Onward

Ian Lightfoot is a shy teenage elf who never knew his dad. On his 16th birthday, he and his loud older brother Barley get a magic staff that can bring their father back for one day. When the spell only brings half of their dad back, they race across a modern fantasy town to finish the job before time runs out. The tone is warm, funny, and full of brother energy and simple magic quests.

The main story is about family, grief, and two brothers learning to trust each other. The clear woke bit is a short scene with Officer Specter, a side cop who says she has a girlfriend and her girlfriend’s daughter. Pixar and the press treated that line as the studio’s first open lesbian character. Director Dan Scanlon said it was meant to show a modern world. Most of the movie is still a regular family adventure. A careful viewer notices the girlfriend line and the news around it, but it is not the plot.