UP: Amazing! Visual Storytelling at Its Best! Spoiler Alert!
When I watched Wall-E, I was completely blown away by the team at Pixar’s ability to really use each frame of a film and fill it with such thought-provoking energy, such emotional power that I couldn’t help but to feel elation and/or cry on command whenever they rang that bell. Pixar not only understands great storytelling, but they get better with each and every film, sans Cars, and that is completely unheard of. Their string of hits is ridiculous. Now enter UP.
Carl loves his wife Ellie, whom met when they were very young. They became fast friends when they discovered their mutual adoration for Charles Muntz, the adventurer who disappeared a long time ago in search of an elusive bird from Paradise Falls in South America. Ellie’s dream was always to move to Paradise falls, a place where they could continue to have their adventures and be surrounded by beauty as well as each other.
But…life has a way of changing plans on you.
Carl and Ellie spend their life fixing up their home, and really just enjoying each other every minute of every day until those minutes finally run out and Ellie leaves…her adventure reaching its inevitable end. With her gone, Carl’s life reduces to living within his home, a shut in letting life pass by until it starts tearing down the world around him. Forced to move to a retirement community, he does the unexpected and goes up. Hoisted with hundreds of helium balloons, Carl begins his adventure to Paradise Falls only with one small hitch: He accidentally brought wilderness explorer Russell along with him. Together, they face the secrets, the wilds, and mysteries of Paradise Falls, learning what real adventure needs and is all about.
To quote my friend Chris Mason of SuperHeroHype:
“ALL of Hollywood should spend time at PIXAR, because these guys know how to make a movie-”
This is the most simplest yet profoundest statement one can say because it is so painfully true. Pixar has perfected the craft. If screenwriting is about mechanics, which it is, they’ve mastered it. There are so few films out there that can completely surprise like UP. I’ve never seen a film, geared towards children, that goes for the soft spot early in the loss of Carl’s wife Ellie nor take that moment, that large section of the intro, and discard almost all the dialogue; using pictures and music to guide you through the joys and sadness of their life together which, awesomely, serves as the backbone for the whole film.
The use of the speaking dog Doug, a device used to add comic relief, works in this film when it feels like it shouldn’t. As an audience member, you haven’t seen anything to suggest the technological advancements necessary to allow such a device to exist but since you’ve just watched a seventy-eight year old man pilot a house to South America, you’ll believe anything at this point.
I really felt like Director Peter Doctor pulled an amazing performance out of Ed Asner, CARL. You don’t really see much of him these days in the mainstream and getting to see him stand on the red carpet for a wonderful piece of work, way cool.
There were a couple things that bothered me but nothing that really made me want to run screaming out of the theatre and into the comforting arms of Bryce Dallas Howard (that one’s for you J.C.).
I was really enjoying the ride to South America, full of dangers, when all of a sudden we were there. Ride over. Now this is a small complaint because the film works but it seemed to me one of the big buildups to this film was the house in the air and it’s not up for very long on its long trek to South America. Again, just something to pick at.
The animation was smooth and tight but they really didn’t push themselves in the style and what I mean is the film looked a lot like like Monster’s Inc. The style and the world, seen through the Pixar eye, didn’t seem fresh but rather, recycled.
All in all…what an odd phrase…the film is a masterpiece. I’ve enjoyed all the Pixar films, except Cars, and feel like this is just another step up for them. It’s in at The Granada, probably for the next couple weeks, so see it as often as you can. The big screen is the best place to for it.
Ending thought though, how much higher can Pixar go before they peak? Or will they?
Totally agree man, I think this might be the best movie I’ve seen all year. I laughed to the point of it being embarrassing during that first scene with the dogs.
Heh, a review of Up by Chuck. How I do love a cheap laugh. As far as the movie goes… eh, it wasn’t bad. In my opinion, it wasn’t as good as Wall-E, but Up definitely had its moments. It attempted to yank on your heartstrings a bit too much, and, as a soulless bastard, I just found these parts to be annoying. It also suffered from the same thing that all previous Pixar projects have: being tied to the Disney corporation. I would give anything to see an amazing Pixar film without a Disney ending (I’d use course language here, but this is a review that’ll potentially be read by parents and/or children… and I hate looking like that hack Sergio). They’re all great up until 15 minutes before the end of the movie when all of the conflict resolution starts, and then it’s just a maddening descent into a Diabetes-inducing hell.
actually, those “Disney” endings pretty much are Pixar, as much as i’d love to see pixar go “dark” once in awhile, family films are pretty much their thing, Pixar threatened to leave disney once, unless they got rid of Micheal Eisner. guess what happened? Jed is the biggest pixar whore i know. i’m sure he’d have plenty to say on that.
that being said, i need to find the time to see this movie, i just wanted to wait for a more suitable, kid-less time to do so, since getting the back of my seat kicked over and over again regardless of how many times the mother says no to the child seems to be the trend every single time i ever attend an opening weekend on a Pixar film.
That’s what the 9 o’clock show is for Mark! We went Saturday night, no problems.
psh, sometimes i feel like an old man, i’m practically asleep by 9pm! though I wouldn’t expect 7pm to be so bad
We went to the matinee yesterday and it was relatively kid free… until five minutes into the movie. Then three mothers with about 40 kids in tow each come in. I guess you can’t expect to get anywhere on time when you’re trying to wrestle a troupe of baboons at the same time. Despite my previous comment, I will say that Ed Asner was great. He was the perfect old man for the film, and Pixar did a wonderful job with his expressions. There were several times when I could’ve sworn I was looking at a live action version of him. One last thought, what’s Pixar going to do when Cliff from Cheers dies? Oh, John Ratzenberger, you voice is too recognizable for your own good.
This movie was historical for me. I went with my fiancee and she was crying during the short at the beginning. I held it together until a certain moment involving a adventure book towards the end of the film at which point I teared up and history was made. This movie is the first movie that ever made me cry. Its that good.
I too laughed to a embarrasing amount when the dogs were introduced and being a dog person anyway,Dug the Dog was one of Pixars best characters.
To Jed ,who has not weighed in yet, I stand corrected. Classics can be entirely CGI, but please vow to me that you will hunt down Robert Zemeckis and mind wipe him before he makes good on his threat of making a ” Christmas Carol” with Jim Carrey starring as Scrooge and all of the ghosts using mo-cap. I dont mind coal in my stocking but shit? Thats just to much.
*sigh* You people and your filthy emotions.
Loved the film and second to what is written
Thanks Chuck for the mention!
I’m must be getting old and soft on my old age, I’m a single father with 2 kids so sometime I doesn’t take much to hit me in the right spot emtionally and get the water works going!
But PIXAR has some kind if magic - that they are NOT sharing with the rest of Hollywood - I’m thinking Hollywood has it’s heads up their collected keasters to know what good story-telling is anymore (Wolverine, Terminator Salvation).
UP is a joy to watch - I was in tears before the opening credits and a few points in between before the closing credits! - Call me a softy, but the mushy emotional (at time heavy handed) stuff worked! - I’ve worked in Hollywood for almost 30 years, and it’s hard sometimes to divorce myself from the inner-workings of a film while I watch it - but when I take my kids to a PIXAR film, I am always willing to let the film manipulate my emotion any which way!
I thought the all of the sudden Carl goes to sleep and they are there in So. America was a bit of a cheat, but I could live with that - I thought DUG was brilliant - not only did PIXAR nail the behavior of a dog in every way, but he says exactly what we imagine dogs would say if they could talk! - I did think that maybe there were a few too many talking dogs - but I guess we needed a lot of peril and lots of mindless talking dogs fit the bill… and that MUNTZ turns from this HERO on a pedestal to the films baddy was a bit quick, but going into the 3rd reel you need a good bad guy right!
Overall, one of the best movie experiences of the year so far…
Thanks CHUCK!
I have to wait until the 16th of October to see this film. October! That’s 5 months!
It might be worth a plane ticket the way you lot are talking about it.
Wow! Yes, that is too long to wait. Looks like you are stateside bound!
Ok. Here I go.
I am a a Pixar fanatic. They don’t make films that aren’t amazing. To say that I had high hopes for UP would be an understatement, but to say that it exceeded my expectations would be just as much of an understatement. There was a greater range of emotion expressed in the first ten minutes than in any other whole film that comes to mind, and they were just getting started.
Something that never ceases to amaze me about Pixar films is their ability to make me care about characters toward whom I expect be apathetic or even antagonistic. (Even in what I agree is their weakest film to date, Cars, there are genuinely evocative moments… delivered by a truck and voiced by Larry the Cable Guy.) UP is the most poignant example of this yet. Eccentricities that are annoying at best in real life are explained so deftly in Carl Fredricksen that I don’t just forgive them, I really empathize with them. I don’t like dogs. I loved Dug. They managed to give him a voice without anthropomorphizing him, and the result was hilarious, endearing, and strangely insightful. The whole thing was counter intuitive in its perfection.
This is the part where those of you who know me roll your eyes and walk away. It’s time for Jed to geek out. Pixar invented CGI as we know it. Sure, there have been other entities that have contributed to the science, although they generally end up working for Pixar, but it’s the Art that makes us sit up and pay attention, and Pixar has always been at the forefront there. Just look at computer animation before Luxo Jr in 1986 and you’ll see what I mean. The interesting thing about UP was that for the first time that I can remember in a Pixar film, I didn’t see anything revolutionary in the tech. (That doesn’t take into account the fact that it was rendered in 3D… I have heard good things about that, but we’re here in The Big, so we’ll have to do with x and y.) The thing is, there was nothing in the film that would benefit from a better particle system or a more physically accurate light transport algorithm or anything else that I could think of. I think that different art forms evolve at different rates, and while I’m sure there’s more to learn, 3d animation is quickly nearing a plateau. I’m of the opinion that there’s nothing on the other side of the Uncanny Valley, and for those smart enough to avoid beating their heads on that wall, most everything necessary to tell almost any story is can be generated convincingly. Think about it: given the stylism of UP, could it have looked any better? I’m not berating the TDs at all. In fact, I couldn’t be happier with the work that they did. We’re finally entering an era where instead of tacking new tools and techniques onto the pipeline, people are really refining the tools and techniques that are already there. It is the continuing evolution from technology to art.
And Brian? I maintain that you can have a good movie without a story, but I will concede this: a Great move needs a Great narrative. UP was a Great movie.
Oh yea, and Brian, let’s go mind wipe Zemeckis together.
just got back from watching it, i would also have to agree that it was fantastic, and the best pixar film to date. Had a little something for all ages in here, usually in a film like this, i tend to be distracted from the story by the CG, however, in this film. it was quite the opposite!
And now, a mark observation on the dogs:
Anybody notice how he left with 4, and later on in the film there were hundreds, thats some serious doggie inbreeding going on there! i feel most of the dogs were portrayed as much smarter then they should have been. did our villain just dump the cockeyed ones that walked funny out the back of the zeppelin? surely after that much inbreeding a dog wouldn’t be able to fly a plane..
It was so worth the months of waiting. I’m an emotional wreck.