The first 2/3s are fine. The last third is strong and tearjerky in true Pixar fashion. If only the rest of the film was as strong.

Everything about this movie is just standard even the tear-jerking parts don't stick out because they trade a lot of those for action scenes. Pixar's version of Frozen which is inferior in almost every category.

Onward is far more emotionally engaging in its climax.

Otherwise the movie lacks dynamic story telling as the threads that weave this story together are far too bold and easy to spot. It just needed more time. Dare I say this film should have been longer and more fleshed out? Maybe not, but at least its story beats should have been. The voice acting ranged from perfectly chosen with Chris Pratt to a big name that kinda phoned it in with Octavia Spencer.

It has some real strong points, but ultimately a movie that could have been truly special is frankly slightly above average.

B or B+?

It just has such a damn good ending.

While I agree the ending in this is slightly better than Frozen specially with a non-love interest involved, its the setup towards the ending that just makes it predictable. The 2, then 3, then 4 Barley's memory of his father were a clear indicator for me that Ian would not meet his father in the end. Plus the brotherhood needed a little more setup (then just a reference here or there) here to hold more weight IMO. Barley as a character is just a fun brother that is neither is too caring nor is given any emotional turmoil arc. I think that unpredictability factor of the first view of Frozen is still a better experience for me. The second viewing for both movies should pretty much be the same.

This is meant to be a combination of Frozen and Zootopia that ends up playing more like The Good Dinosaur than it wants to. It sure does have a great ending though, I got the usual Pixar feels at a few parts. The action and side characters they meet along the way are also a lot of fun.

Two big problems though- the world is not very interesting, and for half the runtime neither are the main characters. It all comes around in the end, but that is the clear misfire and reason the movie flopped at the box office.

This was alright. I really liked the main characters and it had a bunch of laughs, but the story was lacking. The world and the fact the characters were mythical barely tied into the story. You could have told it with humans and little would have changed.

I had no expectations here but found this incredibly sweet and heartfelt. The 'twist' and the ending really make the movie, I definitely shed a few tears. Also the animation is gorgeous.

Pixar made me cry, again, but everything up until he reads the list is just decent. They didn't take full advantage of the slapstick potential of an all legs guy, and characters being all different monsters was distracting. Still, on the whole a very good animated film about relationships and believing in yourself.

Yeah does not hold as well in second viewing as well. Its decent in what it does but by now its the predictable Pixar formula. I would have loved Pixar to go more traditional route and bring back their father for few minutes. It would have landed the same emotional impact IMO.