Onward (2020)
A Pixar original story by Dan Scanlon.
In a world inhabited by mythic creatures, magic was commonplace millennia ago, though difficult to master. After technological advances over the centuries, magic became obsolete and was largely discarded.
In the modern day in the city of New Mushroomton, Ian Lightfoot is a teenage elf struggling with self-confidence; his older brother, Barley, is an enthusiastic and impulsive role-playing gamer of Quests of Yore. They also have a pet dragon named Blazey. On Ian's sixteenth birthday, the boys' mother, Laurel, gives her sons a gift from their father, Wilden, who died shortly before Ian was born: a magical staff, a rare Phoenix gem, and a letter describing a visitation spell that can resurrect Wilden for a single day. Ian, having inherited the ability to do magic, partially succeeds in casting the spell is unable to finish it. As a result, only the lower half of Wilden's body is reformed before the gem disintegrates. The brothers embark on a quest to acquire another gem and complete the spell before sunset, taking Barley's beloved van Guinevere. Ian begins practicing magic from the Enchanter’s Guide Book so he can successfully use the visitation spell again. Finding the boys gone, Laurel leaves to find them.
In search of a map to another gem, Ian and Barley visit the Manticore's Tavern—once a gathering place for would-be adventurers, now a family restaurant managed by the Manticore ("Corey"). Arguing with Ian over the map to the Phoenix Gem, Corey has an existential crisis of what she has become and drives the customers away in a fit of rage, accidentally setting fire to the restaurant and the map. The brothers' only clue to the gem is a children's menu based on the real map suggesting "Raven's Point", a nearby mountain. Laurel later arrives to befriends Corey, who warns that the brothers' journey may awaken a Guardian Curse which can only be defeated by her special sword, the Curse Crusher, which she and Laurel steal from a pawn shop.
Traveling to the mountains, Ian and Barley narrowly escape the police and a motorcycle gang of sprites, relying on Ian's new spell-casting abilities and Barley's role-playing game tricks. Ian learns to trust Barley and believe in Barley’s saying of “Heart’s Fire”, agreeing with his idea to take the Path of Peril to reach Raven’s Point. Officer Colt Bronco, who is dating Laurel, catches up to the boys and forces them to come home, Ian agrees, but as he starts the van, he drives away, leading to a wild police chase. When they are pursued by the police, Barley sacrifices Guinevere to cause a landslide, blocking their pursuers (“Sacrifice”). "Raven's Point" turns out to be a series of raven statues leading them into a cave. As they explore the cave, Barley confesses that he was too afraid to say goodbye to Wilden when he was dying. The brothers evade a series of traps, including a Gelatinous Cube that dissolves anything it touches. Emerging from the cave, they find themselves back in front of Ian's high school. Ian lashes out at Barley for leading them on a wild-goose chase and walks away with Wilden after he goes as far as to calling Barley a screwup and for ruining his chance to have the one thing he never had.
Rereading his list of things he always wished to do with his father, Ian realizes that Barley has been a father figure throughout his entire life and returns to make amends (“Share My Life With Him”). Barley discovers the gem inside a historic fountain and retrieves it, triggering the curse, which turns the high school into an artificial dragon bent on claiming the gem. Ian faces the artificial dragon, but his staff is knocked into the ocean; he reforms it from a splinter and continues the fight. Corey flies in carrying Laurel, who plunges the magic sword into the artificial dragon's heart, buying Ian time to cast the visitation spell and fully reform Wilden's body. Ian sends Barley ahead to give his goodbye to Wilden and holds off the artificial dragon long enough for Laurel to destroy it. After Wilden dissipates, Barley tells Ian that their father is proud of him, and the brothers share a hug.
Some time later, as the world begins to rediscover the past's magical arts, the brothers set off on a new quest (“Carried Me with You”).
TRIVIA
Visual Style
The setting is a modern fantasy world so all the fantasy species were designed with ethnicity and diversity in mind—like a modern fantasy version of Los Angeles. Common fantasy elements such as sirens and labyrinths were re-imagined into what they might become in our modern world with sirens using their voices to lure people into buying property while labyrinths are converted to shopping malls.
A dedicated team called Dragon Dailies was created to help develop the artificial dragon that is released as part of the Guardian Curse.
The animators chose to give the film's magic a unique style after studying several animated films featuring magic such as Fantasia, Aladdin, and Hercules. Animators wanted the film's magic to fit with its suburban setting. A team developed the look of magic in the film as well as the different spells. Originally each spell would have a specific color but this was simplified to focus more on the characters rather than the magic. Each spell has a material component and movement component to it. Animators first developed the film's magic using hand-drawn animated drawings, before turning them into computer-animated effects. The key was finding the right balance by turning hand-drawn animated graphics into "light objects" and giving them "true volumetric, glowing atmosphere".
The New Mushroomton homes in Onward are inspired by cob houses—organic structures using ancient building techniques. Details within the home embraced the fantasy backdrop, too. For example, the backsplash and door handles in the Lightfoot home have an elf design.