Onward

1 IAN LIGHTFOOT

Ian Freer: There aren’t many cinematic heroes called Ian to root for (Jurassic Park’s Dr Ian Malcolm, maybe?) so I was particularly delighted Onward’s protagonist shares my name. As the movie starts, elf Ian Lightfoot (Tom Holland, channelling Peter Parker) is a gawky, diffident kid, afraid to ask the other children to come to his birthday party and overwhelmed by his loud, brash brother, Barley (Chris Pratt). Ian’s father died before he was born (Barley knew him a little bit) and director Dan Scanlon (with co-writers Jason Headley and Keith Bunin) does an economic-but-telling job of sketching the absence in his life, while covertly suggesting the importance Barley plays without showing his hand.

One of most touching scenes comes early on — a show-don’t-tell moment that explores the relationship Ian wishes he could have had with his deceased dad. As our young hero sits in his bedroom listening to a cassette featuring his father’s voice, he speaks back to it and constructs his own dialogue with the parent he never got to meet. As it turns out, this is