‘Project Hail Mary’ Review: ‘Interstellar’ Meets Pixar-Style Friendship
Project Hail Mary has a lot of hype surrounding it. The film is led by one of the world’s biggest movie stars, based on a story by a top-tier sci-fi author, and adapted by some of the most talented filmmakers working today. Because of this, it’s easy to overhype the movie’s expectations. Luckily, most of the elements come together better than expected. One reason is that Phil Lord and Chris Miller have great source material to work with. Andy Weir’s novel is rich with intelligence and humor.
What’s surprising about Project Hail Mary is that it feels like a Pixar movie brought to live-action. A spaceman who teams up with a wacky alien to save their planets. The ingredients were staring us right in the face the entire time. This is the core reason why Lord and Miller were the perfect directors for the project.
What is Project Hail Mary about?
Directed by Lord and Miller and adapted for the screen by Drew Goddard, the movie follows astronaut Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling). He wakes up after an induced coma, not knowing who he is or what he’s doing in space. Fans of the novel might find the adaptation feels like listening to the text at 1.5x speed on Audible. For example, chapters 1 through 4 rapidly cover the first 15 to 20 minutes of the movie. Grace frantically tries to piece together his mission and memories simultaneously. Throughout the film, there are frequent cuts between the past and the present, until the very end.
As Grace begins to remember, he recalls his burden of being part of the team tasked with saving Earth as the sun’s energy diminishes, consumed by an organism called an astrophage. The setup resembles Andy Weir’s The Martian, in which an intelligent man must figure out how to survive in space. But in the second act, the story takes an unexpected, more lighthearted turn. An unusual spacecraft starts following Grace in a highly comedic way. The setup has a Tex Avery Looney Tunes style, with the ship copying every speed change Grace makes. We’re then introduced to Rocky, a spider-shaped creature with a reddish rock-like texture and the heartfelt wit of Big Hero 6’s Baymax.
James Ortiz and Ryan Gosling have Pixar chemistry
It’s within this setup that it feels like we are watching an unintentional live-action Pixar adaptation. Rocky possesses all the charm and sincerity of characters like Doug from Up and even Wall-E. And Gosling is our Buzz Lightyear, befriending an unlikely alien from outer space. The writing plays up the humor between them as Grace dishes on camera about his new roommate.
Rocky, voiced by James Ortiz, has a hilarious disconnect in his communication style. For example, after solving an issue, Rocky offers Grace to “Fist my bump.” To which Grace points out the hysterical inaccuracy of his phrasing. Similar to the novel, it’s the bond between them that gives the world-ending story a giant heart.
Lord and Miller thrive with the material thanks to their animation roots. The duo, responsible for works like The Lego Movie and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, leans into the wackiness of their relationship while maintaining the material’s earnestness.
Furthermore, as with their work on films like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, almost every frame is adorned with incredible detail. The shuttle carrying Ryland Grace has a viewing room akin to an IMAX Dome, completely immersing him in environments of his choosing. For instance, to keep himself from going stir-crazy, Grace can immerse himself in an Earth beach. The shot feels rich as we linger on his escapism.
Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s practical magic
One of the most remarkable aspects of the film is the practical use of everything on camera. Lord and Miller claim that no green screen was used in making Project Hail Mary. When I watched the film, I wasn’t aware of this detail. In hindsight, it makes sense since most of the story takes place on a spaceship. The production design inside the shuttle is incredibly detailed. For fans of the novel, most of the ship’s features closely match the descriptions in the book.
The movie also incorporates what I like to call “The Baby Yoda Effect.” Having the creature present in practical form rather than as a CGI Rock spider gives the film more personality. Seeing a tangible creature that viewers could touch makes the experience feel more real. I was surprised that the volume wasn’t used to mechanize the space sequences.
There’s a shot in the trailer where Ryan Gosling floats next to a planet, beautifully executed. It’s perplexing how they achieved that sequence without anything visibly involved. For this reason, Project Hail Mary will rightly draw comparisons to Interstellar.
The influences from Christopher Nolan’s space film seem intentional. If one were to make this kind of movie, using Nolan’s work as a reference is a great starting point. But beyond the Nolan influence, Project Hail Mary feels like an Andy Weir adaptation that somehow turned into a live-action Pixar movie. It’s heartfelt, funny, and features the best on-screen chemistry between two space characters since WALL-E met Eve.
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