Lightyear is a science fiction action adventure film that was released on June 17th, 2022. Directed by Angus MacLane, this film is a spin-off of the Toy Story franchise focusing on its most popular character, Buzz Lightyear. Normally in the Toy Story films, Buzz Lightyear is an action figure voiced by Tim Allen. But this spin off is basically a film that exists in the Toy Story universe and focuses on a human version of Lightyear who is a Star Command Space Ranger that is trying to get his crew back home.

This film is quite different from the usual Toy Story films, aside from the fact that it focuses on Buzz Lightyear and not the other characters like Woody. For starters, Tim Allen doesn't voice our favorite Space Ranger this time. This time Buzz is voiced by Chris Evans, best known for playing Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And this movie has a more cinematic feel than the previous Toy Story films. Lightyear was also the first Pixar film to be theatrically released since Onward. But while the film was well received by critics, Lightyear sadly bombed at the box office. On a budget of $200 million, the film only grossed $226.4 million, losing the studio an estimated $106 million, which is really sad because I actually wanted this film to succeed. What caused Lightyear to bomb? I might have some hypotheses.

Buzz Lightyear worked as a character in the world of Toy Story because it was funny seeing a sentient toy think that he was the actual Buzz Lightyear, and this paired greatly with Tim Allen's voice performance as the character. With four films, Buzz was greatly fleshed out, and I think the one thing that made it work was his dynamic with Woody. They're two completely different toys, but they learn to get along and eventually form a strong bond together. It's Buzz's chemistry with the other toys that made the films work, along with the good writing. Woody and Buzz's friendship is the heart of Toy Story. Take the other characters from that world and leave a human version of Buzz Lightyear with other characters who aren't Woody or Jessie, you're gonna be taking a big risk. Which is ironic because this actually worked better with the animated series Buzz Lightyear Of Star Command. Maybe it's because the developers of that show had at least 62 episodes to flesh out the supporting cast, and the writers had fun with it.

Another thing is the voice of Buzz. When you think of comedian Tim Allen, you might think of three things. His character Tim Taylor on Home Improvement, Scott Calvin in The Santa Clause, and Buzz Lightyear. To many people my age, younger, and those that watched Toy Story in theaters, Tim Allen IS Buzz Lightyear the same way Robin Williams is The Genie. You can get a good comedian like Patrick Warburton to voice Buzz Lightyear for the TV show I mentioned and he'll do a good job, but Tim Allen will always be Buzz Lightyear to a lot of us. And I love Chris Evans, he'll always be my favorite Captain America, but he had a lot going against him voicing Buzz Lightyear. Replacing Tim Allen was another big risk. But Chris Evans does do a good job voicing the character.

I think another risk was Zurg himself, and I'm about to go into spoiler territory. Now it turns out Buzz's well known enemy Emperor Zurg, was actually an alternate version of Buzz who got corrupted and was driven insane when he couldn't rescue the crew with the fuel he needed. In my opinion, Zurg is definitely the weakest part of the film. Zurg could have been done so much better, and the twist makes it convoluted. Zurg should be his own character, not an evil version of Buzz.

And the final cause? People have been used to seeing everything on Disney+, Hulu, and Netflix nowadays. They just don't feel motivated to get out of the house to go to the movies sometimes. And the majority of people didn't care if Lightyear was bad or good. They decided to skip it in theaters and wait to stream it on Disney+. So it was a lot of indifference that caused Lightyear to bomb at the box office. In retrospect, maybe Lightyear should have been a Disney+ Original while Luca and Turning Red get theatrical releases.

Like I said, it's a real shame that Lightyear bombed at the box office because I really wanted to see this film succeed. I actually took my sister to see this film as a birthday gift for her, and she actually wanted to see it. We honestly had a lot of fun watching it. Aside from the weak Zurg plot twist, the film was enjoyable, it was funny, it had heart, and Chris Evans gave a decent voice performance as Lightyear. I think this film deserves more love, and I hope it gains a cult following. It may not be perfect, but Lightyear is okay in my book, to infinity and beyond .