Lightyear (PG)
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This 2022 movie is meant to be what the toy Buzz Lightyear was based on in 1995 movie Toy Story. (It makes me wonder if, within that universe, this film is animated or live-action). It's not the first time a fictional world was created to show what that toy was based on; way back in 2000 there was a direct-to-video movie, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, which led to a spin-off TV series. That's never really been considered canon, but this is. However, while I've rated this film slightly higher than I rated the TV series, the series is more important to me, in the long run. Anyway, we have to assume that within the Toy Story universe, this movie came out at least as early as 1995, if not sooner. I'm not sure how believable I find that, especially considering one of the characters is gay, and how casually that fact is treated here. Would that have happened in a film from the 90s? And not have their sexuality be an important plot point? I dunno. But I do know that even in the 2020s, there are plenty of bigots who got upset about it.

Anyway, it starts with Space Rangers Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Chris Evans) and Alisha Hawthorne exploring an uncharted planet, along with a rookie Space Ranger (to Buzz's annoyance). They find that the planet has hostile plant and animal life, so they try to escape, but the crystal that powers their hyperdrive is damaged. So the whole crew (about 1200 people, I think) sets up a temporary colony on the planet, and one year later they're ready for Buzz to test fly a small ship with a newly created crystal. He fails to reach hyperspeed, but due to time dilation, during his four-minute flight, four years have passed on the planet. Hawthorne gives Buzz a robotic cat named Sox, with which Buzz isn't particularly interested in interacting. He tasks Sox with improving the formula used to create a hyperspace crystal, and there is a montage of Buzz making many more test flights, always with four years passing on the planet. So we see a bit of how life progresses for Alisha, who marries, has a son, and later a granddaughter, and eventually dies.

Alisha is replaced as leader of the colony by Commander Burnside, who had been born on the planet. Sox finally perfects the crystal formula, but by this time everyone had given up on the idea of leaving the planet, which was the only home they'd ever known. But against Burnside's orders, Buzz steals a ship for one last test flight. This time his flight is successful, but 22 years pass on the planet. When Buzz returns, he meets Alisha's now-grown granddaughter, Izzy (Keke Palmer), who introduces him to her team of trainees, Mo Morrison (Taika Waititi), Darby Steel, and a robot called DERIC. They explain that the planet has been invaded by alien robots, which are trying to break through the colony's laser shield, while Izzy and the others are suck outside the shield. They have a plan to destroy the alien spaceship in orbit, thus depowering the robots. At first Buzz wants to take on the mission alone, because the trainees are, well, untrained. (They're not even at the level of "rookie".) But over time, he comes to trust them, especially Izzy. Buzz eventually confronts a larger robot, who is called Zurg, and commands all the other robots.

Well, lots more happens that I don't want to spoil. There is a revelation about Zurg that I especially don't want to spoil, but I will say I wasn't entirely pleased by it. There's also a mid-credits scene, a post-credits scene, and a post-logo scene. Anyway... there's a lot about the movie's scientific aspects that seems wrong to me, which only slightly mars my appreciation of the film. Mostly I think it's a good movie with good character development, and a good ending. And that's all I have to say about that.