Review: Onward (spoiler-free)

There is something sad about a bad Pixar movie.

Like so many things Disney, Pixar is going through a generational change in the post-Lasseter era. The place is still loaded to the gills with talented people. But when you see a movie like Onward, you realize that something or someone was missing.

Onward is not a painfully bad film. Not at all. But it is painfully mediocre. It looks and feels like a DreamWorks Animation film, which is not a natural insult, but does speak to the idea that it doesn't feel unique as Pixar films so often are.

Then you add a great voice cast, most of who, are doing "cartoon voices." Basically, they were all - except Tom Holland - doing "louder, faster, funnier," except it wasn't. And as one sifts through very familiar voices that don't seem themselves, you realize that a part of the Pixar brand has been perfectly cast actors pretty much playing themselves. Don't get me wrong, I worship the ground that June Foray and Mel Blanc and Maurice LaMarche and Tom Kenny …