In a world where a once-magical race of elves has been reduced to suburban predictability, two young brothers (voices by Tom Holland and Chris Pratt) undertake a journey to make use of an arcane spell that will bring their deceased, nearly forgotten father back to life for 24 hours, so they can say goodbye. 

This good but not great animation is made with Pixar’s dazzle and trademark craft and has a certain emotional resonance. But while it’s better than average for the studio’s post-Disney-acquisition efforts, it plays it pretty safe and suffers for it.

It’s well worth catching, but I saw it a few months ago and had to look it up to remember what it was about. “Forgettable” and “generic” are not words usually applied to Pixar.

(102 min)