Onward is a 2020 American computer-animated urban fantasy adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The film is directed by Dan Scanlon, produced by Kori Rae and written by Scanlon, Jason Headley, and Keith Bunin, and stars the voices of Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Octavia Spencer. Set in a suburban fantasy world, the film follows two elf brothers who set out on a quest to find an artifact that will temporarily bring back their dead father.
Onward premiered at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival on February 21, 2020, and was theatrically released on March 6, 2020. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, but has grossed $141 million worldwide. The film’s financial shortcomings were a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the widespread closure of movie theaters. Like several other films released in the early months of 2020, it was made available digitally several weeks after its theatrical opening.
Plot
In a world inhabited by mythic creatures, magic was commonplace several millennia ago, though difficult to master. After technological advances over the centuries, magic became obsolete and was largely discarded. In the modern-day, two elf brothers, Ian and Barley Lightfoot, live in New Mushroomton. The younger brother, Ian, is a high-school student struggling with self-confidence, and the older brother, Barley, is an enthusiastic yet impulsive role-playing gamer and historical fanatic. Their father, Wilden, died of a severe illness shortly before Ian was born, and their mother Laurel has a new boyfriend, centaur police officer Colt Bronco, whom Ian and Barley dislike.
On Ian’s sixteenth birthday, Laurel gives her sons a gift from Wilden: a magical staff, a rare Phoenix gem, and a letter describing a “visitation spell” that can resurrect their father for a single day. Ian succeeds in casting the spell but has significant trouble finishing it when Barley intervenes, forcefully offering his help. As a result, only the lower half of Wilden’s body is reformed before the gem disintegrates. The brothers embark on a quest to acquire another gem and complete the spell, taking Barley’s beloved van “Guinevere.” Finding the boys gone, Laurel leaves to look for them.
Ian and Barley visit the Manticore’s Tavern, in the hopes of finding a map to the gem stored inside. However, the tavern has become a family restaurant managed by the Manticore (“Corey” for short). While arguing with Ian over the map, Corey realizes how unfulfilling her life has become and drives the customers away in a fit of insanity, accidentally setting fire to the restaurant and the map. The brothers’ only clue to the gem is a children’s menu suggesting “Raven’s Point,” a nearby mountain. Laurel later arrives at the scene and befriends Corey, who agrees to help her track both of them down. Corey warns Laurel that the brothers’ journey may awaken a curse that can only be defeated by her sword which is currently held at a pawn shop. After incapacitating the shop clerk and stealing the sword, they end up in a car accident that forces Corey to regain the use of her wings to catch up with Ian and Barley.
Traveling to the mountains, Ian and Barley narrowly escape a motorcycle gang of pixies. After a tense encounter with the police, Ian inadvertently reveals that he has believed Barley to be a screw-up. They argue over Ian not being considerate of Barley’s ideas, primarily not taking what Barley claims to be the “Path of Peril” to the gem. Their argument is cut short when Wilden’s legs begin dancing to the music playing from Guinevere, and the brothers promptly join in. After Ian allows Barley to guide the three of them on the Path of Peril to the gem, they stop at an unopened draw bridge. Ian is forced to use a spell that allows him to walk across the open chasm, where he overcomes his lack of confidence and releases the draw-bridge for Barley and Wilden.
They arrive at “Raven’s Point” which leads them on a trail indicated by a series of raven statues, but Colt follows them, calling in reinforcements. After coming to a dead-end, Barley sacrifices Guinevere to cause a landslide, blocking their pursuers. Following the statues, the brothers descend through a cave where Barley reveals to Ian that one of the final memories he had of his father was how he could not emotionally bring himself to say goodbye to Wilden when he was dying in the hospital. Traveling deeper into the cave, the brothers wind up narrowly avoiding a series of traps including a deadly creature that absorbs and dissolves anything it touches known as a Gelatinous Cube. The final obstacle sends them back to the surface, where they find themselves in front of Ian’s high school. Infuriated at having listened to Barley’s advice, Ian lashes out at him for leading them on a wild goose chase and walks away with Wilden to spend whatever time he has left with his father.
Rereading his list of things he always wished to do with Wilden, Ian realizes that Barley has been a father figure throughout his entire life and returns to make amends. Barley discovers the needed gem inside a historic fountain across the street from high school and retrieves it, unwittingly triggering the curse Corey spoke of, which creates a dragon-shaped golem out of pieces of the school and other nearby objects, bent on claiming the gem. Corey flies in carrying Laurel, and together they distract the golem long enough for Ian to finish casting the visitation spell, but they aren’t able to defeat the Golem on their own. Ian runs off to fight it, allowing for Barley to be the one that wishes Wilden a final goodbye. Ian’s staff is knocked into the ocean during his fight with the golem, but he reforms it from a splinter embedded in his hand and defeats it. Trapped behind a pile of rubble, Ian peeks through a small crack and sees Wilden’s body briefly reappearing to talk to Barley. After Wilden dissipates, Barley tells Ian that their father is proud of him, and the brothers share a hug.
Sometime later, Ian’s confidence and spell-casting have improved, and he surprises Barley by painting his new van, christened “Guinevere The Second.” Corey reopens her tavern in its original spirit, drawing in customers with tales of past adventures. She and Laurel become friends, and Ian and Barley develop a better relationship with Colt, who was inspired to start galloping with his own feet. As the world begins to rediscover the past’s magical arts, the brothers set off on a new quest.
Voice cast
- Tom Holland as Ian Lightfoot, a teenage elf
- Chris Pratt as Barley Lightfoot, Ian’s older brother, who longs for a magical quest
- Kyle Bornheimer as Wilden Lightfoot, Ian and Barley’s late father. Ian and Barley’s objective is to resurrect him for 24 hours.
- Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Laurel Lightfoot, the widowed mother of Ian and Barley
- Mel Rodriguez as Colt Bronco, a centaur police officer and Laurel’s boyfriend
- Octavia Spencer as “Corey” The Manticore
- Lena Waithe as Specter, a cyclops police officer
- Ali Wong as Gore, a faun police officer
- Grey Griffin as Dewdrop, a pixie and the leader of the Pixie Dusters biker gang
- Tracey Ullman as Grecklin, a goblin pawn shop owner
- Wilmer Valderrama as Gaxton, an elf and college friend of Wilden
- George Psarras as Avel, an elf police officer
- John Ratzenberger as Fenwick, a cyclops construction worker
Themes
One theme of the movie was that even though Ian never got to know his biological father, he came to realize that his older brother had always acted like a father towards him. Another theme is that many of the characters, including Ian at first, thought of Barley as a screw up. And throughout the movie Ian objected several times to Barley’s actions, which got them into trouble. But it wasn’t actually Barley’s actions that was getting them into trouble, it was Ian not trusting Barley. And over the course of the movie Ian learns to trust Barley more, and things work out better as a result.
Production
Development
In July 2017, Pixar announced a “suburban fantasy world” film at the D23 Expo, with Dan Scanlon directing and Kori Rae producing. The film was inspired by the death of Scanlon’s father, when he and his older brother were very young children, and their relationship with each other. He decided to write the story after hearing an audio clip of his father. On December 12, 2018, the title was revealed. In 2019, Jason Headley and Keith Bunin were hired to rewrite the screenplay and story.
Casting
On December 12, 2018, Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Octavia Spencer were announced as starring in the film. While having recorded most of their lines separately, Holland and Pratt had some of their recording sessions together since, according to Scanlon, “they’ve worked together before and hung out together.” Rae stated that Holland and Pratt improvised some of their lines while recording together. On December 17, 2019, Ali Wong, Lena Waithe and Mel Rodriguez joined the cast of the film. On February 18, 2020, Wilmer Valderrama, Tracey Ullman, Kyle Bornheimer, and George Psarras were revealed to have voice roles as well, and John Ratzenberger’s appearance was officially confirmed.
Music
| Onward: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | ||||
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| Soundtrack album by
Mychael and Jeff Danna
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| Released | February 28, 2020 | |||
| Genre | Score | |||
| Length | 1:03:23 | |||
| Label | Walt Disney | |||
| Pixar soundtrack chronology | ||||
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| Mychael Danna chronology | ||||
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| Jeff Danna chronology | ||||
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On April 16, 2019, Mychael and Jeff Danna were revealed to be the film’s composers. On February 12, 2020, Brandi Carlile revealed she recorded the song “Carried Me With You” for the film’s end credits, co-written with Phil and Tim Hanseroth. The film’s soundtrack was released on February 28, 2020.
All music is composed by Mychael and Jeff Danna, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Performer | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | “Carried Me with You” | Brandi Carlile, Phil and Tim Hanseroth | Carlile | 3:33 |
| 2. | “Quests of Yore” | 0:52 | ||
| 3. | “The World Was Full of Wonder” | 1:37 | ||
| 4. | “A Little Magic” | 0:43 | ||
| 5. | “Bad Dragon” | 1:03 | ||
| 6. | “New Ian” | 2:36 | ||
| 7. | “My Mighty Steed” | 0:22 | ||
| 8. | “My Birthday Is Cancelled” | 0:44 | ||
| 9. | “Wish I Could Spend the Day with You” | 1:46 | ||
| 10. | “The Visitation Spell” | 3:35 | ||
| 11. | “The Spell” | 1:06 | ||
| 12. | “The Spell Only Lasts One Day” | 0:56 | ||
| 13. | “Find Another Phoenix Gem” | 0:49 | ||
| 14. | “Going on a Quest” | 0:24 | ||
| 15. | “Laurel in Pursuit” | 0:44 | ||
| 16. | “The Manticore’s Tavern” | 0:43 | ||
| 17. | “Tavern Remodeling” | 1:12 | ||
| 18. | “The Map to Raven’s Point” | 1:45 | ||
| 19. | “Two Teenage Elves” | 0:38 | ||
| 20. | “Magnora Gantuan!” | 0:32 | ||
| 21. | “Baby Legs” | 0:41 | ||
| 22. | “Pixie Dusters” | 1:18 | ||
| 23. | “The Guardian Curse” | 0:42 | ||
| 24. | “Driving Test” | 3:17 | ||
| 25. | “Dance Fight” | 2:22 | ||
| 26. | “Path of Peril” | 0:41 | ||
| 27. | “Pawn Shop” | 0:28 | ||
| 28. | “Tracking Guinevere” | 1:04 | ||
| 29. | “Bottomless Pit” | 0:56 | ||
| 30. | “The Trust Bridge” | 1:20 | ||
| 31. | “Follow Your Gut” | 0:52 | ||
| 32. | “Running from the Cops” | 1:59 | ||
| 33. | “Sacrifice” | 0:59 | ||
| 34. | “Just a Beat Up Old Van” | 1:36 | ||
| 35. | “The Cave” | 0:54 | ||
| 36. | “Accelior!” | 0:26 | ||
| 37. | “Boom Bastia!” | 0:47 | ||
| 38. | “Barley’s Last Memory of Dad” | 0:58 | ||
| 39. | “Led Us to Our Victory!” | 1:49 | ||
| 40. | “The Truth Comes Out” | 0:39 | ||
| 41. | “Share My Life with Him” | 3:24 | ||
| 42. | “Battling the Dragon” | 3:03 | ||
| 43. | “Voltar Thunderseer!” | 0:59 | ||
| 44. | “Dad” | 2:52 | ||
| 45. | “Magic Returns” | 2:48 | ||
| Total length: | 1:02:32 | |||
Deleted scene
One storyboard scene featured Ian, Barley, and Wilden joining with a goat girl in the journey. Ian and the goat girl come across a booth hosted by three evil mermaids. The mermaids sing their mesmerizing song to lure the two into staying in one of three houses put for rent. Ian tries to silence them with the staff but the spell is too weak. When Ian and the goat girl are finally in a trance, the mermaids place them in one of the houses. The house they are in starts to sink into the ground.
The goat girl was omitted because the filmmakers wanted the film to focus on the relationship between Ian and Barley. The scene itself was removed because the filmmakers felt it was too grim.
Animation
According to effects supervisor Vincent Serritella, the animators wanted the spells to be “something that’s abstract” but also “personify it”, so they “had to converge on the idea of an image of magic, go back to the base level of the sequences and the spells, and what level would be given, and how it affects the environment”. Director Dan Scanlon said that Ian’s arc “was helpful to because could use that for all of the magic we designed”. The animators choose to give the film’s magic a unique style after studying several animated films featuring magic such as Fantasia, Aladdin, and Hercules. Animators wanted the film’s magic to fit with its suburban setting.
Animators first developed the film’s magic using hand-drawn animated drawings, before turning them into computer-animated effects, with Serritella saying that ” made shapes and graphic elements that really lend themselves to what’s happening in a 2D environment”. Serritella also said that “the key” was mixing hand-drawn and computer animation, arguing that “oing one way or the other didn’t work. Going too graphic didn’t fit into the world that the background and the characters were created in. And going too physical in an animated world seemed too real”, so ” found the right balance” by turning hand-drawn animated graphics into “light objects” and giving them ” true volumetric, glowing atmosphere”. He further added that the choreography during the “visitation spell” sequence “came directly from 2D”, while they CG animation and lighting provided “depth perception”. The film was completed on November 21, 2019.
Release
Theatrical
Onward premiered at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival on February 21, 2020 and was theatrically released in the United States on March 6. A short film titled Playdate with Destiny, which is centered around Maggie Simpson of The Simpsons, appeared before the feature film. As the COVID-19 pandemic receded, the film was released in Australia and New Zealand on April 24, 2020, South Korea on June 17, 2020, Italy on August 19, 2020, and Japan on August 21, 2020..
Also the movie was released in 3D, 2D worldwide and in IMAX and Dolby Atmos in selected theatres.
Home media
Onward was released digitally on the night of March 20, 2020, and became available for Disney+ subscribers on April 3, 2020 because of movie theater closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The digital date was just two weeks after the film’s theatrical debut and before the end of the usual 90-day theatrical run. The announcement followed Disney’s earlier than planned release of Frozen II on Disney+ as well as Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker on Digital HD in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over its first week of home release, the film was the sixth-most watched on Amazon Prime and second-most on the iTunes Store. In Australia and New Zealand, it was released on Disney+ on April 24, 2020. Then, it was released on Disney+ in the United Kingdom on October 2, 2020.
The film was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Ultra HD Blu-ray on May 19, 2020. It was released on Blu-ray 3D in the UK on June 1, 2020 and in Germany on July 23, 2020.
Reception
Box office
Onward grossed $61.6 million in the United States and Canada, and $79.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $141.4 million. The gross of the film was significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced most movie theaters to shut down within two weeks after its release.
In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside The Way Back and the wide expansion of Emma, and was projected to gross $45–50 million from 4,200 theaters in its opening weekend. The film held early advance screenings on February 29, making $650,000 from 470 theaters. It then grossed $12.1 million on its first day, the 6th, including $2 million from Thursday night previews. The film went on to debut to $39.1 million, topping the box office but marking the third-ever lowest start for a Pixar film. While the film remained in first in its second weekend, it dropped 73% to $10.5 million (the worst-ever second weekend for a Pixar film), and was part of the lowest grossing box office weekend since October 1998, with all films combining for just $55.3 million. In the film’s third weekend, due to the mass theater closures around the country, it made $71,000 from 135 locations, mostly drive-in theaters.
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 88% based on 332 reviews, with an average rating of 7.20/10. The website’s critics consensus reads, “It may suffer in comparison to Pixar’s classics, but Onward makes effective use of the studio’s formula – and stands on its own merits as a funny, heartwarming, dazzlingly animated adventure.” On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100, based on 56 critics, indicating “generally favorable reviews.” Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “A–” on an A+ to F scale (tied with Cars 2 for the lowest score received by a Pixar film), and PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian rated the film three out of five stars, and called it “a likable family comedy that finds an easy rhythm without effort,” though he felt that the movie’s “attitude towards death” is not as radically powerful as in Coco. In a same star review Peter Travers of Rolling Stone said “It’s no Toy Story—but the animation juggernaut’s latest, about two elf brothers on a quest, is still worth your while.” Reviewer James Berardinelli praised the film’s originality and emotional weight and called it “engaging and enjoyable,” adding “there’s something here for everyone,” though concluded it is not the next Disney/Pixar classic. Ben Travis of Empire gave the film five out of five stars, and wrote, “Pixar returns with a great big power-chord of a movie—heart-pumping, resonant, and positively harmonious.”
Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times called Onward a step back for Pixar, giving it two out of four stars. He said, “The story fluctuates between the uninspired and the just plain weird and then gets even weirder.” While he praised the animation and said that the movie “begins with an intriguing premise,” he concluded that it “doesn’t come close to fully fleshing out the possibilities.”
Accolades
| Year | Award | Category | Recipients | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | BMI Film & TV Awards | Film Music | Mychael Danna and Jeff Danna | Won | |
| People’s Choice Awards | The Family Movie of 2020 | Onward | Won | ||
| Dublin International Film Festival | Feature Film | Won | |||
| Houston Film Critics Society Awards | Best Animated Feature Film | Nominated | |||
| San Diego Film Critics Society Awards | Best Animated Film | Nominated | |||
| St. Louis Film Critics Association Awards | Best Animated Film | Nominated | |||
| 2021 | Academy Awards | Best Animated Feature | Dan Scanlon and Kori Rae | Pending | |
| Annie Awards | Best Animated Feature | Kori Rae | Pending | ||
| Writing in an Animated Feature Production | Dan Scanlon, Jason Headley and Keith Bunin | Pending | |||
| Editorial in an Animated Feature Production | Catherine Apple, Anna Wolitzky and Dave Suther | Pending | |||
| Outstanding Achievement for Character Animation in an Animated Feature Production | Shaun Chacko | Pending | |||
| Outstanding Achievement for Music in an Animated Feature Production | Mychael Danna and Jeff Danna | Pending | |||
| Outstanding Achievement for Production Design in an Animated Feature Production | Noah Klocek, Sharon Calahan, Huy Nguyen, Bert Berry and Paul Conrad | Pending | |||
| Outstanding Achievement for Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production | Tom Holland | Pending | |||
| British Academy Film Awards | BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film | Dan Scanlon and Kori Rae | Pending | ||
| Critics’ Choice Super Awards | Best Animated Movie | Onward | Nominated | ||
| Best Voice Actor In An Animated Movie | Tom Holland | Nominated | |||
| Chris Pratt | Nominated | ||||
| Best Voice Actress In An Animated Movie | Octavia Spencer | Nominated | |||
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Animated Feature Film | Onward | Nominated | ||
| Grammy Awards | Best Song Written for Visual Media | “Carried Me with You” – Brandi Carlile, Phil Hanseroth and Tim Hanseroth | Nominated | ||
| Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards | Favorite Animated Movie | Onward | Nominated | ||
| Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie | Chris Pratt | Nominated | |||
| Saturn Awards | Best Animated Film | Onward | Pending | ||
| Visual Effects Society Awards | Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature | Dan Scanlon, Kori Rae, Sanjay Bakshi, Vincent Serritella | Pending | ||
| Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature | Kristopher Campbell, Jonas Jarvers, Rob Jensen, Jacob Kuenzel (for Dad Pants) | Pending | |||
| Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature | Eric Andraos, Laura Grieve, Nick Pitera, Michael Rutter (for Swamp Gas) | Pending | |||
| Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature | Dave Hale, Jonah Blue Laird, Stephen Marshall, Ricardo Nadu | Pending |
Ban and censorship
The film was banned in the Arab countries of Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, as one female cyclops police officer character in the film named Specter (voiced by Lena Waithe) briefly indicates that she is a lesbian. The scene in question is a brief scene in which a simulacrum of Colt Bronco is lamenting about how Ian and Barley Lightfoot do not respect him as a father figure. Specter replies to him by saying, “It’s not easy being a new parent—my girlfriend’s daughter got me pulling my hair out, okay?” Homosexual acts are criminalized in the four countries, which are predominantly Muslim, although Kuwait does not criminalize female homosexual acts. The ban is not universal, and the film was screened in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, and Egypt, albeit the line was changed in the Arabic-language dubbing to “my sister’s daughter”.
In Russia, where the gay propaganda law officially criminalizes the dissemination of LGBT-related content to minors under 18, the Russian dub, handled by Disney Character Voices International, changed the line to “It’s not easy being a new parent—my partner’s daughter got me pulling my hair out, okay?” The Russian dub also avoided referring to Specter with gender-specific pronouns. The scene was also changed in Poland.
Lawsuit
In January 2020, San Francisco tattoo artist Sweet Cicely Daniher filed a copyright lawsuit against Disney, Pixar, and Onward producer Kori Rae. In September 2018, Pixar rented Daniher’s “Vanicorn,” a van decorated with a unicorn-themed mural, for use at the LA Auto Show in 2019. She learned about the production of Onward in May 2019 and, after seeing images of the van used by Ian and Barley Lightfoot in the film, came to believe that Pixar had copied the design of the Vanicorn in violation of her rental agreement with the company, as well as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Visual Artists Rights Act, and the California Artists Protection Act. She sought in her suit to prohibit distribution of the film and any infringing advertisement or merchandise.