
"In 1995, a boy named Andy got a Buzz Lightyear toy for his birthday. It was from his favorite movie. This is that movie."
The statement that opens the film, clarifying Lightyear to be a film within a film of the Toy Story franchise.
In this movie, a boy got a Buzz Lightyear toy based on his favorite movie in 1995. This is that movie. A human spacecraft searches for habitable planets 4.3 M light years from Earth. Buzz Lightyear and his best friend Alisha Hawthorne explore T'Kani Prime with a new recruit. During this time, they got no choice but to retreat back to their exploration vessel after discovering that the planet hosts hostile lifeforms. However, Buzz accidentally damages the vessel during the retreat by taking off at a wrong angle, hitting the top of a nearby mountain and forcing the crew to evacuate in order for repairs and journey resumption.
A year later, a nascent colony was built by the crew along with the necessary infrastructure to repair the vessel. During this time, a new hyperspace crystal was manufactured but was yet to be tested and deployed. Buzz, at this time, helped in testing the hyperspace fuel, a key component in the vessel repair. However, the test failed as the fuel was unstable and the ship failed to achieve hyperspace speeds. Despite failure, Buzz never given up on testing the fuel mix until they perfect it to continue the mission.
At this time, Buzz met Sox, a robotic feline who has been assigned to give him company and to work on the fuel stability problem. As there is time dilation, with four minutes of testing results in four more years passed on T'Kani Prime, until eventually over 62 years have passed. By then, Alisha was already given birth to her son, whom grew up and became married. Alisha eventually died of old age, and Sox improves the fuel's composition, allowing it to obtain faster-than-light speeds.
Defying the orders of Alisha's successor Commander Cal Burnside, Buzz proceeded to use the new fuel composition for a successful hyperspace test. However, he skips another twenty-two years into the future during which T'Kani Prime has been invaded by Zyclops robots led by Zurg, the robots' commander. Then, Buzz meets up with Alisha's granddaughter Izzy Hawthorne, and three others in the colony's defense forces. The three other individuals are Mo, Darby, and the robot DERIC. While initially reluctant to work with them, Buzz eventually warms to them to work on planning to attack Zurg's ship and destroy the invading force.
Izzy takes Buzz to an abandoned ship storage area, where Buzz managed to steal a ship, but has to take the others with him when they are attacked by giant critters. On their way to space. the ship is attacked by Zurg, by hitting Buzz's ship and forcing him to land on the dark side of the planet. This caused the ship's capacitor coil to be damaged, forcing the group to get one from an abandoned mine a few miles away. The Zurg tracks them down at the mine and attacks the group, but strangely only goes after Buzz. Buzz manages to escape, but the robots launched by Zurg manage to steal the hyperspace fuel sample from Buzz's ship.
Afterwards, Zurg abducts Buzz, bringing him aboard his ship where he reveals that he is an older version of him from an alternate time-line in which, after the successful hyperspace test, Burnside attempted to arrest him for stealing forced him to escape. Due to time dilation, he traveled to the far future, encountering a technologically advanced and abandoned vessel. He assumed Zurg's identity by wearing his signature Mecha suit, and traveled to the now-present to obtain more hyperspace fuel from Buzz in order to travel further back in time and prevent the exploration vessel from landing on T'Kani Prime in the first place. However, Buzz refuses due to the implications of the possible temporal paradox that would result from such actions, which would wipe out the current time-line and everyone from it. Meanwhile, Izzy, Mo, Darby, and Sox board Zurg's ship to assist Buzz. After a chaotic assault on the ship, Buzz and his comrades-in-arms destroy the ship and escape.
However, Zurg, having survived his ship's destruction before attacking Buzz and grabbing the hyperspace fuel. Buzz shoots the fuel, causing it to explode on Zurg. With the fuel gone, Buzz wishes to stay on T'Kani Prime. Upon landing, Burnside arrests Buzz, but relents, allowing Buzz to revive the Space Ranger Corps. Buzz selects Izzy, Mo, Darby, and Sox to form the core of this organization, much to Burnside's surprise. Buzz and his team are then sent off to a new adventure in parts unknown. In a post-credits scene, it is said that Zurg had survived the explosion.
Conclusion
After watching the film, I felt that the film resonates a lot more with Toy Story 2 compared to other films in the quadrology. Like back in Toy Story 2 during a moment where Buzz lose in a video game, Zurg is still the enemy of Buzz Lightyear in this movie. Also, Zurg reminded Buzz that he is the older Buzz just like in the Toy Story 2 ending where Zurg said that he is Buzz's father.
Also, I have this feeling that Lightyear is more of a young adult sci-fi film, unlike the Toy Story series geared for families. This is because of the concept of time travel and time dilation, which are already difficult for adults to understand, let alone a child. Also, there are numerous other things about this movie that I feel that could be disturbing to children, such as the lives of those Buzz left behind passing quickly while embarking on his missions, as well as the emotional result of death upon return.
