Onward
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Release Date: March 6, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
10
Negative:
0
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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
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
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
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
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
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
SlateSam AdamsFeb 21, 2020
There’s a lesbian character in Onward, but the most revolutionary thing Pixar has done is not tell anyone about it. 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
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
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