We got our first full-length trailer for the upcoming Disney Pixar movie Lightyear a few months back. Since then, Pixar’s released things that made our geek hearts swoon—like Turning Red, but also, was mired in the backlash of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. With that, came the news that Disney cut anything even mildly queer in their stories (including Lightyear). Ultimately, the kiss in Lightyear that was removed was quickly added back into the movie. However, if Disney could put it back in that fast, the scene could be nixed from countries more anti-LGBTQ+ than the U.S.
That said, excitement is still building for the new project, with fans combing through every trailer and bit of new info. And while the original trailer provided a glimpse into the world (and what merchandise will be the big bet for the 2022 holiday season), it was just a preview compared to the second trailer which dropped on April 21st. Let’s get into it.
Buzz being buzz
The trailer begins with Buzz (Chris Evans) recording into a mission log that Hawthrone (Uza Aduba) lets him know is a rather pointless activity. Respectfully, Buzz pushes back against his commander and lets her (and us) know it’s just a part of his process. Buzz is a seasoned pilot and detail-oriented, just like the Buzz toy in Toy Story. This might be the gamer in me, but I think these mission logs might come in handy later in the story.
In the previous trailer, we got a stern soldier a bit frazzled in this new place he was in. Now that we know that this is, in fact, “62 years, seven months, and five days” into the future, the stakes are much higher. In case you were wondering, lightyears are a measure of distance and not time.
A ragtag group of misfits
Speaking of this revealed time travel plot, now it makes more sense why I had difficulty placing who Keke Palmer and Uzo Aduba were. I listened to them speak in the first trailer, and with the similar outfits, it had me all scratching my head. Now that we know Palmer is playing Izzy, Hawthorne’s grandchild, it makes sense. Izzy seems more than capable of leading the team but likely feels burdened by her grandmother’s legacy and the dire situation. Luckily with Buzz here, she’s got an experienced pilot on her team. Not just any pilot either because, as she reveals, her grandmother raised her on stories of Buzz. He is like a legend to her.
Other (future) team members include the bumbling Morrison (Taika Waititi) and direct Darby (Dale Soules). The android feline Sox (Peter Sohn) tells the crew, “the probability of survival with an inexperienced crew… is 38.2%” The eldest, Darby, takes on the role of an explosive expert which will likely come in handy, seeing as both trailers were full of action. Darby’s also serving on this team to shave off some sort of sentencing time, which explains why there is a significant knowledge gap between them and the others.
Morrison, on the other hand, accidentally wound up on the team. This explains why Sox is sitting on his lap. In the first trailer, Sox introduces itself to Buzz as his “personal companion robot.” While he can do the math and provide sass, he also tries to comfort Buzz twice. As the teammate least wanting to be there (and least qualified), Morrison will need all the soothing a robot cat can provide.
More Zurg
Between this image and another shot, we see more of the infamous Buzz nemesis, Emporer Zurg! This planet is under threat of robots, and while many are already on the ground, as Izzy pointed out, the ship needed to stop them sits in the sky. Not much dialogue was shown between Zurg and his crew so we still don’t know what they want.
Lightyear poster
At first glance, I was kind of underwhelmed. Even though it’s a nice departure from most posters, this movie is in space! There’s so much that could be done with that. Then I realized that this poster is actually perfect.
For one, except for Coco and Onward, Pixar doesn’t show too much of the story in the poster. We don’t get a sense for many of the characters or anything. They just capture the vibe. This is a skill, I assure you. Secondly, and most importantly, this poster harkens to other space movies by showing the light kind of breaking on an orb-shaped planet—plus more lens flare because, why not? You see this in posters like Dead Space, Gravity, Armageddon, Apollo 13, etc. One blog described this as “The Something From Outer Space is Going to Destroy Earth Movie Poster.”
Lightyear hits Disney Plus in the U.S. on June 17th, 2022.
(featured image: Disney Pixar)
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