“Onward” Goes Onward into Fantasy Tropes Where My
“O.Z. Diggs Himself Out” Digs Further in More Specific Ways: A Comparison
Review *** ½ (3.5) Stars for “Onward”
By: Ron Baxley, Jr.
Unlike a certain individual who did not like a version
of her van with fantasy iconography allegedly used in the Disney-Pixar film
“Onward”, I am not here to argue over alleged, so-called stolen fantasy tropes;
rather, I am here to review the film while comparing it to my young adult
fantasy book “O.Z. Diggs Himself Out”.
In “Onward”, two elf brothers inherit a magic staff
from a deceased Dad in a kind of elven suburbia where my latest Oz-related book
has a Cowardly Lion staff passed down from the original Wizard of Oz, O.Z.
Diggs, through each generation where it eventually ends up with human
soon-to-be apprentice-level wizard O.Z. Diggs VII – cursed to live in the Out
World Southern U.S. with his family. (O.Z. Diggs was married in my 1999 “The
Talking City of Oz” which was re-released as a self-published version around
2010/2011.)
Ian Lightfoot, teen elf in “Onward”, is played as very shy and
awkward by Tom Holland much as my O.Z. Diggs VII was when he was a young teen. Ian
has a definite character arc of coming out of his shell as he progresses
through the film as does my character (Holland plays Ian with a voice-cracking
awkwardness which grows in confidence – a perfect casting fit for one who
played Peter Parker and Spiderman). His brother, Barley Lightfoot (played by
Chris Pratt), is boisterous and adventurous – more like O.Z. Diggs VII as a
young adult. He becomes less selfish as the film progresses in ways that will
have to be seen (Pratt handles being boastful with later being tender in good
ways… perhaps from having played a damaged super hero with compassion for his
friends, Star-lord, in “Guardians of the Galaxy”, and other roles before). If
my character’s older self could have spoken with his younger self, it would
have been like these two brothers interacting.
The fantasy trope of the wizard’s staff and the hero’s
journey/quest the two brothers go in is handled well. I have a missing father
with dementia who needs to be found in my aforementioned book. The brothers in
the film have a deceased father they have only partially brought back to life via
the staff and a spell as only a half-body from the waist downward. Ian, in
fact, adds stuffed clothing to the top of the half-body to make it appear more
life-like.
In fact, comedies of errors ensue where motor-cycle gang Hells Angel
pixies, who no longer fly or desire to fly with their not-so-angelic wings,
think they’re being insulted by the half-Dad’s stuffed, faux upper body’s
unintended pantomimes. These insults are from inanimate object clothing parts
of him such as an aloof stuffed head with sunglasses which will not, of course,
answer back (if only they had Powder of Life from the Oz series). The pixies pursue
the brothers through part of the adventure as the result of the insulting parts
of the elf brothers’ father, which are not real anyway, and other actions. By
the way, I have what one reviewer called “redneck elves” in my fantasy adventure. Disney-Pixar
has motorcycle-riding pixies and suburban elves.
Where I pull a lot of Oz lore and quite a few other
fantasy tropes into my Southern modernization of Oz fantasy, Pixar pulls from a
grab-bag of fantasy tropes, including aspects of Tolkien, the fantasy genre in
general including fairy tales to the present day, Magic: The Gathering, parodies
of J.K. Rowling and other fantasy authors, and Dungeons and Dragons among
others (they got special permission from Wizards of the Coast to use some
specific D&D aspects). Where I blend in and add to Oz lore and utilize
fantasy tropes within a modern context, Disney-Pixar, at times, with this film,
tends to throw a fantasy concept at the wall and see if it sticks. Seeing
Smurf-like mushroom housing everywhere in the elven suburbia and the cutesy
medieval fantasy in a modern context aspects make it seem more derivative than
my own work (and the “Shrek” films did better satirical fantasy or parody
elements than Disney-Pixar at times). Those mushroom homes do look like Papa
Smurf is about to walk out of one of them, and Pixar has taken the cave-people
put in a 50s context of “The Flintstones” and changed it to medieval fantasy
characters put in the context of modern suburbia. For example, the
aforementioned elf brothers and their mother have a yipping, bounding dragon who acts
like Dino or a modern dog, and they have a modern pet discipline method of
using a spray bottle on it. The gadgetry, brands, and architecture are also a
blending of time periods as in “The Flintstones”.
Nevertheless, what I really enjoyed about “Onward”,
among other aspects, was the introductory backstory of how they had arrived at
the present day, and how magic was given up more and more for modern
conveniences until it was all but gone. The quest to regain long lost magic
does make for an interesting one. I found it fairly fascinating -- almost as if
the Harry Potter series’ Arthur Weasley had gone berserk in the Ministry of
Magic, had become power hungry, and forced everybody in the wizarding world to
embrace everything Muggle/non-magic user and give up their reliance on magic as
much (and not just for students outside of Hogwarts either). In “Onward”, I
like the back-story and how they came to be there, just not the end result as
much at times.
Next, Disney-Pixar has been under fire for having a
homosexual minor (as in narrative position, not age) character, the cyclops cop
Officer Spector, in a film intended for families/children. In one brief scene
in which she has pulled over the brothers (who disguise themselves through
magic) and their “faux father”, Officer Spector openly states that her
girlfriend’s child has been causing her to pull her hair out. By the way, I am
an author who is a Christian with great openness to my Judaic brothers and
sisters and compassion for people of all sexualities, and I have a homosexual main
character in “O.Z. Diggs Himself Out”. That character deals with some of the
more lustful aspects of his sexuality in a non-self-hating way while keeping
his faith. This is why I label the book as a young adult and adult book.
“Onward” is advertised as a film for families and children, and the inclusion
of the homosexual minor character has angered some family groups. What I do not
necessarily care for in the film is that it is inclusivity for the sake of
inclusivity’s sake. Pixar included a very minor character and gave her
basically a homosexual one-liner to appear ground-breaking. They, in my
opinion, seemed to do this to get brownie points with social justice warriors,
not actually show a gay character with any complexity for any length of time.
As at least one reviewer stated on the back of my O.Z. Diggs... book, my work is more about transcending identity than identity politics:
The single mother trope is explored within the film
too with Laurel Lightfoot (shown with a spray bottle in a previous picture), the elf brothers’ mother who is dating a centaur.
The single mother is played with a feminist sassiness by Julia Louis-Dreyfus
but not to the point that she completely discounts her male counterparts. She
is strong and compassionate, a nice blending.
Seemingly single Manticore (played by Octavia Spencer)
starts as an overwhelmed owner of a tavern that has become more like a Chuck E
Cheese than an adventurer’s guild. She was once the Manticore that led people
on quests, but she is now more concerned with people’s orders and kids’
entertainment in her tavern that has become a family restaurant. Spencer plays
the frazzled aspects very well, and I think we can all identify with somebody
trapped in a dead end job that is no longer magical and not what one wants it
to be.
Political correctness posturing with the minor gay
character and trope-stacking aside, “Onward” is a good film that shows the true
aspects of brotherly love while having a fully explored hero’s journey with an,
at times, fun blending of the modern and the fantastic.
*** 1/2 (3.5) Stars out of 5 (Fair to Good)
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