Pokémon Detective Pikachu (2019)

**Warning: Mild Spoilers Below!**

The Last of Us is an apocalyptic show captivating the internet, and for good reason! The story follows Joel (Pedro Pascal) who 20 years ago was thrust into the apocalypse, throwing his suburban life out the window. In the present, he gets tasked with taking a girl named Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across the country so that scientists can use her to create a cure for the rapid zombie-like infection spreading around the world.

Video game adaptations have long had a bad reputation, as most of the time the films either didn't have a good budget, or they just didn't turn out the way fans wanted them to. From Mortal Kombat, to Uncharted, to the Super Mario Bros. of the 90s, most of the community agrees that game films don't often succeed. However, in recent years, we have begun to fix that with hits such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Werewolves Within, Detective Pikachu, and now, The Last of Us!

Overall, the representation has been stellar. The only problem is that practically every character will not have a lot of screen time. This is one of the major downsides of having a zombie/apocalypse plotline as most characters either die or get left behind as the main characters continue their journey. Still, the two main characters happen to be Pedro Pascal (Chilean) and Bella Ramsey (Non-binary), which gives a decently diverse image.

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 and Barley Lightfoot, 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).