tl:dr - Onward is the best Pixar film since UP

I just finished watching Onward, and it has reminded me of an important part of what made Pixar so great. The complete package of their film making. It's easy to attach yourself to something you love about a film, but rarely do you notice when you have nothing to hate. It's something that separates good films from great films, and the difficulty of pulling that off should not be underestimated.

Just from a technical aspect, Onward is finely polished to a degree that I haven't seen since UP. This movie has no wasted scenes, everything ties together. There's no filler, no excessive time spent on side characters or comic relief, no scenes that are just "fun" but don't actually progress the plot or character development. Every single scene is purposeful to the films direction, yet still feels like a natural progression of the story. This may not seem like like much, but think back on the last couple of movies you've watched. Most likely, you'll be able to think of a couple scenes weren't really needed, and a couple others that were a bit forced in order to progress the story.

There's so much more to love about this film, but eh, I kinda just wanted to write about loving the technical aspect. :P

As much as I loved this movie, I wouldn't say its as good as Pixar's golden age. It's VERY close, but not quite. For one, the themes aren't as universal. This isn't a bad thing, but it does limit how the film can connect with the viewer. Take for example, Ian recognizing that his older brother Barley has his own hardships, and learns to love and appreciate him for all the support he's given him over is life. This is a bit direct , and it's only conveyed through that single character pairing. If you don't connect with these characters, the theme won't hit as hard. In comparison, the older Pixar movies would have boiled this theme down much further into "empathy" and "appreciation" and then mixed a bit of it into every single aspect of the movie, not just the relationship of the leading roles.

For example, the mother boyfriend Colt Bronco. They touch on the "empathy" theme slightly in the scene with the illusion magic. The female officer mentions how it must be tough on him trying to join a family. So there's a bit of the "empathy" there, but not much. They don't actually show him struggling with his own emotions, or powering through any difficulties, so there's no organic reason to feel "empathy" or "appreciation" here.

When themes are more tightly knitted into a film, it gives the viewer a deeper resonance with those themes and the film itself. Its part of why old Pixar films are so memorable as a whole, rather than a single iconic scene or two. Also, keeping themes sort of vague and simplistic allows every viewer to connect with the film in their own way. Think of a painting where you're free to interpret your own meaning vs. one where the artist tell you exactly what it means.

A second and more forgiving reason that Onward doesn't quite match up to old Pixar is originality. I'm not sure how to explain this part properly. It's plenty original in its own right, but it's missing a certain something something. From art design, to storyline, to the characters... everything is a little too familiar, too simplistic. Complete originality isn't necessary for making a great film, and the number of truly original ideas out there only goes down with time.... but it does help move a film up from "great" to "iconic".

As a parting note, I'd like to give honorable mentions to Inside Out and Coco as very good films made between UP and now. They were good, but none of them were great enough to make me believe in Pixar again the Onward has.