Onward

Theatrical release poster

***Onward*** is a 2020 American computer-animated urban fantasy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The film is directed by Dan Scanlon, produced by Kori Rae from a screenplay written by Scanlon, Jason Headley, and Keith Bunin, and stars the voices of Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Octavia Spencer. Set in a suburban fantasy world, the film follows two elf brothers who set out on a quest to find an artifact that will bring back their deceased father.

The film premiered at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival on February 21, 2020 and was released in the United States on March 6. It received generally positive reviews from critics and has grossed $103 million worldwide. The film's financial shortcomings were attributed to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic, which resulted in theaters around the globe being closed. Like several other films released in March, it was made available digitally two weeks after its theatrical release.

## Plot

In a world inhabited by mythical creatures, magic was once commonplace, though difficult to master. After technological advances over the centuries, magic became obsolete and was largely discarded.

In a time equivalent to the modern day, Ian Lightfoot, an high-schooler elf lacking self-confidence, and his older brother Barley, a history and role-playing game fanatic, live in the city of New Mushroomton. Their father Wilden died of a severe illness shortly before Ian was born, and their mother Laurel has a new boyfriend, centaur police officer Colt Bronco, whom Ian and Barley dislike.

On Ian's sixteenth birthday, Laurel gives the brothers a gift from Wilden: a magical staff, a rare gem, and a letter describing a "visitation spell" that can resurrect their father for a single day. Ian accidentally succeeds in casting the spell, but only the lower half of Wilden's body is reformed before the gem disintegrates. The brothers embark on a quest to acquire another gem and complete the spell, taking Barley's beloved van "Guinevere". Finding the boys gone, Laurel leaves to find them.

Ian and Barley visit the Manticore’s Tavern, named for a monster possessing a map to the gem. The tavern has become a family restaurant managed by the Manticore, legally named The Manticore, also known as "Corey". Arguing with Ian over the map, The Manticore realizes how boring her life has become and drives the customers away in a fit of rage, accidentally setting fire to the restaurant and the map. The brothers' only clue to the gem is a children's menu suggesting "Raven's Point", a nearby mountain. Laurel later arrives at the scene and befriends The Manticore, who agrees to help her. The Manticore warns that the brothers' journey may awaken a curse that can only be defeated by her special sword, which she and Laurel steal from a pawn shop.

Traveling to the mountains, Ian and Barley narrowly escape the police and a motorcycle gang of pixies, relying on Ian's newly awakened spell-casting abilities and Barley's role-playing game instincts. "Raven's Point" leads them on a trail indicated by a series of raven statues, but Colt follows them, calling in reinforcements. Barley sacrifices Guinevere to cause a landslide, blocking their pursuers. Following the statues, the brothers descend through a cave and avoid a series of traps and deadly creatures, during which Barley reveals to Ian that he was unable to emotionally bring himself to say goodbye to Wilden when he was dying in the hospital years before. They then run into a trap, and surface to find themselves in front of Ian's high school. Ian, fed up with Barley’s recklessness, lashes out at him for leading them on a wild goose chase and walks away with Wilden.

Rereading his list of things he always wished to do with his father, Ian realizes that Barley has been a father figure throughout his entire life, and returns to make amends. Barley discovers the gem inside a historic fountain and retrieves it, unwittingly triggering the curse The Manticore spoke of, which turns the high school into an artificial dragon bent on claiming the gem. Ian faces the artificial dragon, but his staff is knocked into the ocean; he reforms it from a splinter and continues the fight. The Manticore flies in carrying Laurel, who plunges the magic sword into the artificial dragon's heart, buying Ian time to cast the visitation spell and fully reform Wilden's body. Ian sends Barley ahead to finally give his proper goodbye to Wilden, and holds off the artificial dragon long enough for Laurel to destroy it. After Wilden dissipates, Barley tells Ian that their father is proud of him, and the brothers share a hug.

Ian's confidence and spell-casting improve and he surprises Barley by painting his new van, the "Guinevere 2". The Manticore reopens her tavern in its original spirit, drawing in customers with tales of past adventures, Ian and Barley have a better relationship with Colt, and the brothers continue questing.

## Voice cast

* Tom Holland as Ian Lightfoot, a teenaged elf who is Barley's brother and Laurel's son.
* Chris Pratt as Barley Lightfoot, Ian's brother and Laurel's son who longs for a magical quest.
* Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Laurel Lightfoot, the widowed mother of Ian and Barley.
* Octavia Spencer as Corey, a manticore and restaurant owner who Ian and Barley go to for help on their quest.
* Ali Wong as Gore, a faun cop
* Lena Waithe as Specter, a cyclops cop
* Mel Rodriguez as Colt Bronco, a centaur cop.

## Production

### Development

In July 2017, Pixar announced a "suburban fantasy world" film at the D23 Expo, with Scanlon directing and Rae producing. The film's inspired by Scanlon's father's death when Scanlon and his brother were younger, and their relationship. He decided to write the story after hearing an audio clip of his father. On December 12, 2018, the title was revealed. In 2019, Jason Headley and Keith Bunin were hired to rewrite the screenplay.

### Casting

On December 12, 2018, Holland, Chris Pratt, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Octavia Spencer were announced as starring in the film. While having recorded most of their lines separately, Holland and Pratt did some of their recording sessions together since, according to Scanlon, "they've worked together before and hung out together". On December 17, 2019, Ali Wong, Lena Waithe and Mel Rodriguez joined the cast of the film.

### Music

On April 16, 2019, Mychael and Jeff Danna, who previously composed the score for Pixar's *The Good Dinosaur*, were revealed to be composing the film's score.

## Release

*Onward* is scheduled to be released on March 6, 2020 by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

### Marketing

On May 29, 2019, two stills from the film, featuring Barley, Ian and their mother, were revealed. The following day, the film's teaser poster was released, and the teaser trailer debuted during ABC's broadcast of the 2019 NBA Finals. The trailer was also shown with *Toy Story 4* and *Spider-Man: Far From Home*. An official trailer was released on October 10, 2019. Another trailer was released on December 17, 2019.

## Lawsuit

On January 27, 2020; a lawsuit was filed by San Francisco tattoo artist named Sweet Cecily Daniher claiming that Pixar plagiarized her Unicorn Van design for the Van owned by Barley Lightfoot in the film. According to court documents Daniher has since 2014 owned a "tremendously cool, dark blue and/or purple 1972 Chevrolet G10 van, with red shag carpeting, red velour walls and seating, and a white shag carpet roof" with a unicorn mural painted on the side. Christened the "Vanicorn", Daniher claimed that after it was a feature in a "*The Best of San Francisco Magazine"*(published in July 2017) she was contacted in September 2018 by a Pixar representative who wished to rent the van for use in a one day music festival for Pixar employees and their families. She was assured that the "Vanicorn" "would just be a show piece and not used in any way other than a visual prop." On May 31, 2019 Daniher discovered the first promotional artwork that featured the van that looked suspiciously identical to her "Vanicorn". Daniher is currently suing Pixar for Copyright Infringement, violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, violation of the Visual Artists Rights Act and violation of the California Artists Protection Act. As of February 2020, the lawsuit is still pending.