Summary
The history of the character might be more interesting than the making of Lightyear, but nevertheless, this is an exciting and insightful behind-the-scenes.
Disney+ documentary film Beyond Infinity: Buzz and the Journey to Lightyear was released on the streaming service on June 10, 2022.
When Toy Story was first released in 1995, a young Andy was enamored by this new toy based on his favorite movie named Buzz Lightyear. On June 17, Lightyear will be released into theaters worldwide, allowing everyone to see the movie that Andy was so taken with during the mid-90s. This movie will tell the origin of the fictional character Buzz Lightyear in a way that audiences have never seen nor known before. Beyond Infinity: Buzz and the Journey to Lightyear, on the other hand, tells the behind-the-scenes story of how one of the most iconic and beloved characters in cinema history came to be.
This documentary starts before the original Toy Story and has many Pixar creatives, most notably Pete Docter, talking quickly about the rise of Pixar as a studio in the 90s. The film then goes to the early designs of Buzz Lightyear, even diving into the archives of what the character could have been. It is interesting seeing the vast amount of different hoops and hurdles this particular version of Buzz Lightyear had to go through to get to be the version we know today; when looking at all of the original designs and names, it is clear to see they made the best choice.
This section of the documentary was definitely more interesting, and begs the question: why and how has a Toy Story documentary never been made? Pixar is such a vast company and expansive universe at this point that learning about the origins of the studio and of the movies that helped kick start their rise to animation prominence was enlightening to witness.
Moving on from the original version of Buzz, we see a young Angus MacLane, director of the upcoming Lightyear, as a member of the Toy Story 2 team. Pete Docter mentions in the documentary that MacLane knew everything Buzz and was the go-to whenever he needed to know anything about the character. Hearing this makes sense on why MacLane was set to bring this character back to life in an origin story and throughout the rest of the documentary, his love and passion for not only the character of Buzz but for these stories themselves is clear to see. If you haven’t already seen Lightyear, I would recommend waiting until after to see this documentary as there are slight spoilers, but if you have seen it, learning the behind-the-scenes workings shows how much everyone cares about this character.
Whether you are a fan of Buzz Lightyear or want to know the most going into Lightyear the movie, Beyond Infinity: Buzz and the Journey to Lightyear is the documentary for you. Running at a fast-paced 36 minutes, audiences get to see the birth of one of cinema’s greatest characters and the resurrection back into theaters. The history of the character might be more interesting than the making of Lightyear, but nevertheless, this is an exciting and insightful behind-the-scenes.
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You can watch this documentary with a subscription to Disney+.
