Mr. Movie: Animated ‘Onward’ is clever, very clever; ‘The Way Back’ is a bit of a letdown
Onward
“Onward” has two young elves going on a quest to find the other half of their father. It’s as fun as it sounds and the trailer shows. Best of all though, it’s a movie for those of us who’ve loved and lost our fathers.
“Onward” is set in a fantasy land packed with the usual assortment of mythical creatures from monsters to elves and everything in between. Ian Lightfoot is an elf. He’s never met his father. Dad died before he was born.
Ian is trying to find his place in life. He’s shy, insecure and lost. Most of all, Ian wishes he’d met his father who was confident, strong and everything Ian wants to be but can’t.
On his 16th birthday, Ian and his 19-year old brother Burley get a gift from their father. It’s a staff with a stone that gives it magical powers. Along with the stick is a spell that can bring their father back to life for 24-hours. During the casting of the spell something goes wrong and only the bottom half of dad shows up.
Burley is totally into magic but has no skills. Ian isn’t but it turns out he’s the one with the ability to make the stick work. At least work half way. The stone explodes after the spell is cast. Burley convinces Ian that there is another one just like it on a nearby mountain. What he doesn’t know is that the mountain is a very dangerous place.
Plus, they keep getting delayed and the clock is ticking. Dad can only be back on this side of eternity for 24-hours whether he is whole or not.
There’s more but you get the gist. The two boys are voiced by Spider-Man’s Tom Holland and Chris Pratt. Julia Louis-Dreyfus does the voice of their mother and Octavia Spencer is a creature called the Manticore. It’s a Pixar flick so — as always — John Ratzenberger voices a character.
They all have a good time with a sometimes clever but straight ahead script. That’s courtesy of director Dan Scanion (“Monsters University”) and writers Jason Headley and Keith Bunin. They treat the mature among us to lots of laughs and put a ton of slapstick into the film for the kids.
They also pack the expected fantasy movie mumbo jumbo and the usual odd characters and easy to predict plot points into “Onward.” At the same time, the movie is also very sweet, often sentimental and — in places — downright deep.
Ian misses the dad he’s never known and Burley has an unresolved issue with his father as well. How Scanion and his two writers resolve all the lack of resolution is beautiful.
Plus they do a great job of giving half of dad a seriously funny personality. He’s the film’s best character and says nothing but everything. Clever. Very clever.
This is a wonderful flick for all of us but — as noted earlier — it’s even more so for those of us who’ve lost our fathers and who wish we could spend another day with him — even if it’s just with one half.
My recommendation? Onward to the box office. This is an animated feature that’ll please everyone.
▪ Rated PG. It’s playing at the Fairchild Cinemas Southgate 10 and the Pasco and Queensgate 12s, at the AMC Classic Kennewick 12 and at Walla Walla Grand Cinemas.
▪ Rating: 5 out of 5
The Way Back
Ben Affleck plays Jack Cunningham. He’s an alcoholic. His drinking problem is very serious. You learn why mid-movie. Cunningham is offered the job of coaching his high school alma mater’s basketball team. The team sucks. But so does Jack.
One day he stops drinking and becomes a real coach. Then the team stops sucking and they become a real basketball team. The trip from drunk to winning coach and sucking team to winning team is fun to watch. It’s smile inducing movie making that will tempt you to high-five the person sitting in the seat next to you.
Of course, Cunningham has to fall of the wagon. That’s the way the basketball is dribbled in this kind of a sports movie. The why of the slip and the resolution are as predictable as the wagon fall.
For Affleck the getting sober part and the falling off the wagon has to be a bit autobiographical. I know it is for me. I’m an addict and an alcoholic, and have been clean and sober for 34 years. I drank and exhibited the kind of destructive behavior experienced by Cunningham so it makes movies like this hard to watch.
I also — at 70 — still play full court, fast break basketball twice a week.
At times I wanted to yell at the screen. Fortunately, director Gavin O’Connor’s movie and the screenplay he and Brad Ingelsby (“American Woman”) did manages to have enough positives that it didn’t require any yelling.
They even manage to place a surprise or two into the plot. And it’s about basketball so I’m a lot less apt to yell about my favorite sport.
The movies is — however — a bit of a letdown. Part of the letdown comes from the performances. Affleck sleepwalks through the role and acts like he’s bored with the whole thing. It’s almost like he could see the headlines and critics — like me — pointing out the autobiographical aspects of the movie. The other actors are only required to look patient and also look like they’re actually playing basketball.
My other complaint is how the alcohol problem is more or less whitewashed. It’s done in cookie cutter style and the solution while a bit of a surprise, is way too simplistic.
O’Connor — who directed Affleck in “The Accountant” and did the critically acclaimed “Warrior” in 2011 — is an excellent storyteller. He does the best he can with this one. The predictability of it all undoes what you love about the movie and is where things slip.
Flaws aside, it’s not a bad movie. “The Way Back” gets lost a time or two but in the end manages to find its way back. Or to put it another way, the movie ends up missing a free throw or two, but won’t give you a hangover.
▪ Rated R for language and alcohol abuse. It’s playing at the Fairchild Cinemas Southgate 10 and the Pasco and Queensgate 12s, at the AMC Classic Kennewick 12 and at Walla Walla Grand Cinemas.
▪ Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5
This story was originally published March 5, 2020 at 6:03 PM with the headline "Mr. Movie: Animated ‘Onward’ is clever, very clever; ‘The Way Back’ is a bit of a letdown."