Why the Lightyear movie is a terrible idea

Back in the year 1995, the world was taken by storm with Pixar’s revolutionary films that first began with Toy Story. It rocket launched the CGI-ruled sub-studio of Disney that made the filmmakers billions of dollars. Like other studios, Pixar has had its ups and its downs. Luckily for them, the ups outweigh the downs. Cars 2 was one of the downs, obviously, but that’s besides the point. Here’s why Lightyear is another bad idea.

Toy Story began a litany of beautifully animated films with an incredible moral and passionate storytelling. However, a mostly-successfully critical movie run for the studio doesn’t mean that there can’t be a slip-up somewhere. That somewhere may lie in the forthcoming animated film Lightyear.

Lightyear will spoil Toy Story

Like the sequels spoiled the original Star Wars movies, and like how Marvel movies continue to dilute themselves, Lightyear seems like it’s on a path to spoil the Toy Story franchise, as the filmmakers have gone further and further down the rabbit hole of the movie series.

A lot of fans believe that that is a good thing but, in all honesty, it could ruin what made the original films in the Toy Story franchise magnificent. As resplendent as the trailer looks, Lightyear seems to be doing what the Star Wars sequels were doing and ruining the saga by offering another spin-off outing that nobody seemed to ask for.

It might pull out a few surprises when it is released in theaters, but for now, it seems that it may look like a film that will most likely live in the shadow of its originals.

It will bastardize the legacy of Buzz Lightyear

In addition to screwing up Toy Story, the movie will likely add lore that will probably detract from the original arc of the character and make a completely different incarnation that won’t live up to the previous movies.

It seems like another animated venture bereft of purpose and solely inspired to make money for the toddlers that will watch in the future. Like Solo: A Star Wars Story, the title character is so iconic that a cover story seems to dull the character and make him a carbon facsimile of what he once was rather than honoring the character and furthering his story in a positive way. Hopefully, that can change with this movie.

The existence of Lightyear is confusing

Admittedly, the movie is the origin story of the character, but given that his nemesis Zurg doesn’t look like what was originally depicted in the Toy Story films, and that there was already a Buzz Lightyear origin series entitled Buzz Lightyear of Star Command that only aired for one season on UPN and ABC. It was unclear if the show would be a part of the character’s history.

Moreover, Buzz Lightyear is just a character made in a factory and brought to life by a child’s imagination. With that being said, the whole movie plays out like a ‘What If’ scenario that sheds light on a “toy” if he lived his life as a real person. It’s a little confusing to see this film being made, if only for the money. Only time will tell if this gamble works.

Lightyear is in theaters June 17, 2022.