Julia Louis-Dreyfus as an elf mom with a sword approximately the same size as she is? Please, why is that not the focus of the movie instead of Chris Pratt and Tom Holland’s literal-half-dad road trip?
Disney and Pixar just dropped a new trailer for Onward, the beloved animation studio’s next big fantasy epic—with the twist that it takes place in an urban fantasy setting, mashing together humdrum modernity with spells and trash-eating unicorns.
After being gifted with a magical staff on his birthday, Ian Lightfoot (Holland) tries to use it to summon his dead father back from the grave for a day, just so he can see him one last time. When the spell goes awry and only brings dad’s lower half back, Ian recruits his brother Barley (Pratt) to go on a quest to complete the spell, or lose their father forever.
The first half of the trailer plays out pretty similar to all the previous footage we’ve seen, but it’s really the second that opens up Onward beyond the scope of Ian and Barley’s adventure—because apparently after they set off, their mom Laurel (Louis-Dreyfus) sets off on her own quest in pursuit of them, discovering a deadly curse that could put her sons in grave danger.
Plus, it involves teaming up with a Manticore played by Octavia Spencer who runs her own family dining chain restaurant in between doling out prophecies about maps, curses, and heroic quests? That’s delightful.
Onward hits theaters March 2020.
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