“Lightyear” is Pixar’s spin-off origin story sourced from their franchise, “Toy Story.” It’s very important to get this information out of the way the earliest. The movie isn’t about Buzz Lightyear, as we all know in the series. The Buzz that we see in this movie isn’t Andy’s toy. Instead, he’s the reason why Andy’s toy exists. It is the film that spawned the Buzz Lightyear toys.

Chris Evans plays the part of Buzz Lightyear. The film takes us on a space adventure, and while on the way, we will meet Zurg, the Evil Emperor that has long been hinted at in many media.

The movie starts rather slow, but it’s fitting for the genre anyway, so it’s not that big of a problem, unless for people that have a short attention span. It starts with Buzz being assigned to a special mission as a space ranger. He’s not alone, however since he’s partnered with Alisha Hawthorne, played by Uzo Aduba who is supposed to be his best friend

Much like how Buzz is known for monologue in the original “Toy Story” franchise, our main character also does this here, but often with some mockery by Alisha since he does this all the time. After that, we get to hear the famous “to infinity, and beyond!” tagline that has been implanted in almost every kid’s mind that has been following the franchise. They do this at every start of the mission.

While it’s not a shocker, it’s almost dreamlike to see the human Buzz Lightyear share the same attitude, especially the stubbornness of the toy. It then leads him and his team to different types of disasters, the most notable one being their crash on an unknown planet full of dangerous creatures.

Knowing it’s his fault, Buzz made it its mission to uncover hyperspace to leave the planet sooner. Here, we finally see the whole premise of the film, and that is Buzz is on a timer. Every failed attempt will cost him four years of time back on his home planet.

Because of Buzz’s grit and determination, he missed a lot of things, and it took him more than 20 years to finally reach his goal. At the time that he was able to finally get ahold of hyperspace, Hawthorne had already died, and the only thing that was waiting for him was a message which is an amazing part.

With Buzz Lightyear’s cat taking the whole spotlight away, we think that the directors did a good job of incorporating balance for the film to never get boring. The cat named Sox is a great addition, especially his role as a support to Buzz, keeping him going and always being there for him when he’s at his lowest.

For a spin-off, Lightyear isn’t that bad, and honestly, it is a fun watch if you just want a laidback experience or you’re just simply interested in how the toy Buzz Lightyear is portrayed if he’s actually a human, more like his origin. It’s a great story, and it could easily pass as a homage or a little jab to the space movie stereotype that has existed a couple of decades ago. It might have some bittersweet moments, but we assure you, it was a fun and worthwhile standalone origin story.