I really wasn't looking forward to this one.
From the trailer, it looked like it was another dead parent movie, specifically dead dad, and at this time in my life, that's not a ride I really wanted to take. My daughter wanted to go, however, and as far as I can tell, her dad isn't dead. In fact, that dude is (currently) alive and well.
Even if Pixar is always trying to kill him.
For most of you, the last word you'd use to describe Pixar's Onward would be 'sneaky', but that's probably because you weren't bracing yourself as the lights went down. Assuming that Pixar was coming for my heart with the deceased father angle, I spent a good portion of the first hour steeling myself for the inevitable emotional outpouring. My dad was, at the time, less than a week out from major surgery, so I had to be ready for the moment, which in a way, never came.
Wait, what?
It turns out, Onward isn't about the relationship a young boy has with his father (or at least not really). It's instead a rather poignant story about brotherhood and those family ties that have nothing to do with our parents. I grew up as the middle of five kids and being that we've never all lived under the same roof, have punched the clock as the baby, the middle child, and the oldest kid in the house. Needless to say, I saw pieces of myself in both Ian and Barley.
Tom Holland plays the aforementioned Ian, a pretty shy high-school kid, struggling to find his way in the mythical/magical world of New Mushroomton (sounds like my favorite Mario Kart track). His older brother, Barley (Chris Pratt [and somehow not Jack Black]) is a bit of loser, obsessing over role-playing games and consistently (though inadvertently) embarrassing his brother. Barley's a good dude, but when you look at him through Ian's eyes...well, anyone's eyes, honestly...he's a bit...much.
From the trailer, it looked like it was another dead parent movie, specifically dead dad, and at this time in my life, that's not a ride I really wanted to take. My daughter wanted to go, however, and as far as I can tell, her dad isn't dead. In fact, that dude is (currently) alive and well.
Even if Pixar is always trying to kill him.
Wait, what?
It turns out, Onward isn't about the relationship a young boy has with his father (or at least not really). It's instead a rather poignant story about brotherhood and those family ties that have nothing to do with our parents. I grew up as the middle of five kids and being that we've never all lived under the same roof, have punched the clock as the baby, the middle child, and the oldest kid in the house. Needless to say, I saw pieces of myself in both Ian and Barley.
Tom Holland plays the aforementioned Ian, a pretty shy high-school kid, struggling to find his way in the mythical/magical world of New Mushroomton (sounds like my favorite Mario Kart track). His older brother, Barley (Chris Pratt [and somehow not Jack Black]) is a bit of loser, obsessing over role-playing games and consistently (though inadvertently) embarrassing his brother. Barley's a good dude, but when you look at him through Ian's eyes...well, anyone's eyes, honestly...he's a bit...much.
