Although this movie only got two weeks in the theater thanks to coronavirus closures, you can’t blame the pandemic for its box office disappointment, as Onward had already underperformed. Plus nowadays a wide-release film is all about how it performs in the beginning; you can’t really recover from a weak opening.* Thus it makes sense that Disney decided to go ahead and make the film available to stream for a high fee when theaters first closed and now, after presumably writing it off as a loss, allow Disney Plus subscribers to watch it for free.

Too bad it came to that, because this is one of my favorite Pixar movies! I say that as someone who has seen all their non-sequel films** Although 2/3 of their last half-dozen movies have been sequels, the other 1/3 have had two of the most creative stories I’ve ever seen.

I’m sure I’ll end up writing about Coco at some point. I absolutely adore that movie, even saying that although I’ll always love the original Toy Story most for sentimental reasons Coco is a very close second among Pixar films.

Onward is another magnificent addition to that oeuvre. Two teenagers (milquetoast Ian and his spacey older brother Barley) have had to deal with the pain of their father dying when Barley was a toddler and Ian wasn’t even born. However, for Ian’s 16^th birthday, he receives a gift his late dad had wanted saved until that time: a chance to bring him back to life for 24 hours!

Unfortunately, although Ian is the only son who inherited his dad’s ability to perform magic, he didn’t inherit the passion for magic or the confidence Barley did. Thus he messes up his first attempt and dear old dad only comes back from the waist down. The good news is that Barley swears the magic game he cherishes is based on historical reality and they can find another one of the essential stones needed to perform the spell again.

What follows is an INCREDIBLY inventive, hilarious, and well-paced adventure, grounded by the pathos of these adolescents racing against time just to spend what’s left of one day with the father who had died before they could form many memories of him. Their longing for him is deeply moving and this is the best I have ever seen any movie celebrate brotherly love.

I cannot recommend Onward enough. Brilliant newest part of the Pixar legacy.

Agree? Disagree? Feel free to comment.

Bottom line: Thumbs way up!

Up Next: Another movie I had to get to.

*I previously talked about the evolution of movie box office timelines over the decades.

**I have no interest in watching Finding Dory, as I found Ellen DeGeneres annoying in the first one. I have surprised myself by not watching Cars 2 or Cars 3 though, as I will love Owen Wilson in anything!