Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Ends Here

My kids are both die-hard Toy Story fans. Sure, my son is only five, and my daughter is two and 1/2, but she can identify Buzz and Woody and whine for any Toy Story toy like a champ. My son knows every line from the original Toy Story (literally) and we have watched Toy Story 2 about twenty times…. So when I saw Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins at Costco, of course I snatched it up. To say I am disappointed does not even begin to describe it!

First of all, let me qualify all this by saying that my son loves this movie. It is three days old here, and he has watched it – you guessed it – three times. So when I berate the movie – as a parent – you have to bear in mind my perspective. Ahem. Okay, back to the review….

Buzz Lightyear of Star Command is an all-cartoon full-length feature movie. It runs 70 minutes, and unlike the other Pixar/Toy Story movies, this is a fully animated cartoon. I have to admit, I am partial to the computer animated characters in the original Toy Story movies. Nonetheless, I do enjoy a good cartoon, so this was not a major factor in my recommendation (or rating) of this movie.

The Plot
The basic plot of this movie (and I’ll try not to spoil it) is that Buzz Lightyear is back at Star Command, and is called out to rescue three lost “little green men” (LGM). Buzz, voiced by Tim Allen, has his normal cocky attitude – but here you get to see him in his “natural element”. He is teamed with several Star Command cohorts, including Mira Nova, a hotshot female Space Ranger Rookie, voiced by Nicole Sullivan; and a couple of supporting characters including Booster (a janitor and Space Ranger Wannabe) and XR, a robot. Their mission is to rescue the LGM from the evil clutches of the Evil Emperor Zurg (voiced incomparably by Wayne Knight, a.k.a. Newman of Seinfeld), who is plotting to turn the whole world evil, together with his henchman Agent Z (voiced by Diedrich Bader of the Drew Carrey Show). That’s about the gist of it, and I really can’t tell you any more without spoiling it….

What I liked…
This movie isn’t without merit. It’s fun to watch, and filled with action. While the plot is fairly predictable, that’s okay when the movie is geared toward the youngster set. And the voices of Tim Allen, Diedrich Bader, Patrick Warburton (“Puddy” of Seinfeld fame, voicing the Little Green Men) and Wayne Newman combine to fill this with talent.

As an added bonus for adults, there is a setup to each scene reminiscent of Star Trek, where a digitized location stamp scrolls across the screen… followed by a quip or further detail. In most cases, these are very funny, although if you blink you might miss them. “Star Command Cafeteria” reads one, followed shortly by “Avoid the Meatloaf”. I snorted in laughter at that one, and several others like it.

Speaking of Star Trek, William Shatner sings the end song, titled “To Infinity and Beyond”. Well, maybe sings is too strong of a word… he actually kindof reads the words, to music, accompanied by some background singers. If you haven’t heard William Shatner’s particular version of singing you are in for a unique… ummm… experience. And if you think this song is bad, go find the album where he sings “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” . You’ll never hear it quite the same way again. Ahem. Anyway it’s almost worth buying the video, just to say you heard Captain Kirk sing the song. Almost, but not quite….

And to be fair – my son loved this movie. We have bought and rented movies before that he has liked, but been satisfied with watching just once. Buzz Lightyear of Star Command brings some of his favorite characters back together again, and he just can’t get enough of it. I, on the other hand, already have….

What I don’t like
So what don't I like about this movie? In a word – violence. This is a pretty dark movie, filled with lots of gore and violence. Characters plotting against each other, even within the same “team”, lots and lots of shooting and killing, and a generally nasty plot. “That’s the bad guy, Mommy,” my son explained to me sagely, “He’s really mean.” Mean indeed – Zurg’s evil side -- which was hinted at in Toy Story 2 -- is on full display here, with plotting and schemes to rule the world that mean taking out anyone and anything in his way. Lots of shooting and killing, decapitations, crushing of characters, fireballs, etc. There is enough violence that my 2-1/2 year old daughter was scared … and almost nothing scares my daughter!

You should also know, by the way, that this is purely a Buzz Lightyear movie. Woody, Jessie and Rex appear for only a brief introduction at the beginning, and are not part of the plot at all. If your kids are counting on seeing Woody, Hamm, Rex et al, they’re going to be disappointed… this is all Buzz’s show!

Overall Recommendation
I just can’t recommend this movie. The bottom line is, the characters and cartoon styling will appeal to younger children (3-7) but the violence and darkness of the plot is more appropriately geared to far older kids. Disney is launching this just prior to the start of the schoolyear, when they are introducing (apparently) a Buzz Lightyear Star Command cartoon on ABC’s One Saturday Morning (per the preview to the movie). In addition, the “Buzz Lightyear of Star Command” marketing campaign also evidently includes a color game boy game and a Sega game, as well.

I can only assume that this is a big marketing ploy – introduce the characters (known entities from Toy Story and Toy Story 2) and draw on the popularity of the previous movies. Get the viewers introduced to the “new” Buzz Lightyear – cartoon style, with his new trusty sidekicks – then bring them all out on Saturday morning cartoons. Voila, instant acceptance!

The only problem with this, that I can see, is that this cartoon is dark and violent, more in line with X-Men or those super Mummies than with the original Toy Story. The appeal is to a different group, although perhaps the kids who were 5 when Toy Story originally came out are now at the right age to appreciate this. My kids, however, are far too young for this type of violence and relatively strong language (nothing really “bad”, just things like Shut up and Stupid…. If you’ve ever had a two-year-old you know how hard it is to stop them from saying those words once they hear them!).

Overall, I would give this movie two thumbs down, for the younger audience anyway. If your kids are 8 and up, they might enjoy this; it’s definitely filled with plenty of action and some fun sequences. However, for the younger set I would stick with the original Toy Story and Toy Story 2 (which is due out on video on October 17).

I’m disappointed that I didn’t rent this one first, as I definitely wouldn’t have bought it if I’d known what I was getting. I’m sure my kids will want to watch the cartoon when it comes on ABC on Saturday mornings, too …. So I guess the marketing campaign worked. We won’t be watching the Saturday morning cartoon, though, and we won’t be watching Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins again much either, if I can help it.

My recommendation is to save your money, and watch the Saturday morning cartoon. If you find it appropriate for your kids, the movie probably will follow the same lines. If your kids are bored with it, or you feel it’s inappropriate for them, be glad that you didn’t spend $15 to find that out like I did.