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During its illustrious history, Pixar has been known as the premier house of animation in the States. The studio teamed up with Disney and altered animation forever in the 1990s and since then, its dropped countless hit films.
Toy Story was its first hit, and while Tim Allen voiced Buzz Lightyear in those movies, the studio opted to bring in Chris Evans for Buzz's solo adventure, Lightyear. Evans was excited to take the reins from Allen, but so far, the movie has been sinking at the box office.
Recently, Allen hopped into the headlines with what he had to say about the project, and we have all the details below!
Tim Allen Is The Original Voice For Buzz Lightyear
In 1995, Tim Allen and Tom Hanks came together for Toy Story, the first film done by Disney and Pixar. There was legitimately nothing like it at the time, and this animated movie completely changed the genre forever.
Hanks and Allen were major stars in their own right, and they were dynamic together in the film. Allen played Buzz Lightyear, and his unique delivery and brand of comedy was a perfect fit for the Space Ranger who touched down in Andy's room.
From that point on, Buzz became one of Allen's biggest career roles. He voiced the characters in all four Toy Story movies, even lending his voice to franchise games and short segments. While he did not voice Buzz for every occasion, there was no denying that Allen and the character were synonymous with one another.
Allen did a brilliant job as Buzz Lightyear for many years, but for Disney and Pixar's latest film featuring the Space Ranger, the voice gig was handed over to an MCU superstar.
Chris Evans Took Over For 'Lightyear'
When Lightyear was first announced, fans were stunned to see that Buzz was getting his own movie. As if that wasn't shocking enough, the fans were also surprised to learn that Chris Evans would be voicing the iconic character.
In an interview, the actor noted that getting the voice down was tough, as he had to avoid doing a Tim Allen impression.
"The first time you have to do that iconic line, ‘To Infinity and Beyond…,’ you kind of just do a shameless Tim Allen impression. It’s intimidating. But Angus [MacLane, the film’s director] and everyone at Pixar was so collaborative, and you kind of let them guide you. Eventually you feel comfortable enough to make your own tracks in the snow and find your own interpretation, while still using Tim Allen as the blueprint," he said.
Over the months, the hype for the movie continued to build, and most people suspected that it would crush the competition at the summer box office.
While Evans did a good job as Buzz, Lightyear is failing to take off at the box office, and it's looking like a rare Pixar misfire.
Tim Allen has largely been silent about the entire thing, but recently, he made some comment about the flick, and he pulled non punches with his thoughts.
What Tim Allen Said About The New Film
So, what does Tim Allen have to say about Lightyear? Well, as you can imagine, the former Toy Story star did not speak too fondly about what little he had seen.
According to Yahoo, Allen said, "I've stayed out of this. We talked about this many years ago…but the brass that did the first four movies is not this. It's a whole new team that really had nothing to do with the first movies."
The actor would then speak about how the new movie has little to do with the toy people came to know.
"There's really no Toy Story Buzz without Woody. I'm not sure what the idea—I'm a plot guy. It would seem to be a big adventure story, and as I see, it's not a big adventure story. It's a wonderful story, it just doesn't seem to have any connection to the toy. It has no relationship to Buzz," he continued.
To a degree, hearing these words from Tim Allen is totally understandable. The man was responsible for helping Buzz Lightyear become a household name, and this film has been largely confusing for fans, who aren't totally sure what it is and how it actually ties into those previous Toy Story movies.
Lightyear is failing to impress the majority, meaning we likely won't see any more Toy Story spin-offs. If Disney does go that route, they should probably stick with the original voice actor to help avoid some confusion.
