Pixar's ONWARD Originally Told the Story of Two Scientists Raising Their Father From the Dead

Pixar’s Onward was a wonderfully original movie that told a touching story of family, and how we step up for the people we love. The brothers in the movie are voiced by Tom Holland (Spider-Man: Far From Home) and Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy), and their mom is played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. The film tells the story of two brothers who are given a gift that their dad who died many years ago had left them, of a magical staff, a stone, and instructions on how to bring him back for one day so he could get to know his sons all grown up, and they could see him one last time.

They have to use magic to bring him back, but when they hit a snag, they decide to go on an epic journey to complete the mission. I thought this was such a great movie, but it didn’t start out with this exact premise. It was always about two brothers looking to bring their dad back, but the original storyline was more medical and less magical.

In a recent interview with ComicBook, writer and director of the film Dan Scanlon talked about the original concept:

“Initially we thought, 'Well, we want to have a story about these two brothers who get an opportunity to bring their dad back to life," Scanlon told us. "And my early version of the story was in our world and they were humans and their father was a scientist who had invented a machine that could he hoped communicate with the dead in some way, but it didn't work. And so after the dad died, the boys were scientists too and they were trying to prove that their father's machine would work. And in doing so they inadvertently brought parts of him back. And we could have gone that way. It started to feel a little episodic because they were bringing back pieces of dad, like his feet first, then his legs, then his torso. And it also just felt a little cold and clinical. And then the idea of magic as a way to bring him back felt way more romanticized and just special.”

He went on to talk about the final project:

“And that led to the thought of, 'Well, we don't want to set this in some era long ago, like a lot of fantasy films are set,' and because this was such a personal modern story," he continued. "And then again, that led to the idea of what about a modern fantasy world, which got us laughing because it's ridiculous and would lead to really funny scenes. So it's kind of a long way to get there. But I think one of the things I like is the world matches Ian in some ways. The world is a place that's lost a little bit of its potential and Ian's a kid who's not living up to his potential and so you get to see both the world and Ian grow and live up to their potential together.”

I’m really glad they went with the storyline they did. The other one seems too much like Frankenweenie, like a story we have heard before, and a little on the dark side. The magical theme made the story new, and didn’t forfeit any of the emotion.

Have you seen Onward yet? It’s available now on Amazon and iTunes, and hits Disney+ this Friday, April 3rd.