If we could somehow harness all the tears we’ve cried during Pixar movies throughout our lifetimes, Disney would have a new ocean to its name too. Between the robot love story of WALL-E, Andy saying goodbye to Woody and friends in Toy Story 3, or Bing Bong tearing our hearts in half during Inside Out, the blubbering has no end. Especially since Pixar’s Onward is heading to theaters next month.
Chris Pratt stars in Onward as Barley Lightfoot, the big brother to Tom Holland’s Ian Lightfoot. He’s teasing big waterworks surrounding the suburban fantasy once it is released. Check out what the Guardians of the Galaxy actor said about his recent experience seeing it with an audience:
Did we expect anything less? It’s Pixar. As Chris Pratt writes on Twitter, he witnessed a “lot of grown man tears” during his screening of Onward. Most of the lucky audience who caught the animated fantasy movie were children who loved it, but the parents were bawling too.
Chris Pratt was sharing a previous tweet from the director and co-writer to Onward, Dan Scanlon. He said he just showed the movie to his big brother – who is actually his real-life inspiration for the movie. He talked about how it was a family movie that he hoped families would see together. And in case you're wondering, here's how Scanlon's brother reacted:
Onward follows Chris Pratt and Tom Holland’s elf brothers in a modern fantasy world. The pair come across a magical scepter that has the power to resurrect the dead for 24 hours. They decide to bring back their late father, but only his lower half is manifestated. So, the Lightfoot brothers are on a mad-rush for time to revive the rest of him before the magic wears off.
You can see why Onward might be an emotional ride for audiences. It’s tackling the rough subject of losing a parent and the desire in us to grasp onto any parts of those we’ve lost in someone. The title gives the Pixar movie a sense of it exploring themes of “moving on” from death too. I don’t know about you, but my tears are ready to jump out of my eyeballs in anticipation.
Onward will also feature the voice talents of Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the brothers’ mom Laurel, along with Octavia Spencer, Lena Waithe, and Ali Wong. Since the movie has fantasy characters such as unicorns hanging out in an urban world, it will also be filled with fun gags to break up the emotional tension too. It’s what Pixar does best, isn’t it?
And Onward isn’t the only Pixar movie hitting theaters this year. This summer, another tearjerker is coming in Soul – it’s about a middle-school music teacher who dies and becomes a “soul” entity. Yeah, Pixar is getting really existential on us this year.
Onward hits theaters on March 6.
