Tom Holland and Chris Pratt voice elf brothers searching for some magic in the world in the trailer for Pixar’s upcoming animated movie, Onward. While the majority of the studio’s recent sequels (Finding Dory, Incredibles 2, Toy Story 4) have been well-received, they’ve also left some fans wondering when Pixar will be getting back to prioritizing original films. Thankfully, that’s exactly what they’re doing; the home of Woody and Buzz Lightyear currently doesn’t have any sequels in the pipeline, and has even scheduled a pair of original features to hit theaters in 2020 alone.
Up first is Onward, a movie set in an urbanized fantasy world where creatures like elves, centaurs, dragons, and more use modern technology in their day to day lives instead of magic. Marvel Cinematic Universe actors Holland and Pratt lend their voices to the film as elvish brothers Ian and Barley Lightfoot, who go off looking for some magic in the hopes of being able to spend a day with their father (who passed away when they were took young to remember him).
Inspired by writer-director Dan Scanlon’s relationship with his real-life brother and father (who similarly died when Scanlon and his sibling were very young), Onward has all the ingredients necessary to make for another funny, touching, and otherwise wondrous addition to Pixar’s filmography. The teaser trailer released back in May was more focused on introducing the film’s setting than anything else, but now there’s an official trailer that dives deeper into the story at hand. Tak a look, below.
The new trailer for Onward continues to play up the visual comedy inherent to the idea of fantasy archetypes living in suburbia, but also explains why Ian and Barley have to set out in search of some extra magic in the first place (namely, to complete a spell that will bring their dad back in full for a whole day, and not just his legs). Much like Scanlon’s previous Pixar film, Monsters University, it seems Onward will play out as a typical buddy movie in a setting that’s not so different from the real world. Well, except for the tiny feral unicorns, pixie biker gangs, and the Manticore (Octavia Spencer) who manages a restaurant, that is.
As much as the marketing continues to emphasize the film’s wacky plot and weird setting, it’s worth remembering that Onward, at its core, is still a story about a pair of siblings who just want to spend more time with the parent they barely knew. Monsters University, like most Pixar movies, had a beating heart beneath its zany monsters-in-college setup, so there’s fair reason to believe that Onward will have a similarly touching message to go with all the fantasy creature hijinks teased in the trailers.
Source: Disney-Pixar
- Onward Release Date: 2020-03-06
