Onward - An Amazing Tale of Adventure with Truly Heartwarming Story

I did not really know about the existence of this movie until I saw its trailer 2 times last week. And personally I was not that interested at first until I saw that it was a Disney/Pixar production which had brought us many wonderful beautiful animated movies. So when it was announced there was advance ticket sale, I urged my wife to buy the tickets for last night during its wide release. OK, will go straight to the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Set in a fantasy world where various magical creatures live together, a young elf named Ian Lightfoot (Tom Holland - Spies in Disguise, Dolittle etc) was given a gift by his mother Laurel (Julia Louis-Dreyfus - A Bug's Life, Seinfeld TV series etc). It was a wizard's staff from Ian's late father which could bring him to life for 24 hours.


Together with Ian's older brother Barley (Chris Pratt - Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Passengers etc) who believed in magic, they tried the staff but unfortunately it only brought the lower part body of their father. With just one day to complete their father's body, Ian and Barley embarked on a magical adventure where they would face their toughest test as brothers.

And how would the story conclude? Find them all in this really lovely animated movie from Disney/Pixar. 

End of Brief Story Line

You know, at first I thought this movie would be a traditional animated film with lots of fun adventures and kid-friendly (read: aimed for younger children). And the first half of it seemed to be heading that way, with some enjoyable moments during Ian and Barley's journey to find the item for their "mission". But the second half (or rather the last one third) totally changed my opinion about this. It soon turned out to be a really heart warming story, with emotional moments that would definitely touch you. Those who have read my views on other movies would already guess how this one affected my wife, as this film had so many scenes that brought tears of emotions and joy. Even when typing this post I could remember those beautiful moments clearly which truly moved me.

Now the animation itself was definitely good just like any other similar movies from the same producers, but the beauty to me and my wife was the story itself. There were some scenes that would look quite breath taking in a 3D studio. Obviously you could opt to see it in the theater with such effect, but I personally think it would still be wonderful even if you see in normal studio. It also had enough colorful images and nicely done suspense moments during the journey that made the film interesting.

The voice cast in this film were really amazing. I loved the characterization of Ian and Barley by Tom Holland and Chris Pratt respectively, who brought to life these two wonderful elves. Julia Louis-Dreyfuss also did great job portraying their loving mother. In addition to those, there were also the amazing voice cast of Octavia Spencer (The Shape of Water, Ma etc) as Corey the manticore and Mel Rodriguez (The Last Man on Earth TV series etc) as Colt Bronco the centaur police officer.

The background music in here was also lovely, adding more emotions to certain scenes. There was one nice song that accompany us during the closing credit as well. Btw, no mid or post end credit scene in this film that had a duration of 103 minutes. This is a movie that would be safe for all ages with lots of emotional moments that would give the adults lots to appreciate. My wife and I truly enjoyed this movie, with her dubbing this as one of the best and her most favorite Disney/Pixar movie. So if you are in doubt, don't be! This movie is truly worth to see.

Mike's movie moments rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars