Movie Review: Onward, a fun film of quests and brothers

Written by: Isabelle Hendrich, staff writer

*Warning: this review contains spoilers

Starring Tom Holland and Christ Pratt, Onward is about two elfish brothers who go on a quest to see their deceased dad again.

A Disney Pixar animated movie, Onward was initially released on Mar. 6. However, because of COVID-19 closing all theaters, Disney pulled Onward from the big screen and moved it to Disney plus on Apr. 3.

Onward, among films like Frozen 2, is one of the many movies and TV shows the Disney company has released early on Disney+ to brighten their viewers’ days.

Ian and Barley are played by Holland and Pratt respectively. Their father left his two sons a wizard staff and a spell that magically brings him back for one whole day.

The movie centers on the theme that magic once existed, but technology, much like what the world has today, replaced magic because of its convenience.  

Onward is rated PG for “action, peril and some mild thematic elements.” 

As with any classic Disney movie, the brothers face trouble when the spell goes awry, forcing them to journey in search of the missing piece of the spell.

Not knowing where Ian and Barley are going, their mother, played by Julie Louis-Dreyfus, teams up with a mythical Manticore, played by Octavia Spencer.

Although Onward was filled with magic and adventure, it did not meet the high expectations Pixar Animation Studios had previously set for themselves.

On its opening weekend, Onward made $40 million. But compared to Inside Out, which made $90.4 million its opening weekend, Onward did not do as well as intended.

Although Onward did not contain as many characters as Toy Story or have such an integrated story plot as Inside Out, it did show the value of family.

*Spoilers begin here.

Ian, the younger brother of Barley, was a nerdy kid in high school. He thought the fulfillment he had always been looking for was meeting his dad.

At the end of the movie, he realizes that it was his brother who he had shared his life with and had accomplished all the activities he wanted to do with his dad.

Upon realizing this, Ian sacrifices himself by fighting off a dragon so Barley can say goodbye to their dad.

Ian surrendering himself can be compared to Jesus dying on the cross for our sins, especially with it being around Easter time. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice by taking on all of our sins so that those who trust in Him might one day be Holy in His presence.

Ian made a quick decision to chase off the dragon, but God has always planned for Jesus to die that those who are saved might spend eternity worshiping Him because Jesus loves us more than we can possibly ever imagine. Like Ian and Barely were good brothers, those who are in Christ also have a faithful brother. 

 *Note: this article expresses the ideas and opinions of the author and are not a reflection of the views of the Triangle or Bryan College as a whole.

Isabelle Hendrich is a communications studies major and missions minor at Bryan College. She is on the cross-country team. Besides running, Isabelle also likes to read and do crafts. She is also a triplet whose siblings, Benjamin and Savannah, are also attending Bryan College.