Disney & Pixar Debuts New Trailer for 'Lightyear'
Disney and Pixar have unveiled a new trailer for their upcoming animated movie, Lightyear, which tells the backstory of beloved character Buzz Lightyear (Chris Evans), who was first introduced in Toy Story. Lightyear promises to be an exciting science-fiction adventure detailing Buzz’s legendary time in the Space Ranger program and introducing his nemesis, Zurg (James Brolin).
Buzz and his crew of Space Rangers have been marooned on a planet overrun by vicious plants and vines for over a year. The planet is 4.2 million light-years away from Earth. After much preparation, the commanding officer, Alisha (Uzo Aduba), is ready to test an escape flight and selects Buzz to pilot the ship. He is accompanied by a robotic cat named Sox (Peter Sohn). The launch is successful and Buzz and Sox are able to reach hyperspeed. Something goes wrong and they find themselves crashed on another planet.
Buzz and Sox are met at the crash site by Junior Zap Patrol’s Izzy Hawthorne (Keke Palmer), who hides them from the hostile robots that inhabit the planet. When he sees the Hawthorne name on Izzy’s spacesuit, Buzz thinks she is Alisha. Izzy takes off her helmet and tells Buzz that Alisha is her grandmother.
This revelation means that Buzz isn’t on a new planet at all. He and Sox have accidentally traveled almost 63 years into the future and are on the same planet they were marooned on when the movie begins. Izzy is thrilled at Buzz’s arrival because the Junior Zap Patrol is in desperate need of a pilot. The planet has been under attack by a mysterious robot army led by Zurg, and Izzy's plan to fight the robots requires a pilot. She has already amassed a ragtag team that includes a demolitions specialist named Darby (Dale Soules), a regular guy who thought he was signing up for a workout camp named Mo (Taika Waititi), and now Buzz. They are the universe’s last hope against the evil Emperor Zurg.
Mary McDonald-Lewis, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Efren Ramirez, and Keira Hairston are the supporting cast. Lightyear is directed by Angus MacLane, who previously helmed two Toy Story short films and co-directed Finding Dory. MacLane is no stranger to animation and has been working with Pixar as an animator on various projects since 1997. Lightyear’s score is composed by Michael Giacchino who most recently wrote the music for The Batman. Giacchino also has connections to Pixar, as he scored Up.
Pete Doctor, writer of Lightyear, is a name that Pixar fans should be very familiar with. Doctor was writer, supervising animator, and story artist of the original Toy Story. He’s directed four films for Disney/Pixar and is the first person to win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature three times over. Doctor’s involvement as writer on Lightyear is exciting, as his was one of the minds that originally created Buzz Lightyear.
Given the resumes of the creative team involved, the talented voice actors, and the beloved source material, it seems like Disney and Pixar have another hit on their hands with Lightyear.