The newly released trailer for Disney and Pixar’s Lightyear promises a love letter to classic adventure movies featuring one of the iconic members of the Toy Story cast. Despite this premise seeming quite simple, it is far from it, with many fans wondering just how exactly Lightyear ties to the Toy Story franchise, with the character now human and voiced by Chris Evans rather than Tim Allen. Well, director Angus MacLane has now arrived to provide some clarity…
“‘Set in the world of Toy Story‘ is kind of weird. Another way to get at it, it’s a straightforward sci-fi action film about the Buzz Lightyear character. In the Toy Story universe, it would be like a movie that maybe Andy would have seen, that would have made him want a Buzz Lightyear figure.”
So, as many had already suspected, it sounds like Lightyear is a movie that Andy from Toy Story would have watched, with the title character launching an in-universe franchise which spawned the popular toyline. MacLane continues to provide further explanation regarding the world of Lightyear, which essentially transforms the audience into the inhabitants of the Toy Story universe.
“The movie doesn’t end and then you see Andy eating popcorn. This is its own thing… This is standalone. It’s the Buzz Lightyear movie. It’s that character but as the space ranger, not as the toy.”
However, while this may seemingly clear up any confusion, positing Lightyear as a movie within the Toy Story universe itself, lead star Chris Evans, who voices Buzz Lightyear in the movie, previously stated this is the story of the human that the toy is based on. “Just to be clear, this isn’t Buzz Lightyear the toy,” Evans tweeted. “This is the origin story of the human Buzz Lightyear that the toy is based on.”
This led many to assume that Buzz Lightyear was a real person from Andy’s world, rather than a character in a movie. But based on the new trailer, the world of Lightyear does not look like the real world that Andy lives in. So, is Lightyear a movie about a fictional space ranger that Andy would have seen before wanting the tie-in toy? Or is Lightyear a movie that Andy would have seen, but about a space ranger who really did exist? Has all of this just confused things further? Honestly, does it really matter? So long as Pixar once again craft an exciting, touching, beautiful animated adventure, which the trailer for Lightyear certainly teased, then surely we can all put the semantics to one side and simply get swept up in another Pixar gem.
Directed by Angus MacLane, who has worked on every theatrical Pixar release since A Bug’s Life, and produced by Galyn Susman, Lightyear stars Marvel actor Chris Evans as the beloved Buzz Lightyear, a young test pilot who sets off on an intergalactic adventure to become the Space Ranger that we all know him to be today. Lightyear is due to be released on June 17, 2022. This comes to us courtesy of EW.
Source: movieweb.com