The voice behind the beloved Toy Story character – Tim Allen – has offered a brief thought on why Lightyear might be struggling to win over fans.
We’re not breaking any revelatory news by telling you that Pixar’s Lightyear seems to be struggling to connect with audiences. The film received a lower CinemaScore rating than usual for a Pixar film, but the bigger issue seems to be the people who’ve chosen not to see the film. We’ve already offered some thoughts on this subject, but one man that hasn’t yet put his two cents forth is Tim Allen, the voice behind the original Buzz Lightyear character.
There are all sorts of potential reasons being put forward as to why Lightyear seems to be struggling, despite seeming like a clear when you look at it as a concept. The controversy surrounding Disney’s LGBTQ+ stance has formed some opposition to the film whilst confusion over the link between the movie and the Toy Story films has also been discussed. Pixar movies returning to cinemas after a stretch of heading straight to Disney+ has also been cited as strategy that may have hurt the value of its brand.
However, there seems to be one issue which has been apparent since the project was first announced: why make a film about a beloved character, but not use that actual beloved character?
When it was first announced that the former Captain America himself, Chris Evans would be voicing Buzz rather than Tim Allen, the voice of the character for some 25 years, the response was not as resoundingly positive as Pixar would have hoped for.
To give him credit, Allen has remained quiet throughout the lead-up to the film’s release and even whilst it has endured a rocky cinematic run. With Lightyear now having pretty much faded at the box office, the actor has briefly spoken about his take on the film, echoing a sentiment that many fans probably feel, stating to Extra (via Variety)
“It [Lightyear] is a wonderful story. It just doesn’t seem to have any connection to the toy, and it’s a little…I don’t know. It just has no relationship to Buzz. It’s just no connection. I wish there was a better connection to this”, he argued.
Whilst Allen may well admire the story, either way he’s professional enough to not talk smack about the film’s quality. However, his comment about the film’s lack of connection to the original Buzz Lightyear character echoes the sentiments of many a Toy Story fan and is almost certainly one of the key reasons the film has failed to ignite at the box office. Having that criticism emerge in the voice of the beloved Space Ranger himself simply adds to the mounting confusion about the direction that Pixar and Disney have chosen for this project.
—
Thank you for visiting! If you’d like to support our attempts to make a non-clickbaity movie website:
Follow Film Stories on Twitter here, and on Facebook here.
Buy our Film Stories and Film Stories Junior print magazines here.
Become a Patron here.
