Lightyear (2022) Review: Chris Evans, Time Dilation, and the Best Robot Cat

Before we get into whether Lightyear (2022) works as a film, let us establish what it is — because the marketing did not do a particularly good job of this, which contributed significantly to its troubled theatrical run.

Lightyear is not a sequel to the Toy Story films. It is not about the Buzz Lightyear toy voiced by Tim Allen. It is the fictional film within the Toy Story universe — the movie that a young Andy supposedly saw in a cinema in 1995, which made him want a Buzz Lightyear toy for his birthday. It stars Chris Evans as the real Buzz: an actual Space Ranger operating in an actual science fiction universe where the events of the film are real events, not a child’s playtime story.

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Lightyear (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray) (opens in a new tab)

The 4K presentation does justice to the alien planet environments and the hyperspace sequences. The upgrade from streaming is visible.

That framing matters because it means Lightyear was always going to be a more grown-up film than a Toy Story sequel. Andy did not watch a children’s film about a toy. He watched a science fiction adventure about a Space Ranger who gets stranded on an alien planet and spends years trying to fix the situation — while time dilation ensures he barely ages while everyone around him grows old and dies. That is the film Pixar made. It is not what audiences expecting a Toy Story spin-off were prepared for.

The result is a film that deserved a more careful launch and received more criticism than it earned. A 7/10 is the honest assessment: better than its reputation, not as good as the franchise at its peak, and significantly more interesting than its box office suggests.

The box office underperformance had multiple causes: the pandemic recovery period, the Disney Plus release of Toy Story 4 during lockdown conditioning audiences to expect Pixar at home, and marketing that never clearly explained what kind of film this was. None of those factors change what the film actually is. What the film actually is deserves a second look.

The Time Dilation Concept: The Heaviest Idea in a Pixar Family Film

Buzz Lightyear is stranded on the planet Tikana Prime after a navigation error destroys the colony ship’s hyperspeed crystal. He takes responsibility for the error and commits to fixing it — testing crystal after crystal in hyperspace flights that each take minutes from his perspective but years from the perspective of the people waiting on the planet surface.

The film introduces Commander Alisha Hawthorne as Buzz’s closest friend and colleague. In the hyperspace test montage — one of the finest sequences Pixar has produced in years — the audience watches Alisha’s life pass in four-minute intervals while Buzz barely ages. She gets a partner, a child, grandchildren. She grows old. She dies. Buzz attends her funeral and then returns to the testing program.

This is, to be clear, extremely heavy for a film marketed as family entertainment. The time dilation concept is not played for children’s grief — the montage is scored by Michael Giacchino with a restraint that makes it adult emotional territory. Watching someone watch the years pass while they barely age is a kind of loss that has no simple consolation, and the film does not offer one. It acknowledges the loss, has Buzz feel it, and then moves on to the adventure portion of the story.

The 8+ guidance for Lightyear exists primarily because of this sequence. Not because of the battle sequences — which are intense but standard genre fare — but because time dilation as a theme requires the cognitive and emotional architecture that most children under eight do not yet have. Older children and adults will feel it exactly as the film intends.

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Remote Control Interactive Robot Cat for Kids (opens in a new tab)

A robot cat with touch sensing, light-up eyes, and remote control — the closest real-world equivalent to SOX. Your kids will want one within five minutes of the film. They are not wrong.

For dads, the time dilation montage has a specific resonance. Watching the years accelerate past in the life of someone you care about while you remain fixed — it corresponds to something. The feeling of being focused on a task and looking up to find the children are suddenly older than you thought. The film is not about parenthood, but it found parenthood anyway.

SOX: The Scene-Stealer the Film Needed

There is a moment approximately twenty minutes into Lightyear where the audience falls in love with the film and stays in love with it regardless of whatever else happens around it. That moment is when Alisha’s granddaughter gives Buzz a robot support cat named SOX.

SOX is the most immediately winning Pixar supporting character since Edna Mode in The Incredibles. He has the deadpan delivery of a character who processes everything with perfect logical precision and no emotional filter. He solves problems with unnerving efficiency. He purrs. He has a sleep mode that involves a very small snore. Peter Sohn’s voice performance makes every SOX moment land with the precise weight of exactly enough humor, delivered exactly on time.

The creative decision to give Buzz a cat — specifically a practical, mission-capable, emotionally uncomplicated cat — as his primary companion is the best creative decision in the film. SOX provides a consistent source of genuine comedy in a film that could have been tonally relentless. He also provides genuine warmth in scenes that earn it rather than demand it.

Your children will want a SOX toy within five minutes of meeting the character. You will also want a SOX toy, and that is completely reasonable.

Chris Evans vs. Tim Allen: The Voice You Are Missing

Chris Evans is a capable voice actor and gives Buzz genuine conviction. The performance is competent and occasionally more than competent — his reading of Buzz’s self-recrimination in the early testing sequences has real weight. Evans understands that this Buzz is not the toy’s delusional swagger but a real person carrying real responsibility, and he plays that distinction clearly.

You still miss Tim Allen.

This is not a criticism of Evans. It is an acknowledgement that Tim Allen’s Buzz Lightyear voice has 27 years of accumulated association attached to it. The jaunty confidence, the precise rhythm of the character’s self-belief — all of it exists in that specific voice. Chris Evans’ Buzz is a different character with a different emotional register, which is exactly correct for what this film is, and still produces a mild cognitive dissonance that takes the first act to settle past.

By the middle of the film, the Evans performance is doing the job it needs to do. The absence of Tim Allen stops being distracting and starts being simply part of what this film is: a different story about a different version of Buzz, made for the same reason but not in the same mode.

Pacing Problems and the Second Act Slump

Lightyear has a structural problem in its second act that honest criticism must acknowledge. The film finds its pace in the time dilation sequences and the introduction of the young crew — Izzy Hawthorne (Alisha’s granddaughter), Mo Morrison, and Darby Steel — and then loses it somewhat in the middle section where the training montages and mission planning occupy more screen time than they earn.

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Lightyear (Blu-ray) (opens in a new tab)

The standard physical release. Complete, sharp, and includes bonus features that explain the interesting creative decisions behind the time dilation concept.

The young crew are likeable but not fully formed. Izzy is given the most character — she carries the weight of her grandmother’s legacy and a specific fear that becomes relevant in the climax — but the film does not spend enough time developing Mo and Darby as distinct presences. They are funny and charming. They are also not quite characters. In a Toy Story film at its best, every member of the ensemble feels specific and irreplaceable. In Lightyear, the ensemble feels assembled rather than grown.

The Zurg reveal in the third act is the film’s sharpest idea and its most under-explored one. The revelation of what Zurg actually is — and what he wants — recontextualizes the entire film in a way that a more generous runtime could have used more fully. As it stands, the film raises a genuinely interesting philosophical question and then answers it quickly to get to the final battle. A better version of Lightyear spends fifteen more minutes on that question.

The Verdict: Better Than People Are Saying

Lightyear is a 7/10 film that received 5/10 reviews and 4/10 box office returns, none of which is the right assessment. The time dilation concept is one of the more emotionally ambitious ideas Pixar has attempted in the post-golden-era period. SOX is an instant classic. The animation — particularly the alien planet environments and the hyperspace sequences — is genuinely beautiful work. Michael Giacchino’s score does everything asked of it.

The film’s problems — pacing in the second act, an ensemble that is likeable but underdeveloped, a Zurg reveal that needs more space — are real problems. They are not the problems of a bad film. They are the problems of a good film that was made under expectations it could not have met regardless of quality, and that deserved a more careful launch than it received.

For dads who like science fiction, who can handle the time dilation emotional weight, and who are prepared to watch Buzz Lightyear without Tim Allen’s voice — this is worth watching. Ideally on the best screen available, because the animation justifies the effort.

Is Lightyear connected to the Toy Story films?

Loosely. Lightyear is the fictional film within the Toy Story universe that Andy supposedly saw as a child, inspiring him to want a Buzz Lightyear toy. It features the real Space Ranger Buzz rather than the toy, set in its own science fiction universe. You do not need to have seen the Toy Story films to follow it, though knowing the connection adds a layer of meaning to the whole premise.

Is Lightyear suitable for young children?

We recommend 8 and up. The time dilation concept — watching Buzz’s closest friend age and die while he barely ages — is emotionally heavy in a way younger children will struggle to process. The battle sequences with Zurg’s forces are also more intense than typical family fare. Better suited to older children and adults who can engage with the science fiction premise properly.

Why does Chris Evans voice Buzz instead of Tim Allen?

Lightyear is not about the toy Buzz Lightyear that Tim Allen voices in the Toy Story films. It is the fictional film within that universe featuring the real Space Ranger the toy was based on. The creative decision to use a different actor differentiates the two versions of the character deliberately. You do notice the absence of Tim Allen’s voice, but the logic holds and Evans settles into the role by the middle of the film.

Is Lightyear worth watching?

Yes, particularly for sci-fi fans. The time dilation concept is clever and emotionally resonant, SOX is an instant classic supporting character, and the animation is beautiful. The second act pacing sags and the ensemble is underdeveloped, but the film deserves considerably better than its box office reception suggested. A solid 7 out of 10.