Spoilers! The poignant true story behind Pixar's emotional 'Onward' ending (2024)
Spoiler alert!This story hasdetails on the ending of Pixar's new movie "Onward," so beware if you haven't seen it yet.
If you made it through the moving finale of “Onward” without crying, congratulations! What might send some fans back to their tissue boxes, though, is how true to life that touching ending really is.
Co-writer/director Dan Scanlon based his Disney/Pixar animated fantasy(in theaters now) on the father he never knew, as well as the relationship with his own older brother, Bill. In the movie, quiet 16-year-old elf Ian (voiced by Tom Holland) is bestowed a wizard'sstaff and spell to bring back his father, who died before he was born, so Ian and his fun-loving 19-year-old sibling, Barley (Chris Pratt), can spend one more day with him. The magic goes awry, only half their dad is conjured, and the brothers go on a journey to find another Phoenix Gem that will let them finish the enchantment.
They do find the gem: It hasactuallybeen right next to Ian’s high school the whole time, and the building turns into a raging dragon when the precious rock is touched. But before all that happens – and their dad isresurrected, if just for a brief time – Ian realizes something important: His older bro has been the real parental figure he hasneeded the whole time.
The conclusion Ian comes to in the movie “absolutely” reflects an epiphanyScanlon had about his sibling, and that aspect of the movie “was the first thing that we came up with,” says the director, whose father died when Scanlon was 1 and his brother was 3. He remembers spending lunches with his friend Meg LeFauve, who co-wrote Pixar’s “Inside Out” and “The Good Dinosaur,” noodling on what the story of “Onward” should be.
“I was actually telling her how much I didn't miss my dad because I didn't have anything to miss, (and sharing) a little bit of the guilt I felt about that," Scanlon says."But I had also been telling her about my brother and how he would put my paintings in college or high school up on his walls. He would show friends movies I made when I was a kid. He was always supportive of me.”
One day LeFauve rocked his world when she told Scanlon that “the reason you don't miss your father is because your brother was your father,” Scanlon says. “And my mind exploded. I was so shocked by that. It changed my life and my relationship with my brother in the best ways.”
For the record, Scanlon points out that his older brother “is not a wild, crazy maniac” like Barley. “He's actually a really wonderful, soft-spoken, intelligent computer programmer. But the dramatization is then you say, what if this was the last guy on Earth you thought would do this? Or what if this was a guy who frankly was trying to be a parent and not succeeding all that well? I don't know that Barley really succeeded fully, but he tried and that's what matters.”
One other scene in the “Onward” finale tugs some heartstringswhen in the heat of magical battle, Ian gives up his chance to talk with his resurrected father so Barley can have that precious father/son time. The audience sees it unfold from Ian’s perspective, watching from afar as the two converse but never hearing their actual discussion.
Scanlon decided early on in the process that should just be a moment between Barley and his dad. “We don't need to hear what they say. You kind of know what they say: They say goodbye. Beyond that, nothing we wrote could have been all that helpful.”
The concept of Onward is inspired by the death of Scanlon's father, who died in a car accident when Scanlon and his older brother were very young children, and their relationship with each other. He began to write the story after hearing an audio clip of his father.
“Onward” is such a terribly sad and wonderful movie, made more authentic by the director's childhood loss of his own father. Perhaps that's why Ian's journey feels a bit like a grief quest: It's messy and full of unexpected turns. After all, there is no “right” way to grieve.
Climax: Discovery that the older brother, Ian, has the ability to perform magic, leading to emotional revelations. Falling Action: Facing obstacles to complete the spell and overcome personal fears. Resolution: Successful completion of the spell, with emotional closure for the characters.
In Disney·Pixar's Onward, we learn Wilden Lightfoot passed away before his son Ian was even born, and we learn that his firstborn Barley died an early, horrible, and depressing death.
Some of the best works of fiction pull in elements of reality, and Elemental proves this to be accurate as it is based on a series of authentic stories. The director of the film, Peter Sohn, is a long-time employee of Pixar who has worked on a number of some of the best Pixar movies, including Finding Nemo and Up.
Barley wears a cast because he broke his left arm doing something "he probably thought was a good idea". Scanlon has also said earlier: "What I love about it, as we were designing him, I said 'put a cast on him,' because anybody who is 19 and doesn't play sports and has a broken arm is probably up to no good."
"Onward" isn't Pixar's biggest tearjerker, but expect to find yourself tearing up a bit throughout. You'll be more emotional if you know Scanlon's personal connection to the film or if you grew up losing a loved one.
The fact that Ian is so determined to meet his dad before sunset shows how much he wishes he could have met him. Then, at the end, when he realizes that all the things he is planning to do with his dad, he did with Barley, and that Barley really acted as his father figure for all those years.
Unfortunately, they feel far less concerned about writing the story and the characters that get you there. That's not to say Onward is bad. It's entertaining enough, and there is the odd chuckle, but it never really comes to life. One of the other problems is the 'world' they have created.
The Curse Dragon is an antagonist in the 2020 Disney/Pixar animated feature film, Onward. It is an artificial dragon made out of debris of Ian's high school, and was summoned by the theft of the cursed Phoenix Gem from a fountain across the street by Barley Lightfoot.
The dynamic of the quest can be summed up in a single sentence: One boy is afraid of everything, and the other isn't. This creates conflict and brotherly arguments. Despite its shortcomings, “Onward” still has a nostalgic feel that seems purposeful.
Obviously nothing there spoke of the safeguards you'd need to use magic safely, so Wilden became terminally ill due to magic poisoning. This means that Ian is now going to suffer the same fate, as he is using magic unprotected, without a clue to the dangers he faces.
Onward is about recognizing what you have before it is gone, not just mourning what you've lost. Scanlon credits his mother (whose elfin equivalent is voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus) for teaching him to be strong and appreciative, rather than letting grief define their family.
Ian didn't get to meet his father, and that's because it wasn't part of his character's journey – it was Barley's. At one point, Barley explained what their father's final days were like, and that he didn't get to say goodbye to him.
These siblings—younger, shy Ian (voiced by Tom Holland) and older, boisterous Barley (Chris Pratt)—are blue-skinned, pointy-eared elves in a suburban sword-and-sorcery world who harness magic to bring their late father back for one single day together.
In Disney and Pixar's ONWARD, two teenage elf brothers, Ian and Barley Lightfoot (voices of Tom Holland and Chris Pratt), get an unexpected opportunity to spend one more day with their late dad and embark on an extraordinary quest aboard Barley's epic van Guinevere.
Set in a suburban fantasy world, Disney and Pixar's “Onward” introduces two teenage elf brothers who embark on an extraordinary quest to discover if there is still a little magic left out there.
The movie is based on a book by Mike Finkel, a former writer for The New York Times Magazine, played by Jonah Hill. Despite its title, the film is not the “true story"; it is streamlined, sanitized, and, alas, devoid of any serious interest.
Introduction: My name is Kimberely Baumbach CPA, I am a gorgeous, bright, charming, encouraging, zealous, lively, good person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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