

If anything, the film comes off as a cliché live-action reboot of a property, using only the name and perhaps the look while completely losing the heart. Andy would've gushed over that film "lightyears" before this one, and suggesting that Lightyear is what made him want a Buzz toy feels like a tacked-on way to validate the movie. For instance, the other Disney movies are shown as existing in the world of Toy Story, namely The Lion King. There's certainly nothing that a little boy would latch onto and see as particularly cool, especially given the other films that came out in that area. It doesn't feel like a "real" astronaut movie, thus making these changes even more egregious. That could almost be excused given that this is supposed to be the "real" guy, but that falls apart given that everything in the film is just a darker version of his backstory in the main movies. On top of that, there's none of the over-the-top, cartoony nature of Buzz's character from the Toy Story films in Lightyear. In fact, he's something of a sad sap who's almost completely ineffectual, to the point where the villain of the movie is literally him. Perhaps the biggest issue with the film, especially for fans, is that Buzz isn't particularly heroic. That didn't happen, but it's not the only thing that keeps the film from seeming like something that Andy would have liked. Not only would parents be able to take their kids to see something based on a character from their own childhood, but by imitating the popular Disney musicals of the time period, it would even feel the same. This would have created a trinity of nostalgia at the time of its release, with both Jurassic World Dominion and Top Gun: Maverick doing similar things. Making the movie feel like a creative throwback would have actually worked, as it might have brought in the audiences who were kids themselves when Toy Story first came out. This has actually been one of its biggest criticisms, as Lightyear is too serious for kids but too kiddy for adults.

It's simply too bold-faced, with not enough of the humor that kids back then would have liked.

Even among the more serious flicks of the '90s, Lightyear would completely stand out. Disney dominated animated kids' movies in the 1990s, setting the general tone for children's cinema along with other studios. Still, there's no way that Lightyear is the film he saw beforehand, as it simply doesn't feel like it belongs in the era. The original Toy Story movie came out in 1995, showing how the recently purchased Buzz Lightyear toy ingratiates himself with the rest of Andy's amusements.
