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Live Evil by Miles Davis

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Album

'Live-Evil' (1970) by Miles Davis is a double live album which features different settings of Miles...

George of the Jungle (1997)

6.6 (14 Ratings) Rate It

Movie Watch

George (Brendan Fraser) has raised himself since since he was a baby and a plane crash stranded him...

The Outdoor Woodfire Pizza Oven

John Pellicano

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Book

The arrival of the outdoor wood pizza oven into suburban backyards has opened up a new world for...

BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated Onward (2020) in Movies

Mar 25, 2020

Onward (2020)

2020 | Adventure, Animation, Comedy

8.1

(48 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Fun...but..."lesser" PIxar

I am a big fan of the PIXAR films. I am a big fan of Chris Pratt and Tom Holland. I am a big fan of Fantasy films (wizards, elves, dwarves and so on...) So when I heard there was going to be a Pixar flick featuring the voice talents of Pratt and Holland about characters in a Fantasy world, I was excited to check it out.

I should have lowered my expectations.

Don't get me wrong, ONWARD is a good film. It is whimsical, fantastic and fun. It just could have been better.

Set in a time where Elves, Faeries, Unicorns and Wizards exist, but they exist as "regular" people, going to jobs, going to school, living their lives...ONWARD tells the tale of 2 brothers (Pratt and Holland) who go on a magical quest to bring back their dead father - at least for one night.

It's a fun romp, but it's not a REALLY fun romp. And that's the issue with this film. It is all lower case - where the film could have been UPPER CASE (if you know what I mean). Holland and Pratt are good together, they are not GREAT together (like Tom Hanks and Tim Allen in TOY STORY or Billy Crystal and John Goodman in MONSTER'S INC.). Julia Louis-Dreyfuss is off-beat as their mother, but she isn't over-the-top WACKY as the mother. Octavio Spencer is "octane" as a former mythical creature that aids the boys - but she's not HIGH-OCTANE.

You get the drift.

I lay the fault of this on Director Dam Scanlon who's other Pixar Directorial effort, MONSTER'S UNIVERSITY suffered from a similar malaise. It was fun...not AWESOME FUN. The pacing of the film doesn't really help as there is no strong push to the goal in this film. I caught myself stirring in my seat as the film progressed...never a good sign.

Don't get me wrong, it is still a good film - the kids will like it. I just have come to expect more from PIXAR. I put Pixar films on 2 levels - GREAT Pixar films (the TOY STORY films, UP, WALL-E) and LESSER Pixar films (MONSTER'S UNIVERSITY, CARS 2, BRAVE).

I would put ONWARD in the LESSER category.

Letter Grade: B (even a "lesser" Pixar film is still above average)

7 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank (ofMarquis)