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When Angus MacLane's "Lightyear" was announced, star Chris Evans took to Twitter to explain what the movie was actually about and what they were aiming for. Evans, a seemingly likable mega-movie star, was roundly mocked for over-explaining an animated film. Turns out the deeply meta movie might need a few more explanations.

Pixar's "Lightyear" is conceptually a strange movie because it assumes Andy (the boy from the "Toy Story" films) would want to know how his Buzz Lightyear toy came to be. The movie opens with a title card that reads, "In 1995, Andy got a toy from his favorite movie. This is that movie." Besides a few key lines, which are thrown in to pander to those with great affection for the "Toy Story" films, there is not much synergy between "Toy Story" and "Lightyear" - just some hopeful executives with dollar signs in their eyes.

Evans voices the "real" Buzz Lightyear, the famed space ranger, who would go on to become an iconic toy (voiced by Tim Allen in the "Toy Story" films). In "Lightyear," Buzz embarks on a mission with Izzy (Keke Palmer, who is set to have a big summer with Jordan Peele's "Nope" coming next month), Mo (Taika Waititi) and Darby (Dale Soules), to try and defeat an army of intergalactic robots led by Zurg (James Brolin). Buzz has been trying to find his way home, and his mission has kept him young, while everyone around him has grown older, including Izzy's grandmother Alisha (Uzo Aduba), who was Buzz's commanding officer and good friend. Buzz teaming up with Izzy as the years have passed does offer some effective emotional beats.

"Lightyear" is frantic and colorful and the one hour and 40 minute runtime zips by, but it's confounding who exactly the movie is intended for. The characters travel around space, often spouting their technical terms and scientific mumbo-jumbo, which will not hold younger viewers attention for the duration of the film (though a robot cat named SOX, voiced by Peter Sohn, will play well to the younger crowd). If the movie is aimed at piquing nostalgia, "Lightyear" then feels like an empty and soulless exercise. It simply could have been a movie about a space ranger, not one of the most famous ones to exist in movie history.

Pixar has long been the gold standard of studio animation, and their movies have been almost universally successful. Throughout the pandemic, Pixar films have been shunted to Disney+ ("Soul," "Luca" and most recently "Turning Red"), which has allegedly caused frustration among their animators. These movies are big and colorful and should be seen on the big screen, so, in that sense, "Lightyear" is a welcome return - if only it didn't feel so superfluous.