New Dimension! Crayon Shinchan the Movie: Battle of Supernatural Powers ~Flying Sushi~ 

As I sat through a bunch of trailers that mostly consisted of remakes and sequels, it made me glad that I came to watch an original movie instead, especially from Disney/Pixar. Especially Disney. I recently heard that Bambi is next on their surreal progression to make live action remakes of everything they’ve created. Who is the sick, twisted person who thinks it’s a good idea to traumatize a new generation of kids by showing Bambi’s mom getting shot in live action?

Fortunately, in this film, the mom’s still alive. Dad on the other hand…

Ahem.

Onward is an entertaining film about two brothers on a magical quest. Pixar never delved into brotherly relationships before, and it was nice to see this dynamic after the sisterly bond from Disney’s Frozen II. Unlike Anna and Elsa, I found the brothers from Onward, Ian and Barley, played by Tom Holland and Chris Pratt, more engaging. I also thought their relationship to be the best part of the movie. Ian is shy and doesn’t have much confidence in himself, while Barley is extremely confident and keeps getting into trouble. With these conflicting personalities, the two play off of each other well.

A cute, yet nerdy, teenage Tom Holland with powers goes on an all mighty adventure, having to use the bravery he had within himself the entire time to save the day. Sounds familiar, right? Well this isn’t a review for Marvel’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, but instead, Disney Pixar’s Onward. I was able to finagle a ticket to an advanced screening of Pixar’s latest flick and I’m not going to lie, I did tear up a bit towards the end.

Onward follows Ian(Chris Pratt)and Barley Lightfoot(Tom Holland), two elf brothers who are given a phoenix gem. This magical gem, when mixed with the staff of a wizard, is able to bring their deceased father back to life for 24 hours. All goes wrong when the gem only brings back their father’s legs, forcing Ian and Barley to embark on a quest to find another phoenix gem. The journey brings the two dissimilar brothers closer together while they combat pixies, trick cops, and solve seemingly unsolvable puzzles.

Coming off the heels of this summer’s release of Frozen II, Onward somewhat follows in Frozen’s footsteps by telling a tale of two unlikely siblings coming together, but this time instead of two sisters, it’s two brothers. The film is extremely engaging and full of heart! Ian is a very relatable character who definitely feels like an outsider. While Barley’s zaniness and charismatic antics are the antithesis to Ian’s scared, cautious personality; just imagine a full length feature film about Sesame Street’s Bert and Ernie traveling around a fantastical world and you’ve got Pixar’s Onward.

Growing up, I remember thinking that Pixar’s 3D-like animation was a cut above the more common 2D animated films. As more Pixar films were released, Pixar’s animation style progressed, providing more detail and realness to its animation; I mean, have you ever compared Merida’s hair from Brave to the hair of the humans of Toy Story? Mind blowing improvement. So I was somewhat disappointed when Onward looked more like a regular computer animated movie instead of having Pixar’s trademark detailed animation. Don’t get me wrong, the animation was fine, but I would have appreciated if Pixar had stepped it up a notch and given the fantastical creatures the same detail as it does its other movies. But I guess not all animation can be as good as Bulbasaur from Detective Pikachu (2019).

After years of being ignored, shut down, or shifted around, I think we’re finally getting somewhere with Black cinema getting its due. I think it is finally at the point where mainstream audiences will just watch a movie for black audiences and not have it feel forced or empty. It’s not at the level it needs to be at just yet, but I do think it is getting traction. Not counting the Oscars (especially after seeing Green Book win last year), I think that black cinema is making waves with the general population, and that excites me, because that can break up the formulaic and problematic amount of films that reach audiences and can open up the door for other minorities to start appearing in film more now that it’s proving that movies with diversity CAN reach people of all backgrounds despite their intended audience.

I think since 2016, there has been a stream of successful (and now iconic) movies by black artists, for black audiences, with general appeal.Moonlight,Fences,Get Out,Us,Blackkklansman,Blindspotting,If Beale Street Could Talk, Sorry to Bother You,The Hate U Give, andBlack Pantherare just afewof the plethora that come to mind, and all are great or excellent movies. It’s a far cry from times like 2004 where the most notable black led movies wereHotel Rwanda(white director) andWhite Chicks(infamously bad).

So, how doesQueen & Slim hold up in this black film-making start of a renaissance? It’s…OK. And I’m not gonna lie. I am highly disappointed that it’s just OK, because this was one of the most anticipated films of the year for me, and for good reason. For starters, the premise is the best kind of hook you could ask for. A Black man shoots a white police officer in self defense while on a Tinder date. He and the date go on the run. That’s an amazing idea for a film.

Likewise, it is the directorial debut of double Grammy winner Melina Matsoukas, who is best known for her fantastic music videos. And on top of that, Daniel Kaluuya, one of my up and coming favorite new actors, was one of the stars. And yes, I was somewhat right. The premise was intriguing. The direction was nice. The acting was great. But I forgot the cardinal virtue of good cinema - a solid script.