Lightyear is a sci-fi action adventure and the definitive origin story of Buzz Lightyear (voice of Chris Evans), the hero who inspired the toy.

The all-new story follows the legendary Space Ranger on an intergalactic adventure alongside a group of ambitious recruits (voices of Keke Palmer, Taika Waititi and Dale Soules), and their robot companion Sox (voice of Peter Sohn).

The premise of Lightyear is that this is the film that Andy from Toy Story watched in 1995, and that’s why he went out and bought a Buzz Lightyear toy.

Other than that, there’s no real connection to the Toy Story franchise.

On its own, Lightyear is a fine nod to space opera films released decades ago.

It explores an interesting science-fiction idea on how space travel affects the flow of time, but it doesn’t get too bogged down in the details.

From the very beginning, you’ll find the animation is top notch, as Pixar movies usually are.

By the end, Lightyear has presented a simple story with plenty of heart and engaging characters.

It may be a standard space adventure, but it’s strongly executed and makes great use of its relatively short 105 minute run-time.

Tim Allen voiced Buzz in the Toy Story movies as a comic relief character, which is apparently why they replaced him with Chris Evans of Captain America fame for Lightyear, as Evans plays a human being struggling to fulfil his mission, rather than a toy. Evans is very convincing in the role, even when he says one of the most famous lines in film history – “to infinity and beyond”.

These movies aimed at kids often attempt to put in a mascot character to sell merchandise or appeal to a certain audience, and this time they’ve introduced a talking robot cat named Sox.

Director Angus MacLane even said in an interview they wanted a “cute thing” for the movie, but he gets a pass for Sox, because Sox is absolutely one of the highlights of this movie.

His animation is on point and hilarious, his dialogue charming and he plays an important role in Buzz’s emotional journey.

Lightyear is not as great as the top-tier Pixar movies, like Up, Inside Out, The Incredibles or all four Toy Story movies, but it’s a perfect family movie for the school holidays.

Lightyear is rated PG for mild science fiction themes and animated violence, and is currently screening at Sale Cinema.