My Thoughts on Up

I went to see Up yesterday in that new fangled 3D I've been hearig so much about. Here are my long-winded, rambling thoughts on the movie.

(spoilers- I'm assuming you've seent the film already, if you haven't don't read this)





Short review: The second best animated movie I've ever seen, just (barely) below Spirited Away. I saw a lot of reviews talking about how Up isn't quite on the same level as Pixar's best films. I don't know what movie those reviewers saw, but it must not have been the same one that I did. Hell, the opening segment showing Carl's life with Ellie was better than the entirety of Wall-E, and I loved Wall-E. It's a testament to Pixar's skill that the first 10 minutes of the movie had a fully realised and self-contained story that went fluidly from funny to tragic and back again in the blink of an eye.

Speaking of the opening segment- someone at Pixar had some serious balls to open an animated movie with a life story montage that includes a woman finding out she's infertile. Up to that point the whole sequence already had me glued to the seat- Carl and Ellie meeting as kids due to their shared obsession with Muntz was insanely adorable, not to mention hilarious- but when the view switched from the bright, sunny nursery to the somber doctor's office I really sat up in my seat and said "woah! We're getting into some deep stuff here!" Not out loud obviously, because that would have been weird. More so than the miscarriage (if that's what it was) scene, the fact that we see Carl and Ellie being forced to give up their childhood dreams due to the circumstances of everyday life was.... not dark exactly, but surprisingly down to Earth and non-idealistic.

As good as the rest of the movie is, I think it's the opening that really pushes it above the norm. Because we've seen Carl's back story he's elevated to much more than just a crotchety old man. His bad attitude and contempt for the rest of the world felt totally believable and understandable.

The overall story was as predictable as the sunrise, but oddly that doesn't detract from it at all. I knew Carl would give Russell his grape soda badge the second I saw the empty space on his sash, but that didn't make it any less heart-warming when he does.

In terms of comedy, Up is the funniest movie I've seen in a long, lone time. The undisputed most hilarious character in the movie was Dug, with the other talking dogs all coming in a close second. Having a collar that transmitted Dug's thoughts as dialogue was a stroke of genius, leading to such lough-out-loud moments as "SQUIRREL!" and "I hid under your porch because I love you!".

The fact that everything Pixar touches turns to gold hasn't exactly gone unnoticed, so I have to wonder why they seem to leave everyone else in the dust when it comes to animated movies. They're not the only ones out there doing it well, but the vast majority of animated films seem to be lowest-common-denominator 90 minute long pop culture references. Up, by contrast, relies on creativity and imagination for both it's story and humour, and doesn't talk down to it's audience. The "message" of the film- that sometimes you have to let go of the past to enjoy the present, even if it means giving up on cherished dreams- is far more mature and complex than the usual bland aesops aimed at children. I get the feeling this theme was inserted into the movie because the people ho made it genuinelly thought it was a good point, not because they felt a children's movie has to have a moral to the story.

As I said, this was the first time I've sen a movie using modern 3D technology. I was very impressed with the results- many scenes had such a convincing depth of field effect it felt as if I was looking at actual 3-dimensional models rather than something projected on a screen. Cloud and rain effects in particular were startlingly realistic (obviously a lot of credit for this goes to the animators and artists as well). I do have some complaints, though. Occasionally some visual elements, particularly those that were moving quickly and viewed in close-up, seemed to flicker uncomfortably, and smaller things like flocks of birds had a tendency to look like flat paper cut-outs moving across the screen. Overall though, I felt the 3D effects really addded to my enjoyment of the movie.