Pixar’s Onward asks a question most of its studio’s films never bother with: what if the magic was already gone? Dan Scanlon’s 2020 feature opens in a world of mythical creatures who once mastered sorcery, then let it slip away as technology made everything easier. By the time we meet Ian and Barley Lightfoot, spellcasting is a hobby for history buffs and nobody else. That is a strong premise for a family film, and for its first hour Onward almost earns it. Then the movie settles for the safer, softer story underneath.
The film runs 102 minutes and carries an adventure-comedy-fantasy tag, but its real subject is grief. Scanlon based the concept on his own father, who died in a car accident when Scanlon and his older brother were very young. He started writing after hearing an audio clip of his father’s voice. That personal root shows — in the good scenes and in the ones that strain.
Trailer, via Pixar.
Two Elf Brothers and a Phoenix Gem
Ian Lightfoot (voiced by Tom Holland) is a teenage elf with no confidence. Barley (Chris Pratt) is his older brother, impulsive and enthusiastic about role-playing games. Their father, Wilden (Kyle Bornheimer), died shortly before Ian was born. Their mother Laurel (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is dating a centaur police officer, Colt Bronco (Mel Rodriguez), whom the brothers dislike.
On Ian’s 16th birthday, Laurel gives them a gift Wilden left behind: a magical staff, a rare Phoenix gem, and a letter describing a “visitation spell” that can resurrect him for one day. Ian casts it. Barley interrupts him. Only the lower half of Wilden’s body reforms before the gem disintegrates.
So the quest begins — not to bring a father back, but to finish a spell before sunset. The brothers take Barley’s van, Guinevere. Laurel finds them gone and follows.
The Manticore’s Tavern Is the Best Idea Here
The brothers visit the Manticore’s Tavern looking for a map. The place was once a gathering spot for would-be adventurers. Now it is a family restaurant run by the Manticore herself, going by “Corey” (Octavia Spencer). During an argument with Ian over the map, Corey realizes how mundane her life has become. She drives out her customers in a rage and accidentally sets fire to the map and the restaurant.
That sequence is the film’s sharpest writing. A legendary beast reduced to managing a themed menu is a real joke with a real sadness under it, and Spencer plays the turn from hostess to monster with genuine force. The only clue left after the fire is a children’s menu pointing to Raven’s Point, a nearby mountain.
Laurel arrives soon after and befriends Corey. Corey warns her that the brothers’ journey may awaken a curse that only her special sword can defeat. It is a lot of plot, and the movie handles it cleanly.
A Cast Doing More Than the Script Needs
The voice roster is deep, and several performers are better than their screen time.
- Tom Holland as Ian Lightfoot
- Chris Pratt as Barley Lightfoot
- Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Laurel Lightfoot
- Octavia Spencer as The Manticore
- Mel Rodriguez as Officer Colt Bronco
- Kyle Bornheimer as Wilden Lightfoot
- Lena Waithe as Officer Spector
- Ali Wong as Officer Gore
- Tracey Ullman as Grecklin
- Wilmer Valderrama as Gaxton
- John Ratzenberger as Construction Worker Fennwick
Holland and Pratt recorded most of their lines separately, though some sessions were together. Scanlon said the two had worked together before and hung out together. Rae stated that the pair improvised some of their lines while recording together. That ease comes through. The brother scenes are the ones that hold.
Six Years of Development, and It Shows in Places
Onward was announced at D23 Expo in July 2017. The title and voice cast were revealed in December 2018. Development lasted six years. The animation team studied several animated films featuring magic to give Onward‘s spellcasting a unique style that fit a suburban setting. Mychael and Jeff Danna composed the score. Brandi Carlile contributed an original song for the end credits.
You can see the six years in the world-building. The suburban-fantasy premise is consistent and specific: centaurs in police uniforms, a once-magical civilization that traded wonder for convenience. The film never breaks its own rules. It also never pushes them as far as it could.
The Spell Only Half Works, and So Does the Movie
Here is the central problem. Onward builds its entire emotional engine on a deadline — sunset, one day, a father restored. Then it spends most of its middle act on a road trip that keeps the father literally in the back seat, a pair of legs with no voice. That is a deliberate choice, and it is a clever one. It is also a choice that drains tension from scene after scene.
The film wants to be about the brothers, not the father. Fair. But the brothers’ dynamic is standard Pixar sibling math: the anxious one and the reckless one, learning from each other. Barley’s knowledge of role-playing games becomes useful. Ian finds his courage. None of it is wrong. None of it surprises.
What does land is the ending’s real argument — that Ian already had a parent who raised him, and it was Barley. That is a genuine idea, and the movie earns it. It just takes a long, flat road to get there.
Where the Story Sits Against the Studio’s Best
Onward premiered at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2020, and its theatrical run was cut short within weeks. That is bad luck, not bad filmmaking. But it is worth separating the two, because the movie’s defenders often blur them.
Judged on its own, Onward is a mid-tier Pixar film with a top-tier premise. It is more personal than most of the studio’s recent output, and it is less funny than it thinks it is. The Manticore’s curse, the sword, the cops — all of it gets folded in and then folded away.
The film’s tagline is “Their quest beginneth.” The quest, unfortunately, mostly endeth in the expected place.
What Actually Matters Here
The detail that matters is the personal one. Scanlon built this film out of his own father’s death and his relationship with his older brother, and that is why the final scene works when so much around it does not. The detail that is noise is the elaborate magic system. It is well designed and largely decorative.
Onward is worth watching for Spencer’s Manticore, for the Guinevere van, and for a last act that understands something true about who actually raises a kid. It is not worth defending as a great film. It is a good one with a hole in the middle, and the hole is exactly where the movie’s best idea should be.
The published critical score sits at 6.1/10, with a Metacritic mark of 61/100. That feels right. Onward is a film you admire more than you enjoy, and remember for one scene rather than for all of them.
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