I went to see Pixar’s UP the last night I stayed in Savannah, swayed by the possibility of an American mainstream animated release having a story that could finally have more than a thin layer of mousse on top of a classic plot progression. Pixar has continuously produced very impressive renderings that I only get to enjoy usually via Japanese video games; few of their movies have stories that stuck with me. In respect to the powerhouse that is Pixar, their stories haven’t been as emotionally involving as my other favorite animated features.
UP’s first 30 minutes was a very immersive and impressive display of Pixar’s dramatic muscles. Pixar took us into Carl Fredrickson’s life, got me empathizing and caring about what is important to Carl. Carl is a very likable grumpy fellow. He’s not grumpy because this movie needed a character to be conveniently grumpy just so you can hate him for the first half of the movie… only to be able to tell you later on, after a very forced unnecessarily dramatic rift that “now he’s good, like him” (well… for a good portion of the film). Knowing grumpy, old Carl is a pleasant experience.
Getting to know the love of his life was an even better experience, it’s easy to see what Carl finds in love. I can safely say that empathizing with the concerns Disney lovebirds face can be quite a chore (sorry Cinderella, that wasn’t a pun on your trial and tribulations). What Carl found in and with the love of his life was a pleasant tour de force, time-hopping montage. It was very classic, tasteful and most importantly, affecting. They found joy in the things they’ve shared, from the most mundane to the life-changing ones. It was a good balance in finding a way to communicate a lifelong worth of memories through simple gestures and symbols without it being a cliche that offers you little to take in.
UP’s love story makes Wall-E and Eve’s look like IKEA rubbish bins falling in love and Rattatouile’s french chefs kitchen love-tirade as emotionally powerful as a stale baguette. Long story short: Carl’s a great guy to watch and care for.
This is Pixar’s most impressive coupling to date. Having a love story you can empathize with, goes a long way if that’s one of the key events that sets about the journey. Russel, Dug and Kevin provide assistance with comedic and additional heartstrings-tugging.
Dug, Kevin and the canine troop are a pretty fun bunch. They bring back the fun of having animals in a mainstream, American release. The premise of Carl lifting the very house with balloons is an endearing symbolization of the very reasons why he’s finally fed up with living in a world too changed for the little world he had built for himself. To say more would also be to ruin the fun you’ll have caring for his story.
Unfortunately, with the great and graceful take-off came a cloudy plot must-haves with a chance of cliche. The movie’s villain had very little to offer to me despite having a motivation. The craft that was shown for Carl is largely absent in the villain’s. I’m not complaining of the brief time slot we had with him, it was just that his brief moment of reveal was nowhere near as convincing as Carl’s or any of the other characters’ brief introductions. He felt jarringly unimportant in comparison to the other characters.
It still was an enjoyable ride and far from a horrible movie. The fact that the first half of the movie was such a complete film might have been the reason why a small part of the later half sticks out like a sore thumb. It’s a lot like finding eraser crumbs that won’t go away on a piece of drawing you’re content with.
It’s still one deserving of praise despite the flaws… though Roger Ebert’s comparison of it with Miyazaki films is still a few good light years too early to make (or shouldn’t have been made at all). This is definitely one of Pixar’s best and I enjoyed it immensely if we are to compare it to the rest of Pixar’s films. The whole time I was watching it, I thought Carl would help kids nowadays respect their grandparents and get along with their elders more, just in case most kids today aren’t even aware that there are other animations than Pixar or what shows Toonami, CN, Fox Network or Adult Swim has to offer.
am i seriously the only person who didn’t really care for the movie?
i understand your review, and where you’re coming from….
but the movie had all the emotional attachment and mental stimulation of a saturday morning cartoon for me at least. the ONLY part of the movie that illicited a genuine reaction for me was dogfight at the end. that’s it.
like you, i didn’t go in expecting much… and i didn’t find much new, aside from dug. pretty much everything about dug and the dogs was brilliantly done, from their hilarious script to the subtle body reactions.
the love story at the beginning which is arguably the movies most memorable and strongest point….happens at the beginning and lasts for maybe a full 5 minutes and then… you’re left with an hour’s worth of plot points and emotional tugs that can be seen as easily as the trail of chocolate that russell leaves behind for kevin.
i always told people… up looks great, for a short film. had it been done as succintly as the love montage at the beginning, it would have been terrific.
overall, i still give the movie a B. i like it, but i guess not as much as the rest of america.
i also don’t understand how people can have an emotional reaction to plot points or jokes that have been used in trailers advertisements and teasers to no end (russell taking a poop). much like russells’s situation, the joke is a one-time gag and nowhere near the level of say… scrat’s scenes from ice age.
It’s one of my fav Pixar movies but it’s most definitely not among my list of favorite movies. I think you might be under the wrong impression that I’m comparing it to our favorite films (animated or live-action).
As for Carl and Ellie, I stand by my opinion that out of recent American animation, they’re the only couple I’ve cared about. I didn’t compare this to the romance present in Howl’s Moving Castle or Princess Mononoke for one simple reason: because it shouldn’t and can’t be compared to those examples for reasons you and I both understand very well. If you think I love it as much as Ebert or the majority of opinion, I’ll say this: NO, I don’t. I think Ebert and a lot of other people are giving it way too much credit but I won’t say this was a complete waste of my time.
Incredibles was the one I liked, Rattatouille and Wall-E are the ones I couldn’t care about, and Cars is the one that I completely avoided. UP happened to have awesome dogs and a formula I didn’t mind sitting through for the first half an hour. It was entertaining.
As for the jokes, I didn’t see most of the trailers, so most of the jokes’ cherries weren’t popped yet for me.
I’ll readily admit that if I only had the choice between UP or Ponyo on A Cliff, it wouldn’t even take a second’s thought for me to pick which would get my money.