Today’s Prayer Focus
MOVIE REVIEW

Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins

Moral Rating: not reviewed
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience: Family
Genre: Animation, Comedy
Length:
Year of Release: 2000
USA Release:
Relevant Issues
Box art for “Buzz Lightyear of Star Command”
click for Kid Explorers
Adventures in the rainforest! Learn about the Creator of the universe by exploring His marvelous creation. Fun for the whole family with games, activities, stories, answers to children’s questions, color pages, and more! One of the Web’s first and most popular Christian Web sites for children. Nonprofit, evangelical, nondenominational.
Featuring voices of Tim Allen, Diedrich Bader, Adam Carolla, Stephen Furst, Linda Hamilton, Jim Hanks, Wayne Knight, Larry Miller, French Stewart, Nicole Sullivan, Patrick Warburton, Thomas F. Wilson
Director Steve Loter
Producer
Distributor

Here’s what the distributor says about their film: After a successful mission in which his partner, Warp Darkmatter, fell in battle, Buzz Lightyear vows never to put another partner at risk and works solo. This vow, however is challenged by Star Command who assigns young Mira Nova to be Warp’s replacement over Buzz’s objections. In addition, the LGMs suggest he tries a new robot for an assistant while a lowly janitor, Booster, has his dreams of joining the Space Rangers. Together, this group of disparate heroes find they must work together to save the galaxy when Emporer Zurg hatches his grandest scheme for conquest yet.


Viewer CommentsSend your comments
As a youth minister, there are two elements that trouble me. What really disturbed me is the robot character XR who is discribed on the Disney One Saturday Morning Web site as, “XR exibits the most human foibles of anyone on the team, though many of his most human traits aren’t exactly virtuous.” This is evident as XR is seen reading a Victoria’s Circuit’s magazine (Victoria’s Secrets). All too often do I hear that a boy’s path to pornography begins reading this magazine (and other like it). This type of problem seems to be a pattern in many of Disney’s films. The other element is the “Unimind” that connected the minds and thoughts of the L.G.M’s which is a belief in many mystic religions (I don’t think that the writers has mysticism in mind because a “unimind” is a common plot element in SciFi). This pattern in Disney’s film’s contradict family values statements. My Ratings: [2/3]
Steve Alberts, age 29
This was a VERY disturbing movie. We bought the video expecting more of the good moral messages put forth in the “Toy Story” series, boy were we dissapointed. This movie pushes new age spiritualism. The Little Green Men are controlled by a “Unimind”, there are demonic (or ghosting) powers diplayed as good; and the view that if you think good, then everything will turn out good is portrayed. The Unimind is changed to bad by a bad person touching it, or to good by a good person touching it. We didn’t have to tell our children this was a bad movie as they told us that we should return it. We owned it for all of three hours. My Ratings: [1/3]
Charlie Wetmore, age 34
This movie is one for ages 1-12. And on the back of every case of “Buzz Lightyear”, you’ll see a (in little letters at the bottom) money back guarantee. But if you buy it for kids, you won’t need it! Most in that catagory will like this! Funny lines, pretty good animation, and my little brother and I loved it. Especially the twist. My Ratings: [4/3½]
Davie, age 12
I really enjoyed this cartoon. So did my younger 5 siblings, who range from 5 to 14. The plot was okay (I was pleasantly surprised it had one, considering the latest offerings from Disney), the animation was a touch above the usual stuff on Saturday morning, and the dialogue is great. I still find myself cracking up at the dialogue. It’s a spoof on every single space-type cartoon/movie/whatever there is! The violence is the usual overdramatic explosions and laser flashes that most cartoons have nowadays. Really only one person gets killed, and you find out later that he escaped in a plot twist. Considering the stuff on TV right now, it isn’t violent at all. If you let your kids watch TV cartoons, or let them watch the Disney cartoons (“Lion King,” etc.), your kids will love “Buzz Lightyear”. But if you don’t, you’d probably disapprove of it. My Ratings: [4½/3]
K. M. Hollar, age 18
The two good things about Buzz that I want my three year old to see are: the continual statements that good always triumphs over evil and the emphasis on teamwork over individualism. These are certainly worthwhile values that came through loud and clear to me. My Ratings: [3/2½]
Scott Smith, age 32
My children, age 6½ and boys, really enjoyed this film and have watched it several times since its purchase. Buzz Lightyear has good morals that do come through and remains a hero in the somewhat average animated film. The theme in this movie, “Evil never wins,” is repeated several times, and in the defeat of the evil Zurg, who captures the Unimind of the Little Green Men (LGMs), we find that it is not good for someone else to control your mind, i.e, for someone else to persuade you to do the non-Christian thing. Yes, there is some violence in death and shooting, but it is very mild compared to an adult “live action” movie. My boys are old enough to see this movie, and I did watch it with them the first few times to explain, once again, that this is just a cartoon and that violence is not the way to resolve issues. I think that if a parent monitors this movie with children younger than Kindergarten, it still would not be appropriate though. My Ratings: [3/3]
Kim Walker, age 34
If you want to know what “Buzz Lightyear of Star Command” is like, don’t watch “Toy Story I” or “II”, watch “Disney’s One Saturday Morning.” Awful animation, extremely bad writing, and no plot to speak of. This is nothing more than an advertisement for the new Saturday morning cartoon of the same name. If you like the type of shows featured on Disney’s One Saturday Morning, you’ll like this. [3½/1]
Timothy Blaisdell, age 36
Movie Critics
“Buzz Lightyear” was nothing like the Buzz in “Toy Story” I and II. The animations are decent and Tim Allen is just as believable and realistic, However, the violence was unbearable for my two year old son. I kept waiting for the violence to stop or at least slow down. Unfortunately, we watched thirty minutes of laser blasting, explosions, killings (the apparent death of Buzz’s fellow Space Ranger), torture, evil looking creatures and more. This is great for an adult wanting to see Stallone or Schwarzenneger in action, but not for a two year child in love with Buzz. I was very dissappointed and am returning the movie to Disney/Pixar for a refund. This movie is only available on video cassette. My Ratings: [1/3]
Todd Holzmann, age 29