In `Onward,` the latest animated feature from Pixar, two elf brothers cast a magic spell that half-succeeds: They bring their dead father back to life, but only from the waist down, as a pair of sentient pants and shoes.
At the box office this weekend, the movie was met with similarly mixed success.
`Onward` opened to an estimated $40 million in domestic ticket sales Friday through Sunday, more than enough for first place, but it's relatively weak for a Pixar movie. For comparison, Pixar's `Inside Out` opened to roughly $98 million in domestic sales in June 2015, adjusting for inflation. The studio released `Onward` unusually early in the year; it typically puts out movies around summer or during the holiday season.
`Onward,` directed by Dan Scanlon (`Monsters University`), holds an 86 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but that good reception is modest by Pixar standards: The studio's past three movies (`Toy Story 4,` `Incredibles 2` and `Coco`) all have Rotten Tomatoes scores of 94 or above.
