Lightyear

Just like in "Alien" (1979) a ship's computer wakes some of the crew mid-trip when it detects an uncharted planet. Space Rangers "Buzz", "Hawthorne" and a rookie take the ship down for a look, but are soon facing some hungry plants and big bugs. He attempts to escape, but the ship (the "Turnip") clips a mountain top and crashes, destroying their power crystal. He determines to find a way to replace it - but each time he tests it out, his off-world moments become 4 years for those left behind, and so his repeated attempts to get them all home safely merely see him stay the same age as his companions grow old, marry, have children - grandchildren, even - then die. It's on return from one of his tests, with a functioning power source designed by his auto-cat "Sox" - that he discovers their settlement is being besieged by the robot soldiers of "Emperor Zurg" and he, together with his cat and an enthusiastic youth training team must destroy the enemy ship and save the day. Director Angus MacLane did pretty much everything here and though it isn't a bad animation, it could possibly have been doing with a few more objective eyeballs to keep it sharp. The story starts off strongly with some fast-paced dialogue and a bit of fun with the inhabitants of their new home. Quickly, though, it becomes a bit repetitive and starts to drag. Sentimentality creeps in a bit too much and as the plot unfolds, it does become a bit harder to establish just what this film has to do with "Toy Story" (1995) for which it is supposed to be a prequel (the plot towards the end reminded me of "Guardians of the Galaxy II" from 2017). The conclusion doesn't fit at all - indeed, I wondered if this were merely the first of a few films that might, eventually, explain how "Buzz" ended up as the new favourite of "Andy". The production is good, but that is no longer anything to shout about with Disney/Pixar - it is what they do. This needed to build more on why we cared about "Buzz" in the first place, and it doesn't really manage that. It picks up in the last fifteen minutes as the messages of teamwork and collaboration start to flow through the narrative but is really too long. It is still worth a watch on a big screen to appreciate the colourful visual effects.