Cute, conceptually and emotionally rich adventures with a twist, brought to you by the folks who've basically built an industry of such stories. I speak of Team Pixar, of course, which harvests the fruit of high fantasy and pleases all manner of D&D geeks with their latest epic. _Onward_ is about a number of things, from the illusion-crushing indifference of post-industrialization to the stress of graduating into adulthood in a single-parent household, but it's never so heavy as all that. At least, not for very long.

For most of its running time, _Onward_ is a loud and loose road trip movie: a pair of essentially different siblings on the run, exploring the wild in search of the past. What shape the past happens to take, that depends upon the individual. Chris Pratt's elder brother, the live-at-home RPG burnout, seeks a taste of the old life, a genuine sense of romantic swords and sorcery in a world that's almost entirely moved on. Tom Holland, the uncertain soon-to-be high school grad, hopes to learn about the father he never met and, maybe, find himself along the way. Did I mention the half-reincarnated, animated lower-half of their dear ol' dad, blindly stumbling along for the ride? Well, that relates to both goals. Pratt and Holland are great together, poking and teasing like brothers often do, while retaining a sense of radiant familial warmth and compassion. Dad's legs, shockingly emotive for what's little more than a pair of slacks, socks and loafers, bring constant comic relief when the scenes threaten to grow too somber.

It's a quick, colorful film, proudly weird and effortlessly funny, with a witty sense of meta awareness and an intense personal message at the heart of it all. Good proof that, even without John Lasseter, Pixar is still in good hands.