Why LIGHTYEAR Couldn’t Go To Infinity And Beyond
By Movieguide® Staff
LIGHTYEAR was yet another Disney disappointment in its opening weekend.
According to Variety, “For Pixar, ‘Lightyear’ ranks as one of the studio’s lower starts, behind 2017’s ‘Cars 3’ ($53 million) and ahead of 2015’s ‘The Good Dinosaur’ ($39 million) and 2020’s ‘Onward’ ($39 million). It’s also one of the rare Pixar films to not take the top spot at the domestic box office, landing in second place.”
While critics blame the less-than-impressive box office on the struggles spin-offs often face or that the movie failed to make a connection with the original TOY STORY franchise, the truth of the matter is simple: LIGHTYEAR pushed an immoral and unbiblical agenda that went directly against the narrative the original movies so beautifully told.
The original TOY STORY, for example, is “overflowing with heroism, virtues and moral messages, not the least of which is that while envy can only destroy, friendship can overcome. The double entendre in the film will make it just as appealing to teenagers and adults as it is to younger children. TOY STORY has a heart of gold. It is funny, clean, wholesome, and virtuous. It is a classic beginning to a new genre — a masterpiece which is sure to capture the imaginations of young and old alike.”
TOY STORY made $394,436,586 worldwide.
Then, TOY STORY 2 promotes “elements [that] involve love, compassion, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Moreover, these well-crafted themes have strong references to great films. Many of the scenes play off the opening of the original STAR WARS, scenes from STAR TREK, the confrontation between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, great television Westerns, and many other emotive moments from film and television history. The Western motif plays like a wonderful homage to America’s history and to the good Christian values that built this country and that made the Golden Age of Hollywood and the Golden Age of Television so memorable and worthwhile. It also provides an intelligent cultural insight into some of the important changes that have occurred in popular culture during the last 40 years. Best of all, the movie also has several positive biblical references. Thus, TOY STORY 2 not only presents a fast-paced, hilarious adventure yarn, but also pulls at the heart strings and stimulates the mind as well.”
It made $497,375,381 worldwide.
“TOY STORY 3 is funny, playful and highly entertaining. You will cheer, cry and laugh until your buttons pop. As usual, the animation is brilliant! Best of all, the movie presents a powerful, poignant picture of being rescued and redeemed. Pixar and Disney have hit another home run with TOY STORY 3! There are a few very light innuendoes, but parents and their children will definitely want to see it,” according to our review. TOY STORY 3 crossed the billion dollar box office worldwide.
Finally, TOY STORY 4 also crossed the billion dollar box office threshold.
“TOY STORY 4 has some incredible pro-family, pro-redemption, pro-self-sacrifice messages, in a very exciting, entertaining story,” according to the Movieguide® review. “The importance of toys taking care of children is stressed constantly, but there’s also the importance of maturing and finding real love with good positive, male/female monogamous relationships being the end result. Every character has a great character arc, with a couple characters experiencing an epiphany and being truly transformed. It would be hard to find a better story. TOY STORY 4 will capture your heart.”
However, LIGHTYEAR contains virtually none of these positive themes.
Per the Movieguide® review:
Unlike the other redemptive movies in Pixar’s TOY STORY franchise, inspiring entertainment is not the sole goal in LIGHTYEAR. Instead, the whole movie is held captive by a contentious agenda of politically correct politics. To whit, the whole movie is centered on an LGBT, radical feminist, anti-male ideology. In fact, Buzz Lightyear isn’t really the hero in the movie. The movie’s real hero is Buzz’s female friend, a lesbian, who marries another woman and becomes pregnant, presumably by artificial insemination. Together, the two women raise a son, who marries a woman and has a daughter. During this whole story, there’s no mention of a grandfather. Instead, Izzy, the granddaughter, mentions at one point that she has two grandmothers. To top it off, there are no references to Izzy’s father, including no scenes of her interacting with her father. Thus, the movie’s whole story seems to be a politically correct validation of LGBT ideology, including an attack on masculinity and the traditional nuclear family.
Had LIGHTYEAR shied away from such a progressive agenda, it could have seen the box office success of its predecessors. Instead, Disney and Pixar chose to cater to a small but vocal minority when they could have banked on families.
Movieguide® does an annual financial analysis of the political content in movies.
Year in and year out, the analysis shows that movies with strong liberal or leftist content, including movies with strong radical feminist and pro-homosexual content, do significantly worse at the box office than movies with strong conservative content, including movies with strong content promoting traditional family values.
For example, in the last five calendar years, movies with strong liberal, leftist content and values averaged only $15.71 million at the North American box office, but movies with strong conservative content and values averaged nearly $64.39 million.
Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.
What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.
You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.
Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.
Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.
What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.
You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.
Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.
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