April 12, 2020
Movie Review: Onward
As a family, we got to watch a new movie called “Onward” (Disney/Pixar) recently. Curled up on our couch, eating tangerines instead of popcorn, we also got to discuss this movie during the end credits.
I was pleasantly surprised at this movie.
(Spoiler Alert! If you haven’t seen the movie and want to watch it without knowing the end, don’t read any further!)
In this technologically advanced world that mirrors our own, mythical creatures have lost their magic and settled for the easier way of doing almost everything. Fairies don’t fly. Centaurs don’t run fast. Elves don’t go on quests. Wizards don’t exist.
The only relics of magic are mirrored in a game that young adults play like our Dungeons and Dragons.
The protagonist is a 16-year-old elf named Ian whose older brother, Bailey, is lost to this “gaming” world and set a little in the past with his audio cassette tapes and 70s roadie van he built himself like a hot-rod. Ian never knew his father. His mother’s centaur policeman boyfriend is a far cry from the father figure he is looking for.
After a bummer of a birthday, Ian and Bailey are given a special present from their late father – a staff and crystal and a spell that supposedly will let him come back for 24 hours to see who his boys grew up to be.
So the spell doesn’t work. Mom leaves. Bailey enters as Ian is actually making the spell work – and enters half-dad. Yes, Ian brought back a walking pair of pants with purple socks and leather shoes. Bailey knows it’s his dad because of a tap-tap on shoes game they used to play.
The boys go on a quest (based on Bailey’s game knowledge) to find another crystal and bring their father all the way back.
They end up finding the crystal but releasing a curse (huge dragon made of weird stones pulled from their school and a construction site) as the sun is going down (when dad will disappear).
Ian has realized that his real father figure is Bailey and that Bailey is the one who must speak with dad because he blames himself for being scared of the hospital and missed his chance to say goodbye to his dad in real life. Ian starts the spell to bring dad back and leaves him with Bailey so he can fight the dragon. Mom and a manticore bring in a magic sword to kill the dragon (she was on her own side quest). Through teamwork, the curse is destroyed, Ian uses magic to repair all of the dragon damage, Bailey gets to say goodbye to his dad, and magic reenters the lives of some of the people; the biker fairies are now flying, policeman centaur boyfriend is now running, and Ian now is a wizard.
The theme is love: Mom’s love for her sons and the brother’s love for each other. The lesson of enjoying what you have instead of wishing for what you don’t is also there. Ian wishes for the father he’s never known and wants to be like him while ignoring or disregarding his elder brother until he realizes that all the love he was searching for in a father figure has been coming from his brother all of his life.
We discussed how it is very easy to focus on what we want but don’t have yet miss what God has given us. In every situation, our character shines with how we choose to handle said situation. I choose to focus on what is with me now. Right now, I’m thankful to still have a job when so many I know are suddenly unemployed. I’m thankful to be able to play more board and outside games with Christina and Becky – all the girls, but they had started to get heavily involved in extracurricular activities and with Christina driving, I had seen less and less of her. Forced online college courses and the closing of CAP and the gym mean I get to hang out with her more. I’m enjoying what I have.
Live your life enjoying what you are given and love your family with a sacrificial love: that’s our take from “Onward,” a very entertaining, slightly funny, kid safe movie with real truths embedded in it.
Thank you for reading.
Type at you later,
~Nancy Tart