[Movie Review] "Up" -- Pixar Does It Again

[Aisha deCabre]

Heh, my first movie review.  FAIR WARNING, MAY CONTAIN MINIMAL SPOILERS.

Okay, read on if you wish.

So my brother and I went to the movies earlier today, because he wanted to see the new Pixar movie "Up".  I, thinking it looked cute, also thought I'd like to see it too.  Plus it was in 3D, and it's not very often that a good movie is made in 3D without having those "point at the screen" gimmicks.

Now, I myself think that Pixar and Disney have been churning out movies a little too quickly.  It only seems so soon after "Wall-E" that this thing has these cute trailers and shorts for it.  Not to mention traditional animation is quickly becoming a lost art to computer animation.

But after watching this movie, I have to admit that Pixar and Disney can still conjure storylines that will make your heart melt and make you laugh all at once.

Spoilers start here, but I'll try to keep them slight.

I'm sure everyone seems to know the premise of the movie from watching said ads.  An old man named Carl Frederickson (sp?) and his wife grew up to stories of a great adventurer, who claimed to find a lost world in South America, and have spent their whole lives following dreams to live there atop a waterfall looking over the lost jungle.  (What happens to the wife, I'll let you all see for yourselves.  But prepare to bring something to dab your eyes with.)

However, said explorer was long ago called a fraud, as he found a skeleton of a rare prehistoric-like flightless bird that could be found nowhere else...yet everyone thought the skeleton was fake.  Thus he set out for the lost jungle on a quest to bring a bird back alive and to clear his name.

Flash forward.  Carl, tired of living his life having not lived his dream, decides to find the place himself, and causes his house to fly using thousands of balloons.  But he gets an unwitting stowaway in the form of a young wilderness explorer scout named Russel, only out to get one more badge for helping the elderly.  With the other characters they meet when they reach South America, a dog named Dug who can speak with his collar, and Kevin, a very large flightless bird (seem familiar?), Carl learns that he can still have a great adventure even after he believes that he's already completed another one.

End hopefully slight spoilers here.

Now, the only bad points that I've found for this movie is that a little bit of the humor sometimes went over the top.  Not to mention that from things I've guessed at watching the trailers, I guessed who the antagonist of the movie was RIGHT from the beginning.

But where there was humor, there was also enough heartwarming drama and action to balance it out (and in 3D it was even more amazing, even what I call a rather epic battle between old people).  This movie had me in tears a little into the beginning, and later before the climax, and it ended with satisfaction, even if I found the movie slightly short.  But of course, time flies anyway when watching a movie.  Plus, you don't have many movies anymore where the main protagonist is one of the elderly, which just adds to the neat characterization.  Russel also isn't as inept at wilderness exploring as the trailers make him look.

It wasn't as dramatic and close to home as Wall-E, I'd say, but it was still interesting to the imagination...and once again, as the title says, Pixar and Disney both churn out something both cute and possessing a neat story.

Out of 5, 5 being the best, I'd give it a 4.  A worthy watch, methink.

It also goes to show that you should never trust movie trailers, and also never try to let them spoil most of the magic.  They seem to do that more and more these days.  

[superluser]

I'm sure everyone seems to know the premise of the movie from watching said ads.  An old man named Carl Frederickson (sp?) and his wife grew up to stories of a great adventurer, who claimed to find a lost world in South America, and have spent their whole lives following dreams to live there atop a waterfall looking over the lost jungle.  (What happens to the wife, I'll let you all see for yourselves.  But prepare to bring something to dab your eyes with.)

However, said explorer was long ago called a fraud, as he found a skeleton of a rare prehistoric-like flightless bird that could be found nowhere else...yet everyone thought the skeleton was fake.  Thus he set out for the lost jungle on a quest to bring a bird back alive and to clear his name.

Flash forward.  Carl, tired of living his life having not lived his dream, decides to find the place himself, and causes his house to fly using thousands of balloons.

Oh, thank you.

I was trying to find out what the plot was for this film, and all I could tell was ``A guy flies his house around,'' which is at most only half as compelling as this, and whenever I asked anyone, the answer tended to be ``It's totally by Pixar!'' which is not really all that compelling.

That actually sounds like a really good premise, and now I intend to see it.

[Sunblink]

I have to see this movie. I really, really have to see this movie.

[thegayhare]

though I haven't seen it yet I must say from the commercials I think the talking Dogs are the most realistic approach to talking dogs I've ever seen. 

It seems to have the dogs attention span nailed

[Cogidubnus]

I laughed, I cried. I can ask no more of a movie. It was great.

That said, I agree with Aish about some of the humor. How a movie manages to be heartwrenching in some parts and slapstick in others escapes me - but I still enjoyed the movie immensely. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

[Jairus]

That said, I agree with Aish about some of the humor. How a movie manages to be heartwrenching in some parts and slapstick in others escapes me - but I still enjoyed the movie immensely. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

That's the magic of Pixar, Cogi.

As for me, I'll probably be seeing this next week, after my final exams.

[Dannysaysnoo]

My god, why haven't I heard a peep about this movie until today? That almost never happens! and it's Pixar!!

[Aisha deCabre]

My god, why haven't I heard a peep about this movie until today? That almost never happens! and it's Pixar!! D:

It's probably because the ads were shown almost exclusively on one or two channels. xP  Or however many people can get in which Disney is affiliated.

[GabrielsThoughts]

I saw it thursday...nice.   

[Alondro]

I laughed, I cried. I can ask no more of a movie. It was great.

That said, I agree with Aish about some of the humor. How a movie manages to be heartwrenching in some parts and slapstick in others escapes me - but I still enjoyed the movie immensely. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

It's what we call 'writing', something too many movies today sorely lack.  Pixar pays attention to its writing as much as it does to its CG effects, not merely depending on visuals and action to carry the story.

John Lasseter is a huge fan of Miazaki, and emulates the style of astounding animation with good storytelling.  A winning combination.   

Personally, I thought "Ratatouille" was Pixar's ultimate masterpiece of originality and animation brilliance.  It was the first and only time I forgot I was watching CG, and I'm a HUGE fan of traditional animation.

[Baal Hadad]

It's what we call 'writing', something too many movies today sorely lack.  Pixar pays attention to its writing as much as it does to its CG effects, not merely depending on visuals and action to carry the story.

John Lasseter is a huge fan of Miazaki, and emulates the style of astounding animation with good storytelling.  A winning combination.   

Personally, I thought "Ratatouille" was Pixar's ultimate masterpiece of originality and animation brilliance.  It was the first and only time I forgot I was watching CG, and I'm a HUGE fan of traditional animation.

And thank goodness--honestly, just when I think Pixar can't possibly do any better, it does.  Disney, on the other hand, seems to have more or less the opposite problem--swelled heads, maybe?  The hare to Pixar's tortoise (they should totally do a film of THAT, by the way)?

And I'm not happy about cel animation being more or less replaced by CGI either--don't hate CGI, but some things you can do in traditional animation that you can't do in CGI (yet, though I think they're trying).  It's for that reason I'm glad Chicken Little flopped and hope that The Frog Princess will be spectacular (but I sadly doubt this latter very much).

though I haven't seen it yet I must say from the commercials I think the talking Dogs are the most realistic approach to talking dogs I've ever seen. 

It seems to have the dogs attention span nailed

The one thing from the trailers I really didn't like was the dogs flying the planes--I still don't, having seen the film, but at least they build up to that, so it's not completely unprecedented.  And at least they didn't do any Snoopy references....

Am I weird that the part I remember and found the funniest was the part with the frog?

"BEEP-beep!  BEEP-beep!  BEEP-beep!"  SMACK!!

[GabrielsThoughts]

I was under the impression Disney bought Pixar after the flop of Chicken Little...and that both studio's had the same godhead figure in charge of the animation departments... although, I also seem to recall Touchtone Pictures and ABC belonging to Disney as well.

[Alondro]

I was under the impression Disney bought Pixar after the flop of Chicken Little...and that both studio's had the same godhead figure in charge of the animation departments... although, I also seem to recall Touchtone Pictures and ABC belonging to Disney as well.

Disney did 'buy' Pixar, but the deal is that Pixar now has a large degree of control over the entire animation production department.