I saw Up last night at Midnight, and my mind is still reeling. I’m a huge Pixar Fanboy and have been ever since I saw Toy Story as a ten year old. Their dedication to story is incredible, and their films are all wonderful.
I’ll try to keep this as spoiler-free as possible. I’ll assume you’ve seen the previews.
I can never decide on a favorite Pixar film because they’re each so perfect in their own ways, but Monsters Inc. definitely has a certain charm that I always want to go back and see again. Thats why my wife and I were super excited to see Up, Pete Docter’s follow up to Monsters Inc.
As overused this phrase will be in the next few weeks, Pixar has gone 10 for 10. Up is a brilliant, hilarious, and terribly sad film all at once. It’s about 78 year old Carl Fredrickson learning to cope with certain life events and let go of the past, while going on a crazy adventure in South America in a floating house.
Oh, and there’s a giant bird, and talking dogs.
If that sentence had Dreamworks in it, I’d be rolling my eyes, but Pixar makes you get so emotionally involved in their characters and stories that you totally buy into their suspensions of disbeliefs.
If you’ve read any reviews of Up so far, you’ve no doubt hear of the beautiful montage at the beginning that depicts Carl and his wife Ellie’s life together. If I had to pick one sequence in animated film history to seal in a box and send into space, it might be this one. It plays almost as if your’e watching their lives on Super 8, with no sound effects or dialog. Even if you don’t cry at movies, you probably will within the first five minutes of Up. The theater was dead silent except for the muffled sounds of crying, and that in and of itself was a surreal experience.
The film isn’t all a sob story though. It is easily the most laugh-out-loud funny of any Pixar film. There is slapstick and physical humor galore, as well as clever jokes. Carl is a great character, and his juvenile Wilderness Explorer friend Russell plays out just like a real kid. Dug the talking dog turned out to be a lot funnier than I thought he would be.
I don’t know how much more I can say about it without giving away anything, so just rest assured that you can go see Up this weekend and be thoroughly entertained.
Special SMC thanks to Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Ronnie Del Carmen, Lou Romano, and everyone else who worked so hard on this film for so many years.
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Jennifer T
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Aaron
