Normally when we think of elves, mermaids, gnomes, and unicorns, we imagine lands full of magic and adventure. Places that look nothing like our normal everyday lives. Kingdoms where great heroes fight the forces of evil in epic showdowns. But the first teaser for Pixar’s next film Onward is bringing those mythic creatures to the suburbs, in a world that looks a lot like our own even if its inhabitants don’t.
The first official trailer for Onward, which stars MCU heroes Tom Holland and Chris Pratt as elf teenage brothers, doesn’t give us much in the way of plot or a villain. Instead it focuses on establishing the inverted world it takes place in. The denizens of a typical fantasy world now live in a suburbia devoid of any of its old magic. Gnomes don’t decorate lawns; they take care of them. And you can find mermaids relaxing in their backyard swimming pools. But the idea of going on a great “quest” isn’t entirely lost to time, even if ogres now wear bathrobes and collect the morning paper. The two brothers “embark on an extraordinary quest to discover if there is still a little magic left out there.”
Sweet paint job on that van, but it’s even sadder to have a flying unicorn on your ride when unicorns actually exist in your world. Don’t agree? Think about how you feel when you see a wolf painted on a van in ours. Right?
As for the rest of the film, in classic Pixar fashion, it looks great, but we need to see more about how this will be different from other fantasy-meets-suburbia movies before we’re super excited. Remember Bright? We wish we didn’t.
Onward, which also stars Octavia Spencer and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, comes from the team behind Monsters University. It’s directed Dan Scanlon and produced by Kori Rae, and arrives in theaters for its epic adventure next spring, on March 6, 2020.
Featured Image: Disney-Pixar
