Disney Pixar Onward - Is It A Worth Watch Magical Realism?

Magical Realism is a style that weaves its thread of fantasy into day-to-day life. The characters of Pixar Onward movie are from folklore and have magical powers. But the scenes and story-line portray the life of a suburban family.

It isn't easy to take a mundane and make it magical. It's tough to add the fantasy into the ordinary story without overpowering it. The balance of both is to the point in Pixar Onward movie.

A magical realism story requires a few primary elements to be efficient. Does the Disney Pixar Onward movie have those elements in it? Let's weigh down it to the scale.

Real-world setting

Unlike fantasy, magical realism stories should take place in our world. In it, there is no land of enchantments where the fairies and vampires would pull strings. The richness of day-to-day life activities should be present.

The Onward movie depicts most of the scenes from real life. Whether it may be the morning scene in the home of the teens or the struggle to get a driver's license by a teen, it is real. The dragon seems like a loyal pet dog. Getting pulled over by cops for over speeding is something common. Every scene has the detailing of regular life.

The characters are elves, dragons, centaur, manticore, and pixies. But the day-to-day activities of the characters in the movie resemble people like us.

The story spins around a family with two teens whose desire is to see their dad for one last time. This is the real side of magic realism.

Supernatural happenings — left unexplained

The vital thing about these types of stories is not to explain the magic. The characters live in a world that’s ours, but there’s always something uncanny afoot. They will take the magic for granted. They react to it instead of examining how it works. In the end, the characters go back to the strangeness of the so-called “ordinary life.”

The ordinary life of the teen elves takes an unexpected turn when they receive the gift from their mom. When Barley uses the magical staff, which is a gift passed down from their dad, it doesn't work. But while his younger brother Ian Lightfoot touches it by chance, it works.

There is no clear explanation of why it works and how it works for Ian alone and not for Barley. Both didn't mind to question it, but they take it for granted to see their dad for one last time and spend a day with him.

More than the logic, emotional quotient plays a beautiful role. It makes us travel along with them into the dreamlike world throughout their quest.

In the end, after they succeed in their quest to see their dad, they return to their routine life. Ian goes back to school, and the story moves back to the same home environment. The story ends with the brothers leaving their home to hang out with friends. The story ended quite ordinary, which meets the need for realism as well.

Two visions or realms merge or intersect

The concept of magical realism exists at the intersection of two worlds. It is at an imaginary point. Like a double-sided mirror, it should reflect in both directions. Fluid boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead should cross.

In the Pixar Onward, I saw two places where the two worlds merged. One is when the dead father of the teens came back to real life for a day. The other is when the teens went to an underworld in search of a gem only to land up again in Ian's school.

I suppose the story-line makes justice to connect the two worlds of magic and ordinary.

The magic is the least magical thing

The magic in the story should be the least magical thing. Does it sound like a jargon? The magical elements and fantasy should not only be the underlying magic in the story. The focus is to create real magic called survival or hope.

Amid the magical quest, Ian Lightfoot finds the real magic of how to stand up for himself and trust himself. It may be the least magical, but it is right at the top-notch since it delivers the essence of hope.

I would say Disney has nailed it. The effort to make a movie in the magical realism genre has worked out well. It is a quite light, funny, heartwarming, and animated adventure.