Here’s an early holiday gift from Pixar and Disney.
On Wednessay, the premiere of the trailer for “Lightyear” -- the hotly anticipated and fairly secretive so far origin story of one of Pixar’s best creations from the beloved "Toy Story" film franchise was released.
As Complex reports, the film features the voice talent of Chris Evans in the titular role and is directed by Angus MacLane, a longtime Pixar animator whose previous credits include “The Incredibles,” “WALL-E,” “Ratatouille,” “Up,” “Toy Story 3,” “Finding Dory,” and more. The producer is Galyn Susman, who produced “Toy Story 4” in 2019.
The trailer instantly impresses with more widescreen, detailed, perfectly articulated animation than the “Toy Story” movies, which hints that there might be more hefty themes addressed.
The story purports to tell the tale of how Buzz Lightyear became the heroic Space Ranger of those family favorite films. But the trailer is more about flying spaceships, clumsy fall-downs, a cute orange kitty, and a remixed version of David Bowie’s “Starman.” It doesn’t give too much plot away though, and in that makes it a perfect trailer.
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Chris Evans himself shared the trailer today, and captioned it with barely contained excitement. “I’m covered in goosebumps. And will be every time I watch this trailer,” wrote the "Captain America" star. “Or hear a Bowie song. Or have any thought whatsoever between now and [June] cause nothing has ever made me feel more joy and gratitude than know I’m a part of this and it’s basically always on my mind.”
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Screenwriter Pete Docter explained the movie's mission last year during an Investor Day 2020 tease.
“At first glance you might think this is a Toy Story film,” said Docter. “Well, not so fast. See, back when we created the very first “Toy Story,” we designed Buzz Lightyear with the idea that he was a toy based on some really cool character from an epic blockbuster film. All these years later, we decided it’s time to make that film.”
And the trailer definitely looks like a bigger blockbuster style film than the mostly provincial settings of the "Toy Story" franchise.
And while cool new trailers and thoughts of toys are very Christmas-y, you’ll have to wait until next summer to see “Lightyear.”
Lights, camera, action!
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