'Lightyear' goes to infinity, but not beyond, in a likable offshoot of 'Toy Story'

The most interesting aspect of "Lightyear" is dispensed with in the first 15 seconds, when it's explained how and why you're watching a movie devoted to the action-figure character from "Toy Story." After that, the movie works primarily as a fairly likable action vehicle mixed with a familiar rumination on what defines a life, without rising into that top tier of Pixar fare its predecessors occupied.

Having hung up his shield, Chris Evans turns out to be the perfect choice to voice this version of Buzz Lightyear, a space ranger introduced on a perilous mission with his partner Alisha Hawthorne (Uzo Aduba) and a wide-eyed rookie who has red-shirted "Star Trek" crewman written all over him.

The mission goes awry, leaving Buzz and company stranded on this forbidding planet. Committed to make right what went wrong, Buzz embarks on his own quest to secure their escape, though the consequences of that are both unexpected and, in the execution of them, oddly sweet and touching.