{"id":7675,"date":"2020-03-05T18:35:19","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T23:35:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pixarplanet.com\/blog\/?p=7675"},"modified":"2020-03-05T18:35:19","modified_gmt":"2020-03-05T23:35:19","slug":"onward-and-upward-pixars-onward-marks-a-glowing-start-to-the-2020s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pixarplanet.com\/blog\/onward-and-upward-pixars-onward-marks-a-glowing-start-to-the-2020s\/","title":{"rendered":"Onward And Upward! Pixar\u2019s Onward Marks A Glowing Start To The 2020s"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It feels fitting that <em>Onward <\/em>is Pixar\u2019s first movie of the decade. It is Pixar\u2019s first \u2018original movie\u2019 (a phrase which I have some contention with to be honest since I feel all of Pixar\u2019s sequels are wonderfully original) since 2017. It is beautiful and bittersweet, and it shines a glowing staff upon Pixar\u2019s bright and exciting future as we enter a new era for the studio.<br \/>\nIt\u2019s well-known that many of Pixar\u2019s movies take inspiration from the filmmakers\u2019 own personal experiences, but the story of <em>Onward <\/em>feels like the most personal one yet. Director Dan Scanlon lost his dad when he was just a year old, and this true-to-life concept of growing up without a dad, and with no memories of even having one, is thoughtfully and tenderly explored throughout the movie. The plot is simple, leaving room for the movie\u2019s relationships and its deeply moving message.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7676\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.us-east-1.wasabisys.com\/upcomingpixar\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Onward-International-Trailer-7.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"792\" \/><br \/>\nBrothers Ian and Barley live in a world that is both familiar and unfamiliar. <em>Onward <\/em>is a modern fantasy, and it takes that genre title very seriously. Wherever there\u2019s an opportunity, <em>Onward <\/em>plays with this mixture of modern and fantastical \u2013 you can see this in the satisfyingly clashing settings, the character designs, and you can even hear it in the music. The soundtrack can go from Lord of the Rings vibes to dance party in a heartbeat, and that weird juxtaposition feels so <strong>good<\/strong>.<br \/>\nThe plot may be simple, but that\u2019s not to say that it\u2019s \u201cbeen done before\u201d: Two brothers set out on a quest together to spend an extra 24 hours with their deceased dad. But get this \u2013 the dad\u2019s pre-arranged magical spell didn\u2019t quite work and he is just a pair of legs.<br \/>\n\u2026It\u2019s really fun explaining the plot of <em>Onward <\/em>to people who haven\u2019t come across it yet (luckily I don\u2019t think that\u2019ll be a problem for much longer).<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7671\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.us-east-1.wasabisys.com\/upcomingpixar\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/spell.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2048\" height=\"2048\" \/><br \/>\nDeath and grief are heavy subjects, but <em>Onward <\/em>talks about them anyway. Ian and Barley (and Scanlon\u2019s family) never had the choice to shy away from these topics \u2013 they were rooted right in the centre of their lives. <em>Onward <\/em>talks about the difficulties that come from family loss, but also about how people adapt, and how life keeps going. This serious premise may be a large part of the movie\u2019s heart, but as we follow the brothers on their quest, we also see a great cast of characters, brilliant voice acting, stunning animation (the way they got a pair of legs to have so much character is amazing), lighting, and settings, and an impressive number of well-thought-out fantasy references. My personal favourite is the gelatinous cube \u2013 the first mention of it brought back memories of fighting a bizarre gelatinous cube boss in Final Fantasy X on the PS2. Fantasy tropes are weird and wonderful. And, unsurprisingly, so is <em>Onward<\/em>!<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7677\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.us-east-1.wasabisys.com\/upcomingpixar\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Capture0010.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1907\" height=\"768\" \/> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7678\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.us-east-1.wasabisys.com\/upcomingpixar\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Capture0125.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1919\" height=\"778\" \/> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7679\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.us-east-1.wasabisys.com\/upcomingpixar\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Onward-Trailer-4.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"806\" \/><br \/>\n<em>Onward <\/em>officially releases <strong>tomorrow<\/strong> (March 6<sup>th<\/sup>). I saw it on February 29<sup>th<\/sup> \u2013 special sneak previews were available across the globe on Leap Day to encourage people to spend that extra 24 hours with a loved one. You don\u2019t need it to be Leap Day to do that though.<br \/>\n<em>Onward\u2019s <\/em>jokes and gags will make you laugh, its characters will immediately find a place in your heart, and its ending \u2013 it\u2019ll stay with you indefinitely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"tmnf_excerpt\"><p>It feels fitting that Onward is Pixar\u2019s first movie of the decade. It is Pixar\u2019s first \u2018original movie\u2019 (a phrase which I have some contention with to be honest since I feel all of Pixar\u2019s sequels are wonderfully original) since 2017. It is beautiful and bittersweet, and it shines a glowing staff upon Pixar\u2019s bright &hellip;<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":7676,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[346,49],"tags":[347,212],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Onward And Upward! Pixar\u2019s Onward Marks A Glowing Start To The 2020s - Upcoming Pixar<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pixarplanet.com\/blog\/onward-and-upward-pixars-onward-marks-a-glowing-start-to-the-2020s\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Onward And Upward! 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