One of the best bits of the original Toy Story was Tom Hanks’ Woody screaming at Tim Allen’s heroic space toy Buzz Lightyear that he. Is. A. Toy. This was a confronting truth for Buzz back then, but three sequels and a few teary generations of fans later, he seems to have got the picture.
That’s why the canon of the upcoming Pixar movie Lightyear is a bit confounding. Chris Evans will voice the fictional human figure that the fictional toy line is based upon, a hefty-chinned animated superhero that should recall that star’s previous role as Captain America.
Lightyear will take us to infinity and you-know-where when it lands in cinemas this June 16. The film’s latest trailer can be seen just below, giving us a bit more insight to Buzz’s glorious past in our future—the year 3901.
Uzo Aduba voices his buddy Alisha and his cute/annoying robotic cat companion Sox is voiced by Peter Sohn. Lightyear looks pretty complex in fact, with Buzz quickly getting shuttled off to a desolate planet where he’s guided by Alisha’s granddaughter (Keke Palmer).
Taika Waititi’s voice really stands out in the trailer, too, as part of the motley crew Buzz is forced to join in destroying the evil Emperor Zurg. You know this guy from the Toy Story world, too, but here he’s considerably more menacing since he’s not an ankle-height plastic doll.
Pixar keeps making its releases more cartoonish and fluid at the same time, somehow, with recent hits Soul and Turning Red adopting a realer-than-real animation style. Buzz’s oversized chin, for instance, looks like you could reach out and pinch it, although the only person in our real world with that kinda jawline is Robert Z’Dar.
Excitingly, the original score for Lightyear comes from composer Michael Giacchino, who recently chilled us with his work on The Batman. From one costumed hero to a lighter, more family friendly one, but hopefully with all the same aural majesty.
