DIGITAL HD REVIEW: Onward
While Onward has been on digital HD for the past few weeks and has been released on Disney+, it just recently released the bonus features that traditionally are included.
As for the review of the actual movie itself, we have already reviewed the movie which you can read here.
This review will be for the bonus features:
"Quest Commentary" is basically the audio commentary featuring director Dan Scanlon and producer Kori Rae where the two share insights into the creation of the movie. There's lots of good stuff in this commentary and worth listening to.
"Scenes of Yore" is where they have the deleted scenes. There are some fun scenes which include a time when Ian was the one that believed in magic more than Barley and others featuring a female satyr named Jenny who was supposed to accompany the brothers on their quest. I think they did the right thing in deleting these concepts as the film as it is is strong enough.
"Fantastic Tales" is where they have the "making of" featurettes:
"Quest For Story" is about how director Dan Scanlon used his own life experiences of losing his father and having to look to his older brother for support as the basis of Onward. It's a really touching story that adds new texture to watching the film.
"Wizard Rock" is about the score and soundtrack and how they used rock inspired by Tolkein to color this world.
"Heart's Fire" is how they created magic in this world and all the spells. It was cool seeing how they had an actual staff and how they used VR to create magic.
"Dragon High" is how they created the dragon curse at the end of the movie. This was another area where they used VR.
"Citizens of Mushroomton" is how they came to design all the magical denizens of this fabulous world.
"Fantasy Is Our Destiny" is a short featurette talking about the meaning of magic and fantasy to the cast and crew.
"Magic Gems" is a cute little featurette with a variety of vignettes featuring the characters of Onward.
"Wizards Worldwide" features trailers from both the United States and around the world, including Japan, the Ukraine and in Spanish language.
VUDU also has an exclusive feature entitled "Elf Brothers Forever" which shows how stars Tom Holland and Chris Pratt worked together and create their brotherly bond.