Onward
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Release Date: March 6, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 56 Critic Reviews
Positive:
32
Mixed:
22
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
EmpireBen TravisFeb 21, 2020
Pixar returns with a great big power-chord of a movie — heart-pumping, resonant, and positively harmonious. Read full review
88
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiMar 4, 2020
The style and tone of writer-director Dan Scanlon’s movie has elements of DreamWorks’ “Shrek” and “How To Train Your Dragon” mixed with the siblings-with-secrets aspects of Disney’s “Frozen.” But Onward is better for the change-up. That stylistic and narrative departure gives us Pixar’s most heartfelt story in years. Read full review
85
Film ThreatAlan NgFeb 25, 2020
You expect excellence from Pixar, and excellence is what they deliver in Onward. Read full review
82
PolygonTasha RobinsonFeb 24, 2020
It’s colorful and charming, and it’s certainly unique in its story specifics. But it also feels safe, simple, and soft-edged compared to Pixar’s wilder swings for the outfield. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicNicole LuddenMar 4, 2020
You don't really know what the movie is truly about until the third act. For some, that might be a lengthy journey you don't want to take. But for many, it's an emotional adventure — full of touching moments and captivating visuals — that's well worth the wait. Read full review
80
Total FilmJamie GrahamFeb 21, 2020
The animation is spellbinding as Onward builds into a galloping adventure full of amusement, excitement and enchantment. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangFeb 21, 2020
Onward is a touching, lovingly crafted oddity — a movie that acknowledges its borrowed elements at the outset and then proceeds to reinvigorate them with tried-and-true Pixar virtues: sly wit, dazzling invention and a delicacy of feeling that approaches the sublime. Read full review
80
The TelegraphTim RobeyFeb 21, 2020
Onward may be middle-of-the-pack Pixar but it’s still a real pleasure. Read full review
80
The GuardianSteve RoseFeb 21, 2020
Beneath the bro-friendly, fantasy-art trappings, Onward finds a little bit of that old Pixar magic. Read full review
75
UproxxVince ManciniMar 26, 2020
Onward is a perfectly fine movie made up of elements of Guardians of the Galaxy, Zootopia, Coco, Wall E, and assorted other Disney products that it doesn’t employ quite as well. Your kids probably won’t notice, but you will. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMar 6, 2020
It’s solidly entertaining, contains an element of emotional resonance, looks and sounds great, but isn’t special. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Aparita BhandariMar 4, 2020
A delightful family movie that packs an emotional punch. Read full review
75
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenMar 4, 2020
Onward may not rank among Pixar’s best, but the studio’s ability to gently tweak heartstrings, without overdoing it, remains intact. Read full review
75
Original-CinJim SlotekMar 4, 2020
Despite evoking a lot of previous pop-cultural touchstones (including Harry Potter, Shrek and even Weekend at Bernie’s), the nerd-minded, fast-moving Onward has wit, eye-catching anachronisms and imaginative actio Read full review
75
The Film StageChristopher SchobertMar 4, 2020
Onward is a spring treat that might not lead to sequels or boffo merchandise sales, but will certainly please families and the Pixar faithful. Debating whether the film is “classic Pixar” is silly. Put those concerns aside and you’ll be rewarded with the first great family film of 2020. Read full review
75
The Associated PressJake CoyleMar 4, 2020
Onward makes the most of its strange assemblage to tell a sweet and moving story — enough so to leave you yet again shaking your head at Pixar’s magic act. Read full review
75
Washington PostKristen Page-KirbyMar 4, 2020
Onward is ultimately a trip worth taking. Read full review
75
USA TodayBrian TruittFeb 21, 2020
Like a highly watchable amalgam of “Field of Dreams,” “Zootopia” and Arthurian legend, the colorful crusade features a solid hero’s journey with a slam-dunk of a finale. Read full review
75
IndieWireEric KohnFeb 21, 2020
Onward doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but spins it so well that it conjures a spell of its own as a new decade dawns with the Pixar touch intact. Read full review
70
CNNBrian LowryMar 5, 2020
Pixar's enviable track record with original animation is a mixed blessing, creating sky-high expectations for each new movie. Onward, an undeniably emotional and imaginative concept, joins that rich tradition, without reaching the upper rungs of the ladder set by its predecessors. Read full review
70
VoxAlissa WilkinsonMar 4, 2020
It’s better than most of the entertainment aimed at children that studios churn out these days. Read full review
70
The VergeJoshua RiveraFeb 21, 2020
It’s fine. A perfectly watchable film that could have been great if it, like its protagonist, remembered that the secret to magic is really believing in the wild thing you’re about to do. Read full review
70
ScreenCrushMatt SingerFeb 21, 2020
Onward’s ups and downs suggest these probably are less magical times at Pixar. But that doesn’t mean with enough hard work or concentration — or maybe just following your gut — that the magic can’t come back, if only for a little while. Read full review
70
The AtlanticDavid SimsFeb 21, 2020
The most crucial aspect of the role-playing game is community—the fact that it’s played with friends and relies on teamwork. The writer-director Dan Scanlon’s clear grasp of that makes for a warm, gentle film that doesn’t try to merely dazzle the audience with wild fantasy visuals. Read full review
70
VarietyOwen GleibermanFeb 21, 2020
By the end of Onward, you’ll have chuckled and maybe choked up, and enjoyed a conventional ride. Read full review
70
IGNKristy PuchkoFeb 21, 2020
All told, it's a terrifically entertaining tale filled with humor, heart, and allusions that are sure to delight fantasy fans. Read full review
67
Paste MagazineWill LeitchMar 6, 2020
Onward has sections where you worry that it’s a disaster, but it turns out to have more emotional oomph than initially apparent. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattMar 3, 2020
Even at a relatively brief hour and 37 minutes, the familiar contours of Scanlon's story line struggle to conjure the wonder that Pixar’s most transcendent movies do; instead of truly new, it’s mostly old things borrowed, and tinted blue. Read full review
67
Vanity FairK. Austin CollinsFeb 26, 2020
It’s a fine movie: cute, clever, moving, and engagingly-told, an altogether painless confirmation of what we should all agree is Pixar’s basic aptitude for keeping kids’ asses in seats and parents from pulling out their hair. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Feb 21, 2020
Watching Onward, it’s hard to shake the feeling that maybe Pixar has overplayed the mundane half of its winning equation. They’ve made a movie about looking for misplaced magic in the modern world that, well, kind of misplaces the magic. Read full review
65
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeFeb 21, 2020
Even if the film lags narratively, there’s enough flash and dazzle to keep viewers engaged, with Holland and Pratt providing a genuine balance of sibling love and aspiration for each other. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMar 5, 2020
Does it work? It’s one busy movie, though without much variety in its rhythm or much breathing room in its perils. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeMar 9, 2020
The emotional impact is true and clean. The fractious bond between the brothers and their aching anger at the loss of a parent are evoked with exquisite sorrow and clarity. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawMar 6, 2020
Chris Pratt and Tom Holland play teenage elves in this standard-issue but entertaining supernatural quest story. Read full review
60
Time OutPhil de SemlyenMar 6, 2020
Where the movie truly comes into its own is in its boldly framed, heart-wrenching coda. Read full review
60
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergMar 5, 2020
The film is a brightly rendered, sentimental ode to adolescence that hits all the right emotional buttons, even as it risks being forgotten itself. Read full review
60
The Irish TimesTara BradyMar 5, 2020
Onward falls well short of magical. Read full review
60
Rolling StonePeter TraversMar 3, 2020
You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. But first you have to cut through the noise. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyFeb 21, 2020
It lacks infectious magic. Any promise of originality fueled early on by the amusing sight of unicorns sniffing through suburban trash quickly dissipates as the siblings' journey gets under way, their progress marked by slapstick gags, predictable close shaves, encounters with characters that often feel like plot padding and standard life lessons writ large. Read full review
60
Screen RantMolly FreemanFeb 21, 2020
Onward is a good, but not great Pixar movie, with a heartfelt, if emotionally manipulative storyline, and plenty of film magic to propel it forward. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireMar 6, 2020
The pacing is so jarring that the emotional payoff doesn’t develop as intended. And the overall irony, of course, is that this is a movie about the need for magic that could have used a little more of the stuff itself. But if it makes you think of your mom and dad fondly, even for a moment, well at least that’s something. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternMar 5, 2020
Onward, the latest feature from Pixar Animation Studios via Disney, is insistently unspecial. It’s enjoyable enough if you don’t mind machine-made entertainment, but so desperate to please that it wears out its welcome long before the closing credits. Read full review
50
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenMar 4, 2020
This is a picture whose subject, loudly and frequently proclaimed, is magic. But there is precious little of the genuine article to be found in it. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMar 4, 2020
The story fluctuates between the uninspired and the just plain weird — and then gets even weirder. It’s too basic and familiar to keep parents and older children consistently entertained, and too trippy and existential for the little ones. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrMar 3, 2020
The movie is almost wholly lacking in the Pixar touch — that extra oomph of wit, invention, creative craziness, darkness, depth of feeling, whatever, that makes the company’s products among the very few items manufactured for children in our sold-out popular culture to not feel like products. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonFeb 21, 2020
Burdened with a drab quest narrative and populated by sweet but unmemorable characters, the studio’s 22nd feature still delivers glorious animation and the occasional tear-jerking sequence. But whether it’s the pedestrian design of this mythical realm or the simplistic story of squabbling brothers in search of their long-lost father, Onward never feels like much of an advancement. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleFeb 21, 2020
Onward goes on and on, but it barely moves forward. Long before its 114-minute running time has elapsed, it has overstayed its welcome. Read full review
50
SlashfilmJosh SpiegelFeb 21, 2020
Onward is a decent, well-paced, well-animated, moderately enjoyable film. It’s got a good message, an emotional third act, and some pleasantly surprising jokes. Onward is…OK. The problem with Onward is that Pixar’s original films are incredible. OK is, simply, just not good enough. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineMark JenkinsFeb 21, 2020
While Onward begins as a story of bereavement, it soon turns to celebrating the payoffs of positive thinking. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreFeb 21, 2020
The animation’s good, lovely but not dazzling. Read full review
42
The PlaylistAndrew CrumpMar 4, 2020
Maybe the film will squeeze a tear or two from your eye. What it won’t do is give you a reason to remember when, or why. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovMar 4, 2020
Onward is neither terrible nor great; it simply is. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriFeb 21, 2020
This film feels like a pile of prefab story ideas occasionally enlivened by brief flashes of earnestness and invention. Read full review
40
UproxxMike RyanFeb 21, 2020
It’s almost as if the filmmakers just thought the idea of a pair of legs were funny, like if it were in a The Far Side panel. But then decided to try to base a whole movie on what should have been at most a single still or a single joke. Read full review
38
ObserverOliver JonesFeb 26, 2020
Despite its title, Onward is a regressive film, sometimes painfully so. Read full review
33
ConsequenceBlake GobleMar 4, 2020
When the leads are drawn this terribly thin, and Onward is so hopelessly focused on the dad narrative that it can’t help but ignore its creativity in favor of mawkish afternoon special, the product stinks of a bad Amblin ripoff. Read full review
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