Disney's Onward - SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

Short disclaimer with this one: this is a post that I've had backlogged for a while, and while I realize that the COVID-19 fiasco might make this post somewhat obsolete and prevent anyone from seeing this movie in theatres, I'm still releasing this review in hopes that maybe you'll still see it when it gets a home release, or find a way to pirate it while you're still in self-isolation (which I won't condone on a public forum, but hey, I don't know your life.)

Either way, hope you still enjoy!

In the short amount of time that its been up and running, my goal with CULTURETAP has always been to embark on new creative endeavours and expand my horizons in areas of writing and rhetoric that make me uncomfortable. I'm assuming you read the title, so you might be wondering what kind of madwoman would be made uncomfortable by watching and then talking about a Disney movie. Let me explain.

Much like my last movie review, I had little to no intention of seeing this movie at any point in time. At least with Birds of Prey (which you can read my review of here, *wink wink*) I had a previous love for the characters involved and enough of a passing interest in it to check it out. With Onward, however, my only personal connection to the film was the fact that the main characters happen to share my last name (which is not a confidence boost, considering this is a freaking fantasy movie that features the adventures of two ELVES) and the fact that it stars Tom Holland, who in my mind, is just irresistible. I mean, look at him.

What. A. Man.

But my creepy celebrity crush aside, there wasn't enough there to make me want to see it. I had even less incentive to review it. I mean, I'm not an authority on the subject at all. This is my first review of a "family/all-ages" film, and honestly, my initial thought process was that I would kind of feel like a jerk for nitpicking at something so wholesome. Plus, I'm more of a classic Disney fan if anything, and and even though I've seen a fair amount of modern Disney, I sort of dropped off the bandwagon when Pixar films started to become more and more common and feature-length Disney films in 2D essentially ceased to exist. So when my boyfriend (who is much more of a new-age Disney fan than myself) expressed his strong interest in seeing Onward with me, I thought I might seize the opportunity to put myself out of my comfort zone and finally critically analyze something that isn't Marvel or DC related.

Alas, here we are. This is my take on Onward. Also, there's no spoilers in this review. Obviously.

Going into this film, I feared what I think is the obvious when it comes to being 19 years old and watching a PG-rated Disney movie: I thought it wouldn't be much more than a predictable, generic Pixar adventure that might bore me to death. While I can't say that Disney surprised me a ton in terms of plot, characterization and dialogue, this movie is far from boring.

I accept that the reason I had this preconceived notion was probably just because I was subconsciously judging them based on older Disney movies that I love and leaving the nostalgia glasses on, so I'm pleasantly surprised to say that this movie was successful in forcefully taking those glasses off for me.

A major highlight for me was the performances of Tom Holland (yeah, shut up, I know) and Chris Pratt as brothers Ian and Barley, as well as the supporting performances of Octavia Spencer as the Manticore and Julia Louis Dreyfus as the mother of our two heroes, Laurel. I'll reserve no judgement here: from seeing trailers and promotional material, I really expected to be annoyed by Barley as a character specifically, as well as side characters such as the Manticore and Laurel. They seemed way too "Disney" for me, and being the cynic I am, I truly thought Ian would be the only bearable one. I was proven wrong in this notion though. I honestly think I forgot about the all-star cast that this movie has, and I think because of said cast, almost every major character hits the nail on the head for me. Additionally, dialogue in this movie walks the perfect line between classic Disney charm and plot progression, something I had a problem with in other recent Disney flicks like Frozen and Finding Dory.

Another part of Onward that pleasantly surprised me was how well-handled the semi-dysfunctional, differently oriented sibling dynamic was between Ian and Barley. I mentioned Frozen earlier, and while my judgments on that movie are for another day, I think Onward is a MUCH better film in terms of sending the whole "we may have our differences but we're still siblings" message. The plot intelligently gives the brothers a common goal, but designs the characters so that they have different ideas of completing it, while still maintaining the idea that either of them could be the one that solves the problem at hand and ultimately reach the aforementioned goal. As the eldest of two siblings who sees my sister as the polar opposite of myself in many ways, it hit home.

My final major highlight in this film, strangely enough, was the setting. I can't say for certain that this sort of thing hasn't been done before (because again, I haven't really kept up with new Disney films as of late) but I really enjoyed the mix of fantasy characters and tropes with the backdrop of modern suburbia that the film was set in. The little details included are what make this a standout for me, like how the houses look like giant mushrooms, mystical taverns and landmarks are being converted into things like restaurants and office buildings, and Barley's van is stylized to have a unicorn on the side of it (and is referred to with a very medieval sounding name: Guinevere). The culture around magic and wizardry mixing with familiar modern living is an interesting thing to watch, but I won't go too far into that for the sake of spoilers.

While this film pleasantly surprised me in the ways I stated above, it's obviously by no means my favourite. There were instances where the plot was honestly pretty predictable, but I really can't fault it for that considering where I'm coming from as an audience member. However, I really do have to commend this movie for taking this cynical, unenthusiastic teenager from being incredibly uninterested to reasonably entertained. Parents - I realize your struggle with picking and choosing movies for you and your kids to watch that won't make you want to rip your own hair out, and for that reason, I recommend this film to you. I also recommend this film to anyone who needs a little time away from the world right now. With everything going on, I can imagine this film being something good to tune out to - it certainly did that for me.

Overall rating: 7.5/10