Onward

Those who complain that Pixar depends too heavily on sequels should welcome Onward. The animation studio’s 22nd CG feature is also the only film from the company set in a true fantasy world. (The Cars films and The Good Dinosaur both exist in separate worlds, true, but they are parallel Earths, not unique Middle-earth-style realms.)

Onward imagines a Dungeons and Dragons-like dimension in which all the fantastical creatures have lost touch with magic because of their reliance on modern technology, from automobiles to mobile phones to fast food. Think Monsters, Inc., with its clever twists on modern culture, but with elves and a manticore instead of a giant blue beast with polka dots.

The hero is Ian (voiced by Tom “Spider-Man” Holland), a shy, awkward 16-year-old elf who lives in the suburbs in shadow of his boisterous older brother, Barley (Chris Pratt). Barley is this world’s equivalent of a Renaissance fair fan, obsessed with a D&D-ish game and convinced that the magic that ruled the world centuries earlier still exists. The brothers soon have proof: Their long-dead father has left behind a wizard’s staff that can resurrect him for 24 hours on Ian’s 16th birthday, provided a spell is properly deployed.

When their father’s incantation is only partially successful, saddling them with just the animated bottom half of their dad (lots of good visual gags there), they decide to retrieve a magic crystal to complete the spell. It’s one of those half-formed movie quests that begin before you’re really sure what’s what, but the character dynamics and this world’s laws of enchantment gradually develop the with plot line, and the movie grows increasingly engaging as it unspools.

In addition to Ian and Barley, their Mom (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is soon on the road, as is her boyfriend (a centaur police officer), and that manticore (Octavia Spencer). It’s a consistently entertaining yarn, and occasionally suspenseful (as in a the hazardous crossing of an infinitely deep gorge), and once it gets to its Up-style, happy-tears montage, it will have won you over emotionally as well.

Onward is at its best bending familiar tropes into its fantasy realm — theme restaurants, bad dancing, misbehaving pets — and it might have benefited from more such incidental touches throughout. (More feral unicorns, please!) But its top-notch animation, 3D effects (if you pay for the upcharge), playful and intelligent sense of humor, and richly drawn characters carry the film through its sometimes wobbly narrative.

An early scene in which Ian plays and interacts with a short audio tape of his father is reminiscent of the Ernesto de la Cruz videotape scene in the masterful Coco — a reminder that even a shaky start comes with enough Pixar power to earn a heartfelt finale an hour or so later. And maybe a trip back to see it again.

Grade: A-minus. Rated PG. Opens the evening of March 5 at the AMC River Hills, Carolina Cinemark, and Regal Biltmore Grande.

(Photo courtesy of Disney/Pixar)