Buzz Lightyear (Chris Evans) and his fellow space travellers get marooned on an inhospitable planet when their fuel source is destroyed. Lightyear taking on the role of test pilot loses years each time he undertakes an unsuccessful hyperspace flight but even whilst his friends age around him he is determined to finish the mission. Just as he thinks he will make it an even greater threat arrives – Zurg (James Brolin). 

Firstly, where does Lightyear sit in the world of the Toy Story franchise? Well a couple of title cards at the very beginning of this film clear that up. In 1995 a boy named Andy watched a film that he loved so much he got a toy of its hero. Lightyear was that film. Simple, right? Well let’s leave any more questions on that for later. 

This Lightyear plays out as an action packed science fiction movie with some light moral lessons on friendship, teamwork and family. In the main though it barely lets up whilst jumping from one action set piece to another. 

One negative facet of this approach is I do not recall it ever explaining what the original mission was or where Buzz and his ship were heading. We see Buzz woken from cryogenic sleep because the ship is nearing a possible habitable planet and he redirects them and they later talk of returning home. But where were they heading? Were they returning to Earth or on a mission to colonise another planet? Given that Buzz feels huge amounts of guilt for his decision to land on the planet they get marooned on it would seem pertinent to understand what he lost them. 

Conversely the film expertly plays out Buzz’s best friend Alisha (Uzo Aduba) ageing and having a life that he misses completely because of his mission. It may feel similar to a scene in Pixar’s Up but that does not mean it is any less effective as a tear jerker. 

Comic relief and frankly an absolute master stroke of genius is provided by a robot cat that Alisha gifts to Buzz called SOX (Peter Sohn). SOX is hilarious, cute and a hero that saves Buzz many times over. I suspect Disney may make a small fortune in toy products of this character rather than its titular hero. 

Lightyear is the sort of film that if you do not overanalyse it or if it was an original piece I think we would all be talking about as a stylish sci-fi action film for all the family. Chris Evans delivers a fine voice performance of the hero, the animation is spectacular and it has a break out character in SOX. The fact that it is a spin off of Toy Story does make it feel a bit incongruous though. It certainly does not live up to the depth of feeling or brilliance of that franchise and its reason for being makes you ask questions like; is Lightyear a live action film or a cartoon? Why did a different actor voice the toy? Could they not afford the star of the film? Should it not be in the style of a 1990’s blockbuster? And so on and so forth…

Honestly though, I really enjoyed it and I am glad it exists even if I have too many questions about that existence. 

Also, hang on for three post credits scenes. You will need to sit it out to the very, very end of the credits, beyond Pixar’s bouncing light logo to see everything.