What happens to a land of elves and enchantment once everyone gets a mortgage and a commute? Onward, Dan Scanlon's 2020 animated adventure, starts from that question and sends two teenage brothers out to look for an answer. Tom Holland and Chris Pratt lead the voice cast.
What is Onward about?
The setting is a fantasy world that has settled into suburbia. Creatures out of legend live on ordinary streets, and the old wonders have faded so far into the background that hardly anyone thinks about them. Two elf brothers, both still teenagers, are not ready to accept that. They set off on a quest of their own, an extraordinary journey whose whole purpose is to find out whether a little magic is still left somewhere out there. The road trip gives the story its shape: the pair leave the familiar behind, run into trouble and comedy in roughly equal measure, and have to rely on each other more than either expected.
About the cast
Because Onward is animated, its performers are heard rather than seen. Tom Holland and Chris Pratt are the first two names in the credits, followed by Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Octavia Spencer. Mel Rodriguez, Kyle Bornheimer, Lena Waithe and Ali Wong complete the listed cast. Dan Scanlon is the sole credited director.
Context & significance
Six genre labels are attached to Onward in the catalogue: adventure, animation, comedy, drama, family and fantasy. The length of that list says something about how the film works. It borrows the furniture of fantasy storytelling, with elves and quests, and then places it in a recognisably modern, suburban setting, so that the jokes come from the gap between the legendary and the everyday. The drama label matters as well, since the heart of the story is the bond between two brothers rather than any spectacle. At 102 minutes it is a comfortable length for a family evening, and the tone is gentle enough for younger viewers while giving adults plenty to follow.
Watching Onward on Ktime
Onward is on K-Time and plays once you are signed in to an account, while this page stays open for anyone to read. The service is designed for Persian-speaking viewers outside Iran, and its menus are in Farsi.