In addition to a litany of Star Wars and Marvel projects that will soon be filling out the Disney+ library, the Mouse House’s recent Investor Day event brought the announcement of a Toy Story spin-off being developed by Pixar. Lightyear will focus on Buzz, but not the child’s plaything we know from the acclaimed quadrilogy; the real Space Ranger, who will be played by Chris Evans.
From Evans’ casting in the role to the debatably cash-grab nature of the project, a lot about Lightyear has some fans worrying that it’ll be the modern equivalent of an early 2000s direct-to-DVD Disney sequel. But nevertheless, it’s an exciting project, with a lot of talented people involved.
Right off the bat, the thing that has fans most skeptical about the Buzz Lightyear spin-off is that Buzz won’t be played by Tim Allen, who’s been voicing him for 25 years and made the character who he is; he’ll be played by Chris Evans.
While it’s not technically a recasting because Lightyear’s Buzz is supposed to be a separate character, the idea of a different actor playing Buzz isn’t sitting right with a lot of Pixar diehards.
A Buzz Lightyear not played by Tim Allen sounds like it’ll be a tough pill to swallow, but there’s as much of a chance it’ll turn out more like Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi than Alden Ehrenreich’s Han Solo. Chris Evans is a great actor, which he’s proven with both his impossible-not-to-love Steve Rogers and supporting roles in movies like Knives Out.
Evans has said that there’s no replacing Tim Allen and that’s not what he’s trying to do. It seems like he’s as big a Toy Story fan as anyone and he understands the weight of this undertaking.
The in-universe canon of Buzz Lightyear has been covered pretty extensively over the years. It’s even in the mainline Toy Story series: Rex plays a Buzz video game that spills into the real world when Zurg escapes from his box in Toy Story 2.
If Toy Story fans want to know about Buzz’s canon, they can just check out the cartoon series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command and the video game adaptation of the same name.
Buzz had plenty of fun moments in Toy Story 4, but the fact that he was sidelined in the story suggests that the Pixar team ran out of things to do with him. The character himself didn’t go stale, but the story potential withered.
The new Lightyear movie aims to give Toy Story fans more Buzz without dragging out the character arc of Andy’s Buzz any further. The adventures of the “real” Buzz Lightyear will give fans a new angle on a beloved character.
While Finding Nemo’s Andrew Stanton returned to write and direct the belated sequel, he brought on a co-director for the project: Angus MacLane. MacLane has also been tapped to helm Lightyear.
He’s a serviceable filmmaker, but MacLane’s only previous feature directorial work was Finding Dory, a Pixar spin-off that struggled to justify its existence — the same obstacle that Lightyear will face.
When John Lasseter’s history of inappropriate behavior was revealed in the #MeToo movement, the Toy Story director left his position as Pixar’s chief creative officer. He was replaced by Pete Docter, a six-time Oscar nominee and one of Pixar’s key figures.
Docter is the director of Monsters, Inc., Up, and Inside Out and he’s attached to Lightyear as an executive producer. The movie’s in safe hands: Docter’s track record as a filmmaker is flawless.
One of the most exciting things about Lightyear is the visual possibilities of exploring the world of Star Command. It could see Pixar’s animators taking inspiration from pulpy works like Flash Gordon and Star Trek. But the studio has already done sci-fi — and nailed it.
As both a thought-provoking cautionary tale about a fast-approaching future and a spacefaring cinematic spectacle, WALL-E ranks alongside the best that sci-fi cinema has to offer. It’s like 2001 or Silent Running for kids.
While the exact plot hasn’t been confirmed, Lightyear has been described as an origin story for Buzz. Origin stories are most commonly associated with superheroes, and they tend to make for predictable movies as they follow all the familiar beats.
But non-superhero origin movies — like Casino Royale’s origin story for James Bond and, hopefully, Lightyear’s origin story for Buzz — can be really great.
When the Cars franchise proved to be mildly popular, the universally panned Planes franchise was spun off from it. There’s a nagging feeling that Lightyear will be the Toy Story equivalent of Planes.
Although Pixar itself is making Lightyear, unlike the Planes movies, which were produced by a different subsidiary, it still has the feel of an unnecessary spin-off churned out to get butts in seats.
Pixar has recently lost its cred as a studio with a spotless track record, thanks to missteps like Cars 2 and other unnecessary sequels, but that record is still much closer to spotless than the average studio. They’ve never made a movie that’s truly terrible and, more often than not, their movies transcend “watchable children’s entertainment” and evoke a wide range of emotions so effectively that they can be enjoyed by audiences of all ages.
The whole premise of Lightyear smacks of milking the Toy Story cash cow (especially after Toy Story 4) but after Pixar has delivered so many masterpieces over the years, they’ve earned our faith.
