UP
posted May 13, 2009 7:09 AM
Forget balloons, they should sell UP seatbelts at concession
Breathlessly quick action comedy is every bit as sweet and imaginative as you’d expect from Pixar; a company name as synonymous with quality as innovation. Breakneck speedy, hysterically funny and appropriately lithe, UP handles itself in action with the same intensity as with comedy, never stopping to leave room for a laugh or a gasp—though plenty of intimacies and heartrending moments are handled deftly in montage. Story of an old man who seeks adventure late in life surprises and charms, and will rake it in like the instant classic it is.
“Breakneck” and “breathless” aren’t words commonly associated with films about octogenarians, (well, maybe breathless, but not in that context) yet here it’s just right. As a kid, Carl Frederickson (perfectly voiced by Ed Asner) was thrilled by adventure. From young he fixated on an adventurer named Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer playing a cross between Amelia Earhart and Allan Quatermain), whose iconic dirigible was appropriately titled “The Spirit of Adventure.” Carl fell upon a girl, a manic pixie dreamgirl of sorts, who’s shared excitement for exploration took the quotes off “The Spirit of Adventure” and promised to help him realize his fantasies of discovery. Limitations kept the couple from traveling as they’d liked and when Carl finds himself a widow (oh, will you cry!!!) he’s besieged with offers for his house, which sits isolated and dim in the middle of a concrete maw of burgeoning developments and chain sushi shops. Left with little recourse, he sets his house afloat on a rainbow of balloons—with an unexpected stowaway. When Carl finds what he’s looking for he has to choose between his well-worn attachments and the characters that have fallen, literally, out of the sky and into his hands.
As with each of Pixar’s films, letting go and the loss that comes with it features prominently in the characters’ route to personal growth. Consider Finding Nemo’s Marlin, whose kung-fu grip on his son (borne of a fear of loss) is the character’s central obstacle and motivation (can you just smell the efficiency of script!). Or Mr. Incredible, whose hubristic attachment to his glory days, paired with a fear for his family, keeps him working solo and incognito. In tandem, a central theme about relationships follow and typically that theme touches on matters of community and world issue at large (e.g. WALL-E).
Iconic motifs carry us visually through UP and their efficiency allows the film to move at a good clip without losing us. Carl and his wife Ellie have a host of tiny, poignant icons that signify both their love of adventure and their romantic bond. As the film’s hero is a man who straddles the old world and the new, he sees his icons evolve into different, if functionally similar, signs. Ellie makes badges out of bottle caps and this is the tool that signifies their membership in a club (to quote Kurt Vonnegut’s Mother Night), their “nation of two.” Later, Carl’s stowaway, Russell, comes seeking help earning an Elderly Assistance badge, the final badge in his Wilderness Explorer sash. Similarly, Carl and Ellie looked for shapes in the clouds and when he lands his house by a waterfall, he sees through the fog a series of rock formations that mirror Ellie’s gestalt clouds, but with far more danger and far less romance. With time, the rainbow colored arc of balloons that provide his escape are repeated in the plumage of a rare bird that’s both the object of the villain’s desire and a metaphor for the exploitation of life in service of man’s reach for history. Yet, the most indicative and profound of these icon transformations is the one that watches the spirit of adventure become the goal of conquest (or development). When Carl’s house is threatened with fire, he turns his back on the bonds he’s willfully avoided from the start. “None of this concerns me,” becomes his (and by extension, everyone’s) admission of isolation, anxiety, repressed anger. The armchair explorations truly crash and burn just moments later.
Russell’s sweet revelation that “it’s the boring parts I remember best,” is an ironic statement in a film that moves at the speed of hurricane wind. Still, the most memorable and gut wrenching moment comes from the briefest shot of Ellie, just after she’s learned she can’t live out one of her dreams. She sits meditative in a chair in their yard, somehow just assimilating to her new condition. The resolve and relenting present in her expression are uncanny, and remind us that the path of growth involves surrender, and the duration of youth requires (to invoke Eisenhower) eternal vigilance.
Distributor: Walt Disney
Cast: Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer, Delroy Lindo and Bob Peterson
Directors: Pete Docter and Bob Peterson
Screenwriter: Bob Peterson
Producer: Jonas Rivera
Genre: Action/Comedy/CG Animation
Rating: PG for some peril and action.
Running time: 96 min
Release date: May 29, 2009
18 Comments
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mutaru said:
great
May 14, 2009 10:14 AM
hero said:
cool i guess .. i think that we`ll have to see though
May 15, 2009 3:21 PM
Shine said:
I have not seen a movie that has moved me and entertained me as much as UP in the last 10 years. We needed a movie like this to come along, and its no surprise that it came from Pixar. Instantly, one of my favorite movies of all time.
June 2, 2009 6:53 PM
Jim B said:
This movie is seriously overrated. It's a good movie, but it certainly isn't a 5 star movie. It was hardly "breakneck" and "breathless" as the above review states. I found myself looking at my watch.
June 4, 2009 11:22 AM
Mauricio Fernandez Rosiñol said:
This is now my favorite Pixar movie. The best picture, best story, best music. Incredible job Pixar!
June 6, 2009 1:37 AM
Pixar Lover said:
I have read all the comments here and have to say that either they are editing out the negative reviews or none of the people who saw it with me don’t go to this site.
I saw “UP” on opening night and was very disappointed in the story.
1st let me say I am a big Disney fan and have loved all of the past Pixar films but this the 1st time I have seen a theater clear out mostly quiet. No laughing or upbeat attitudes. It was a late showing so the number of kids was limited but still I was shocked.
Yes it had some laughs, good action scenes, and some good characters. But the story had an icing of a “depressing mess” story line.
I love how the story began and fell in love with the two children, watched them fall in love, get married, and then the movie took a decisive nose dive.
A couple that could not conceive?
Getting old without fulfilling their dreams?
Finally the writers decide to KILL ONE OFF, the wife, leaving the husband alone and crushed.
Who would decide to give the audience a character that they love and then kill that character off?
Such a “Depressing Mess”.
For those who would say “Well that’s reality” I would remind them that this is FANTASY!
And it’s a Disney movie to boot.
Even Bambi treated reality better that this and they caught hell for killing the mother in that movie.
Killing off the wife character was bad enough but it became the driving force of the story and thus we (the audience) were reminded of her death throughout the whole show.
“Up” could have been a great movie but the story was nothing like the previews lead us to believe it was, instead we have a dismal story with a few laughs thrown in to keep the audience from committing suicide. I do feel deceived by what I expected, and after spending nearly $60 for my family to see the film I feel robbed.
I’ll end by quoting a group of parents as they left the movie (out of earshot of their children).
“Remember when Disney use to make movies that were fun, uplifting and did not require an explanation about death and depression to our children”
June 7, 2009 9:13 AM
Animation lover said:
I luv these animation , They r just great !
June 10, 2009 3:13 AM
june said:
excellent film. worthy of the 5 stars. my kids, ages 3,6, and 7, all loved it and taught them valuable life lessons.
June 16, 2009 11:29 AM
Rob said:
These minority complaining about having to explain the death and depression and stuff to children are absurd. It was no more tragic than Bambi, the opening of Nemo, and the death of Mufasa and the heartbreaking scene of Simba tending to his lifeless body. These must be newbie parents who find talking and explaining things about life to their kids too much work. Many of us were introduced to dark themes in past disney films by our parents, and the majoriy of us turned out well.
Bring me more films like UP anyday over the nonsensical Madagascars, Shreks, and the like. I'd much rather have my kids (ages 5,and 7)see a film that actually has something substantial to offer alonside the usual comedic hijinks, and not just a film with wall to wall pop culture jokes and toilet humor.
June 16, 2009 11:35 AM
Will said:
What a great movie UP was. I was skeptical when I saw the 5 star review, but it won me over completely. The beginning was sad, but it was necessary because it made the absolution in the end all the more powerful. Up was whimsical, hilarious, melancholy, and poignant. Kudos to pixar for weaving such elements so well. Me and my family loved it and we left the theater with wide smiles and a bounce in our step-and judging by the looks and buzz of the people in the sold out theater, they felt the exact same way.
As for the minority who were taken aback by the heavy themes. Well, some people just don't give their kids enough credit from my point of view.
June 16, 2009 11:40 AM
Devon said:
A fantastic film. Entire family enjoyed it.
June 16, 2009 1:48 PM
Elmo said:
I like the movie. It was great, especially in the beginning and in the end. I just don't like the talking dog. It make the moveie less fun. However, still, it is great movie. And I love it. I've already wathced it for 3 times.
June 16, 2009 9:00 PM
python said:
it is very cool
June 18, 2009 2:21 AM
Edgar said:
A fantastic film; however, not as good as WALL-E, Toy Story, or Finding Nemo.
June 28, 2009 6:05 PM
Aslam said:
yeeah
thats a fantastic film
i have seen that film...
not as good as the another animation movies...
June 29, 2009 7:02 AM
Jenn said:
The best Disney flick in many, many years. I laughed, I cried. I appreciated. I left the theatre happy. It was truly GOOD.
July 6, 2009 7:55 AM
Laura said:
I agree with Pixar Lover. This movie was depressing. A good adult cartoon, but my 5 year old daughter and her friend were in my lap the whole time. It was sad, a little violent, not funny, and tragic. I wouldn't even rent it. I hated it. When I go see a cartoon I want fun.
July 20, 2009 5:59 PM
sarah said:
i never saw it yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
August 1, 2009 9:31 AM