Pixar has been working in a sort of cycle where we got several movies in a row that were sequels to popular franchises, before we got several original movies. We'll soon see the original Turning Red on Disney+, but after that we'll get a movie that isn't quite original but isn't really a sequel either, in Pixar's Lightyear.
We'd previously received a teaser for Lightyear that made it look like a quite serious adventure, with none of the normal Pixar gags. The first full trailer shows us that Lightyear will still be funny. We get a running bit where some sort of alien tentacle grabs at whoever it can find, but it will also have some serious sci-fi action.
With this being the "origin story" of the Buzz Lightyear character, we expect to see other characters that we know are connected to him appear in the film, and the trailer has given us that by providing our first look at Zurg, and he looks pretty scary.
The trailer also gives us the first details about the actual plot of Lightyear. It seems that Buzz Lightyear and all his friends have been stranded on an alien world for some period of time. The test flight that we see Buzz go on appears to be part of a plan for getting everybody home. They have to contend with the dangerous alien life on the planet, including the aforementioned slimy tentacle thing.
It's not perfectly clear what happens next. Buzz's test flight seems to take him in contact with a new alien threat, and while its never given a name in the trailer, we recognize at least one of the creatures as Zurg, Buzz Lightyear's nemesis.
Everything we know about Lightyear is equal parts brilliant and insane. Rather than being an origin story for the Buzz Lightyear toy that we know, this is supposed to be the sci-fi movie that inspired the toy line which is why the character is voiced by Chris Evans and not Tim Allen. The Buzz Lightyear toy from Toy Story has been licensed merch this whole time. There are a lot of questions about whether there might be more to this story.
It's certainly a unique way to take a character that fans already know and do something new and interesting with him. How well it will all actually work is far from clear.
Butt as a straight science fiction adventure story, something we haven't really seen from Pixar yet, Lightyear certainly has promise. This could be the most action-packed movie Pixar has ever made and that's exciting just because it's pushing the studio into new places and challenging the animators to create something new.
We won't have too long to wait to see how well Lightyear works. Pixar is releasing two movies in 2022 within only a few months. With Turning Red set to arrive in March and Lightyear slated for June, The biggest question now, is will Lightyear be the first Pixar film to see a theatrical release when it comes out this summer, or will it get shunted to Disney+ like the last three Pixar features?
