Movie Review: Up
June 19, 2009 @ 11:44 am
I saw Disney/Pixar’s Up yesterday and I now believe it to be my favorite Pixar film of all. Yes, even better than the original Toy Story which has always held a special place in my heart.
I saw myself in Carl Fredricksen throughout the entire film. A man who loves exploring and traveling and going on adventures of all sorts, but was a slight bit grouchy all the time.
I know this review is coming very late after the film has already been in theaters for a while, but do yourself the favor and see it ASAP. It’s one of the best movie-going experiences I’ve ever had and the film has definitely bumped another movie from my list of top 10 for sure (I just don’t know which one…haha). When this movie comes out on DVD, I’m going to get it. And if it comes in a special edition package, I’m going to get that. And if there are Carl Fredricksen action figures or Dug action figures, I’m going to try and snag one of them (or both!).
Photo: Albert L. Ortega / PR Photos
By the way, I really hope Disney/Pixar licenses some company to make a gigantic Carl Fredricksen mask like the one seen above. The old man on the left of Carl is Edward Asner, the actor who plays Carl’s voice.
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U; Animation Dir: Pete Docter Cast: Edward Asner, Jordan Nagai, Christopher Plummer ***½ What's it about: Looks like Pixar was keeping the best for their 10th release, Up. A perfect mash-up of an adult love story set against the backdrop of a wild adventure, Up starts on a high note. Carl (Asner) sets off on a magical journey to South America with helium balloons tied to his shanty house. Having no idea who's going to knock on his door in mid-air, Carl is soon forced to take 'wilderness explorer' Russell (Nagai) under his wing. Grieving the loss of his wife, Carl takes Russell on a journey that has them encountering strange birds, beasts and getting to know each other better.  Then there is legendary explorer Charles Muntz (Plummer) who's in exile after facing public humiliation on his discovery of a large wild bird. Sugary and full of cute moments, the film will have you in splits with Russell's funny antics and also work on your tear ducts as you see Carl's unending love for his wife. What's hot: Coming from a studio whose resume has The Incredibles, Ratatouille and WALL-E on it, Up is a shining star that dazzles brightly. It's expected that Pixar will deliver in animation giving visual treats that will have us craving for more. But in Up, there's more than just superior animation, the film has a strong storyline and characters that don't just create interesting expressions but work under our skin. Watching the flashback scenes of Carl and his then girlfriend Ellie melt your heart, and prepare you for a climax that's bound to get you all teary eyed. A perfect cocktail of an adventure-love story, Up never loses its tempo. Constantly offering you ingenious and colourful moments, the film soars on all fronts like the helium-filled balloons. Ed Asner and Jordan Nagai are outstanding in their respective characters. What's not: The 3-D version doesn't really do much, save for a few scenes. So if wearing thick frames annoy you, go for the regular version which delivers equally. What to do: It's feel-good, uplifting, an experience that will cheer you up no matter what mood you are in. A must watch, this easily is the best animation film of the year! |
Up (2009 film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Up | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | Pete Docter Co-Director: Bob Peterson |
| Produced by | Jonas Rivera Executive Producers: John Lasseter Andrew Stanton |
| Screenplay by | Bob Peterson Pete Docter |
| Story by | Pete Docter Bob Peterson Thomas McCarthy |
| Starring | Edward Asner Christopher Plummer Jordan Nagai Bob Peterson |
| Music by | Michael Giacchino |
| Editing by | Kevin Nolting |
| Studio | Pixar Animation Studios |
| Distributed by | Walt Disney Pictures |
| Release date(s) | May 29, 2009 |
| Running time | 96 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $175 million |
| Gross revenue | $731,342,744 |
Up is a 2009 computer-animated comedy-adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios, distributed by Walt Disney Pictures and presented in Disney Digital 3-D. The film premiered on May 29, 2009 in North America and opened the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, becoming the first animated and 3D film to do so.[3]
Up is director Pete Docter's second feature-length film, after Monsters, Inc., and features the voices of Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer, Bob Peterson, and Jordan Nagai. It is Pixar's tenth feature film and the studio's first to be presented in Disney Digital 3-D, and is accompanied in theaters by the short film Partly Cloudy.
The film centers on an elderly widower named Carl Fredricksen and an earnest young Wilderness ExplorerRotten Tomatoes (the best reviewed wide-released film of 2009 on the site), and grossed over $731 million worldwide, making it Pixar's third-most commercially successful film, behind Finding Nemo and Toy Story 3. named Russell who fly to South America in a house suspended by helium balloons. The film has received overwhelmingly positive reviews, with a rating of 98% on
Up won Golden Globe Awards for Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Score from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The film received five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, making Up only the second animated film in history to receive such a nomination, following Beauty and the Beast in 1991.It was awarded the Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score in 2010
Plot
Carl Fredricksen (Jeremy Leary) is a shy and quiet boy who idolizes renowned explorer Charles F. Muntz (Christopher Plummer). He learns, however, that Muntz has been accused of fabricating the skeleton of a giant bird he had discovered in Paradise Falls, South America. Muntz vows to return there to capture one alive. One day, Carl befriends an energetic tomboy named Ellie (Elizabeth Docter), who is also a Muntz fan. Detailing her ambitions in her personal scrapbook, she tells Carl her desire to move her "clubhouse"—an abandoned house in the neighborhood—to a cliff overlooking Paradise Falls, making him promise to help her. Carl and Ellie eventually get married and grow old together in the restored house, working as a toy balloonzookeeper, respectively. Unable to have children, they repeatedly pool their savings for a trip to Paradise Falls, but end up spending it on other obligations. An elderly Carl (Edward Asner) finally arranges for the trip, but Ellie suddenly becomes ill and dies, leaving him a lonely and bitter widower. vendor and a
Years later, Carl's house becomes surrounded by urban development, but he refuses to sell his property. He then ends up in a tussle with a construction worker over his broken mailbox, and is forced by a court order to move into a retirement home. However, Carl comes up with a scheme to keep his promise to Ellie: he turns his house into a makeshift airship, using thousands of helium balloons to lift it off its foundations. A young Wilderness Explorer named Russell (Jordan Nagai) becomes an accidental passenger, having pestered Carl earlier in an attempt to earn his final merit badge for "assisting the elderly".
After surviving a thunderstorm, the house lands near a large ravine facing Paradise Falls. Carl and Russell harness themselves to the still-buoyant house and begin to walk it around the ravine, hoping to reach the falls before the balloons deflate. They later befriend a tall, colorful flightless bird (whom Russell names "Kevin") trying to reach her chicks, and then a dog named Dug (Bob Peterson), who wears a special collar that allows him to speak. They are then ambushed by a pack of similar dogs led by Alpha (also Bob Peterson), and taken to Dug's master, who turns out to be an elderly Charles Muntz. Muntz invites Carl and Russell aboard his dirigible, where he explains that he has spent the years since his disgrace searching Paradise Falls for the giant bird. When Russell innocently reveals his friendship with Kevin, Muntz becomes disturbingly hostile, prompting the pair, Kevin, and Dug to flee, chased by Muntz's army of dogs; Kevin is injured during the escape. Muntz eventually catches up with them and starts a fire beneath Carl's house, forcing Carl to choose between saving it or Kevin. Carl rushes to put out the fire, allowing Muntz to take the bird. Carl and Russell eventually reach the falls, but Russell is angry with Carl over his selfishness.
Settling into his home, Carl is sadly poring over Ellie's childhood scrapbook when, to his surprise, he discovers photos of their married life on the formerly blank pages, and a final note from Ellie thanking him for the "adventure", encouraging him to go on a new one. Reinvigorated, he goes to find Russell, only to see him sailing off alone on some balloons to save Kevin. Carl lightens his house by dumping all his possessions, and gives chase. Russell is captured by Muntz, but Carl manages to free both him and Kevin. Muntz pursues them around the airship, finally cornering Dug, Kevin, and Russell inside Carl's house with a hunting rifle. Carl then lures Kevin out through a window with a chocolate bar, with Dug and Russell clinging to her back, just as Muntz is about to break in. Muntz leaps after them, only to snag his foot on some balloon lines and fall to his death. Freed from its tether, the house descends below the clouds and out of sight.
Carl reunites Kevin with her chicks, then flies the dirigible back to the city. When Russell's father misses his son's Senior Explorer promotion ceremony, Carl takes over and proudly presents Russell with his final badge: the grape soda cap badge that Ellie gave to Carl when they first met. Meanwhile, Carl's house is shown to have landed on the cliff beside Paradise Falls.
Cast and characters
- Edward Asner as Carl Fredricksen. Carl is an old grumpy man who decides to fly his house to Paradise Falls. Docter and Rivera noted Asner's television alter ego Lou Grant had been helpful in writing for Carl, because it guided them in balancing likable and unlikeable aspects of the curmudgeonly character.[8] When they met Asner and presented him with a model of his character, he joked, "I don't look anything like that." (the appearance of Carl is meant to resemble Spencer Tracy as he appeared in his final film, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner[9]). They tailored his dialogue for him, with short sentences and more consonants, which "cemented the notion that Carl, post-Ellie, is a disgruntled bear that's been poked awake during hibernation".[10]
- Jordan Nagai as Russell, a Wilderness Explorer stowaway on Carl's flying house.[11] On their journey, Russell makes several comments to Carl that suggest that Russell's father and mother are no longer together.[12] Russell's design was based on Pixar animator Peter Sohn.[13] Docter auditioned 400 boys in a nationwide casting call for the part.[14] Nagai, who is Japanese-American,[15] showed up to an audition with his brother, who was actually the one auditioning. Docter realized Nagai behaved and spoke non-stop like Russell and chose him for the part.[16] Nagai was 8 years old when cast.[14][10] Asian Americans have positively noted Pixar's first casting of an Asian lead character,[17] in contrast to the common practice of casting non-Asians in Asian parts.[18] Docter encouraged Nagai to act physically as well as vocally when recording the role, lifting him upside down and tickling him for the scene where Russell encounters Kevin.
- Bob Peterson as Dug, a talking Golden Retriever.[19] He is the misfit of a pack of talking dogs owned by Muntz. Peterson knew he would voice Dug when he wrote his line "I have just met you, and I love you," which was based on what a child told him when he was a camp counselor in the 1980s. The DVD release of the film features a short called Dug's Special Mission, which follows Dug just prior to his first meeting with Carl and Russell. Dug previously appeared in Ratatouille as a shadow on a wall that barks at Remy.[19] Peterson also voices Alpha, a talking Doberman Pinscher[19] and the leader of Muntz's pack of dogs. Pete Docter has stated that Alpha "thinks of himself as Clint Eastwood". Despite his menacing appearance, a frequent malfunction in Alpha's translating collar causes his voice to sound comically high-pitched and squeaky, as if he had been breathing helium. The normal voice for his translator chip is a resonant, intimidating bass. With both voices, Alpha has a roundabout speech pattern that causes his sentences to be longer than necessary. Alpha is the character's rank in the pack, as well as his name.
- Pete Docter as Kevin. The bird's iridescent appearance is based upon the male Himalayan monal[20] Other than voicing Kevin, Docter also voices Campmaster Strauch, Russell's camp master, seen at the end of the film. pheasant.
- Christopher Plummer as Charles F. Muntz, a famous explorer who was discredited after bringing a bird skeleton back from South American. Vowing to return and find a living specimen, Muntz was driven insane and paranoid by his obsession and years of isolation, prompting him to kill anyone who comes to the area, believing they are out to steal the bird from him. His airship Spirit of Adventure serves as his home in South America. The name may have been inspired by Charles Lindbergh's plane Spirit of St. Louis.[19] Pete Docter compared Muntz to Charles Lindbergh and Howard Hughes.[11]
- Elizabeth Docter as Ellie. The voice actor is the director's daughter,[21] who also provided some of the drawings shown by Ellie.[22]
- Jeremy Leary as Young Carl.
- Delroy Lindo as Beta, a Rottweiler[19] and one of Muntz's dogs.
- Jerome Ranft as Gamma, a Bulldog[19] and one of Muntz's dogs. Ranft is brother to the late Joe Ranft and also part of Pixar Animation.
- John Ratzenberger as Tom, a construction worker who asks if Carl is ready to sell his house.[19]
- David Kaye as the newsreel announcer.
- Mickie McGowan as Police Officer Edith, a police officer who gives Carl a court order to move into a retirement home.
- Danny Mann as Construction Worker Steve, a construction worker with whom Carl gets into a fight.
- Donald Fullilove as Nurse George and Jess Harnell as Nurse AJ, nurses sent to pick up Carl and take him to a retirement home.
- Josh Cooley as Omega, another dog in Muntz's pack.
Additional characters were voiced by Mark Andrews, Bob Bergen, Brenda Chapman, Emma Coats, John Cygan, Paul Eiding, Tony Fucile, Teresa Ganzel, Valerie LaPointe, Laraine Newman, Teddy Newton, Jeff Pidgeon, Jan Rabson, and Bob Scott.
Production
The fantasy of a flying house was born out of director Pete Docter's thoughts about escaping from life when it becomes too irritating,[11][14] which he explained stemmed from his difficulty with social situations growing up.[23] Writing began in 2004. Actor and writer Thomas McCarthy aided Docter and Bob Peterson in shaping the story for about three months.[16] Docter selected an old man for the main character after drawing a picture of a grumpy old man with smiling balloons.[16] The two men thought an old man was a good idea for a protagonist because they felt their experiences and the way they affect their view of the world was a rich source of humor. Docter was not concerned with an elderly protagonist, stating children would relate to Carl in the way they relate to their grandparents.[11]
Docter noted the film reflects his friendships with Disney veterans Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston and Joe Grant (who all died before the film's release and thus the film was dedicated to them). Grant gave the script his approval as well as some advice before his death in 2005.[24] Docter recalled Grant would remind him the audience needed an "emotional bedrock" because of how wacky the adventure would become; in this case it is Carl mourning for his wife.[16] Docter felt Grant's personality influenced Carl's deceased wife Ellie more than the grouchy main character,[24] and Carl was primarily based on Spencer Tracy, Walter Matthau, James Whitmore, and their own grandparents, because there was "something sweet about these grumpy old guys".[9][25] Docter and Jonas Rivera noted Carl's charming nature in spite of his grumpiness derives from the elderly "hav[ing] this charm and almost this 'old man license' to say things that other people couldn’t get away with [...] It's like how we would go to eat with Joe Grant and he would call the waitresses 'honey'. I wish I could call a waitress 'honey'."
The filmmakers' first story outline had Carl "just want[ing] to join his wife up in the sky," Docter said. "It was almost a kind of strange suicide mission or something. And obviously that's [a problem]. Once he gets airborne, then what? So we had to have some goal for him to achieve that he had not yet gotten."[21] As a result, they added the plot of going to South America. The location was chosen due to both director Pete Docter's love of tropical locations, but also in wanting a location that Carl could be stuck with a kid due to the inability to leave him with an authority such as a police officer or social worker. They implemented a child character as a way to help Carl stop being "stuck in his ways".[26]
Docter created Dug as he felt it would be refreshing to show what a dog thinks, rather than what people assume it thinks.[27] The idea for Alpha's voice derived from thinking about what would happen if someone broke a record player and it always played at a high pitch.[16] Russell was added to the story at a later date than Dug and Kevin;[16] his presence, as well as the construction workers, helped to make the story feel less episodic.[21]
Carl's relationship with Russell reflects how "he's not really ready for the whirlwind that a kid is, as few of us are".[24] Docter added he saw Up as a "coming of age" tale and an "unfinished love story", with Carl still dealing with the loss of his wife.[28] He cited inspiration from Casablanca and A Christmas Carol, which are both "resurrection" stories about men who lose something, and regain purpose during their journey.[29] Docter and Rivera cited inspiration from the Muppets, Hayao Miyazaki, Dumbo and Peter Pan. They also saw parallels to The Wizard of Oz and tried to make Up not feel too similar.[30] There is a scene where Carl and Russell haul the floating house through the jungle. A Pixar employee compared the scene to Fitzcarraldo, and Docter watched that film and The Mission for further inspiration.[31]
The character Charles Muntz, who resembles Kirk Douglas,[32] comes actually from Howard Hughes and Errol Flynn.[33] An inspiration for the name of this character was cartoon producer Charles B. Mintz,[34] who stole Walt Disney's hit character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, forcing Disney to create replacement character Mickey Mouse.
Docter made Venezuela the film's setting after Ralph Eggleston gave him a video of the tepui mountains.[11][24]Monte Roraima by airplane, jeep and helicopter.[19] They spent three nights there painting and sketching,[35] and encountering dangerous ants, mosquitos, scorpions, frogs and snakes. They also flew to Matawi Tepui and climbed to Angel Falls,[19] as well as Brazil. Docter felt "we couldn't use [the rocks and plants we saw]. Reality is so far out, if we put it in the movie you wouldn't believe it."[9] The film's creatures were also challenging to design because they had to fit in the surreal environment of the tepuis, but also be realistic because those mountains exist in real life.[24]Sacramento Zoo to observe a Himalayan Monal Pheasant for Kevin's animation.[1]Peter Sohn, a Pixar storyboarder who voiced Emile in Ratatouille and directed the short Partly Cloudy, because of his energetic nature.[14][36] In 2004, Docter and eleven other Pixar artists spent three days reaching The filmmakers visited The animators designed Russell as an Asian-American, and modeled Russell after similar looking
While Pixar usually designs their characters to be caricatured, Carl was more so caricatured, being only three heads high.[37] He was not given elderly features such as liver spots or hair in his ears to keep him appealing, yet giving him wrinkles, pockmarks on his nose, a hearing aid, and a cane to make him appear elderly. Docter wanted to push a stylized feel, particularly the way Carl's head is proportioned: he has a squarish appearance to symbolize his containment within his house, while Russell is rounded like a balloon.[10] The challenge on Up[11] although Docter remarked the effect came across better than animating the realistic humans from Toy Story, who suffered from the "uncanny valley".[24] Cartoonists Al Hirschfeld, Hank Ketcham and George Booth influenced the human designs.[16][29][38] Simulating realistic cloth on caricatured humans was harder than creating the 10,000 balloons flying the house.[23] New programs were made to simulate the cloth and for Kevin's iridescent feathers.[39] To animate old people, Pixar animators would study their own parents or grandparents and also watched footage of the Senior Olympics.[8] was making these stylized characters feel natural, The directors had various rules for Carl's movements: he could not turn his head more than 15–20 degrees without turning his torso as well, nor could he raise his arms very high. However, they also wanted him to grow more flexible near the end of the film, transforming into an "action hero".
A technical director worked out that in order to make Carl's house fly, he would require 23 million balloons, but Docter realized that number made the balloons look like small dots. Instead, the balloons created were made to be twice Carl's size.[40] There are 10,927 balloons for shots of the house just flying, 20,622 balloons for the lift-off sequence, and it varies in other scenes.[19]
[edit] Music
Main article: Up (soundtrack)
Up is the third Pixar film to be scored by Michael Giacchino, after The Incredibles and Ratatouille. What Pete Docter wanted more importantly out of the music was the emotion, so Giacchino wrote a character theme-based score that producer Jonas Rivera thought enhanced the story. At the beginning of the movie, when young Carl is in the movie theater watching a newsreel about Muntz, the first piece of music heard is "Muntz's Theme", which starts out as a celebratory theme, and echoes through the film when Muntz reappears 70 years later. "Ellie's Theme" is first heard when she is introduced as a little kid and plays several times during the film in different versions; for instance, during the sequence where Carl lifts his house with the balloons, the theme is changed from a simple piano melody to a full orchestral arrangement. Giacchino has compared the film to opera since each character has their own theme that changes during a particular moment in the story. There are several examples of character themes changing during the movie:
- When Carl meets Muntz, a romantic version of "Muntz's Theme" expresses Carl's joy in finally meeting his hero.
- When Muntz lifts his lamp and shows "the wall", "Muntz's Theme" plays in a minor key with a lot of dissonance to express his twisted nature.
- At the end of the film, as the climactic battle between Carl and Muntz takes place, we hear "Ellie's Theme vs. Muntz's Theme."
The score was released as a digital download on May 26, 2009, three days before the film opened in theaters. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Score, the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album, the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score and the 2010 BAFTA Award for Best Film Music. It is the first score for a Pixar film to win the Oscar (Randy Newman also won for Monsters Inc, but in the category of Best Original Song).
Ever since I was a young child Pixar has made a lasting impression with each of their animated masterpieces, so its no surprise that UP exceeded the award winning standards that Pixar’s delivered film and film again.
This time around Pixar not only managed to take the audience on a ride full of emotion, humor and visual amazement, they did it in 3-D. Equip with a ticket stub and a pair of 3-D glasses both adult and child alike experienced the wonders of the South American terrain, the heartache in an old mans tale, the innocence of a child’s ambition, the predictable mind of a dog and the excitement of an epic adventure.
The adventure begins with the life of Carl Fredricksen, a 78 year young man with a heart thriving full of adventure. Along with his childhood companion turned wife Ellie they devoted their life of happiness to finding their South American promise land Paradise Falls. But soon the burdens of life began to bear down the two lovers with adventure pumping through their veins. The days grew shorter and time moved faster and before they knew it a life time had passed them by, old age set in and Carl was forced to live out his days alone with only the lasting memory of Ellie and her unfilled scrap book dedicated to adventure, their colorful home and the need to pursuit ones childhood dream during their final years.
Carl’s adventure first begins in his later years, after being anchored by the burdens of life Carl is living the rest of his days in the slow lane unwilling to adjust to the fast pace of the common era. Faced with the difficult decision of giving into the new generations expectations or living the dreams they he once shared with the love of his life, Carl transforms his house into a air ship with its primary lift supplied by a colossal number of balloons and sets off to find Paradise Falls. Rendered with eye popping 3-D effects the home turned air ship drifted across the screen as the audience watched with amazement, hands down this was some of the best animation work that I’ve ever experienced.
Anyway with his sails set and balloons filled Carl sails the skies overwhelmed with joy as he lives his dream. And as we all know life always seems to find a way to slow you down and in Carl’s case his road block came in the form of a young Wilderness Explorer scout named Russell. Accompanied by child thriving to reach his dream Carl reaches the South American terrain. With only a few days of helium left in the balloons, Carl and Russell come face to face with the deadly force of denounced adventurer Charles Muntz, Carl’s childhood hero, in search of the mystical creature that ruined his career. Determine to regain the welfare of his name Muntz and his well trained attack dogs search the South American jungle in search of the creature that finds the protection and love of a young child and the tough love of a bitter old man.
Now adults especially you parents, you have to admit…Pixar looked out on this one. They made the movie just as entertaining for the adults in the audience, so those of you who only went to sent the movie because your child wouldn’t leave you alone about it this is the one time when you can’t complain. I’m 19 years old and I probably enjoyed it more than the kids did. The story of how the old man who lost the love of his life and grew cold hearted was taught how to care again by the innocence of a child kept the adults in the audience glued to the screen while the story of a young boy who goes on a great adventure and the humor of a dogs mind keep mixed with in with 3-D effects kept the kids entertained.
Overall UP was a excellent movie and honestly I couldn’t find any flaws. I only have good things to say about this movie, so for those of your out there who haven’t seen it….it’s definitely worth the price of admission.
Movie Review
Up (2009)
Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Pictures
Carl Fredericksen checking out some new neighbors in “Up.”
The House That Soared
In its opening stretch the new Pixar movie “Up”Ed Asner, Carl isn’t your typical American animated hero. He’s 78, for starters, and the years have taken their toll on his lugubrious body and spirit, both of which seem solidly tethered to the ground. Even the two corners of his mouth point straight down. It’s as if he were sagging into the earth flies high, borne aloft by a sense of creative flight and a flawlessly realized love story. Its on-screen and unlikely escape artist is Carl Fredricksen, a widower and former balloon salesman with a square head and a round nose that looks ready for honking. Voiced with appreciable impatience by
Eventually a bouquet of balloons sends Carl and his house soaring into the sky, where they go up, up and away and off to an adventure in South America with a portly child, some talking (and snarling and gourmet-cooking) dogs and an unexpected villain. Though the initial images of flight are wonderfully rendered — the house shudders and creaks and splinters and groans as it’s ripped from its foundation by the balloons — the movie remains bound by convention, despite even its modest 3-D depth. This has become the Pixar way. Passages of glorious imagination are invariably matched by stock characters and banal story choices, as each new movie becomes another manifestation of the movie-industry divide between art and the bottom line.
In “Up” that divide is evident between the early scenes, which tell Carl’s story with extraordinary tenderness and brilliant narrative economy, and the later scenes of him as a geriatric action hero. The movie opens with the young Carl enthusing over black-and-white newsreel images of his hero, a world-famous aviator and explorer, Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer). Shortly thereafter, Carl meets Ellie, a plucky, would-be adventurer who, a few edits later, becomes his beloved wife, an adult relationship that the director Pete Docter brilliantly compresses into some four wordless minutes during which the couple dream together, face crushing disappointment and grow happily old side by side. Like the opener of “Wall-E” and the critic’s Proustian reminiscence of childhood in “Ratatouille,” this is filmmaking at its purest.
The absence of words suggests that Mr. Docter and the co-director Bob Peterson, with whom he wrote the screenplay, are looking back to the silent era, as Andrew Stanton did with the Chaplinesque start to “Wall-E.” Even so, partly because “Up” includes a newsreel interlude, its marriage sequence also brings to mind the breakfast table in “Citizen Kane.” In this justly famous (talking) montage, Orson Welles shows the collapse of a marriage over a number of years through a series of images of Kane and his first wife seated across from each other at breakfast, another portrait of a marriage in miniature. As in their finest work, the Pixar filmmakers have created thrilling cinema simply by rifling through its history.
Those thrills begin to peter out after the boy, Russell (Jordan Nagai), inadvertently hitches a ride with Carl, forcing the old man to assume increasingly grandfatherly duties. But before that happens there are glories to savor, notably the scenes of Carl — having decided to head off on the kind of adventure Ellie and he always postponed — taking to the air. When the multihued balloons burst through the top of his wooden house it’s as if a thousand gloriously unfettered thoughts had bloomed above his similarly squared head. Especially lovely is the image of a little girl jumping in giddy delight as the house rises in front of her large picture window, the sunlight through the balloons daubing her room with bright color.
In time Carl and Russell, an irritant whose Botero proportions recall those of the human dirigibles in “Wall-E,” float to South America where they, the house and the movie come down to earth. Though Mr. Docter’s visual imagination shows no signs of strain here — the image of Carl stubbornly pulling his house, now tethered to his torso, could have come out of the illustrated Freud — the story grows progressively more formulaic. And cuter. Carl comes face to face with his childhood hero, Muntz, an eccentric with the dashing looks and frenetic energy of a younger Kirk Douglas. Muntz lives with a legion of talking dogs with which he has been hunting a rare bird whose gaudy plumage echoes the palette of Carl’s balloons.
The talking dogs are certainly a hoot, including the slobbering yellow furball Dug and a squeaky-voiced Doberman, Alpha (both Mr. Peterson), not to mention the dog in the kitchen and the one that pops open the Champagne. And there’s something to be said about the revelation that heroes might not be what you imagined, particularly in a children’s movie and particularly one released by Disney. (Muntz seems partly inspired by Charles Lindbergh at his most heroic and otherwise.) But much like Russell, the little boy with father problems, and much like Dug, the dog with master issues, the story starts to feel ingratiating enough to warrant a kick. O.K., O.K., not a kick, just some gently expressed regret.
“Up” is rated PG (Parental guidance suggested). A wee bit of gentle action and a climactic fight scene, but nothing inappropriate for any viewer of any age.
UP
Opens on Friday nationwide.
Directed by Pete Docter; co-directed by Bob Peterson; written by Mr. Docter and Mr. Peterson based on a story by Mr. Docter, Mr. Peterson and Tom McCarthy; director of photography, camera, Patrick Lin; director of photography, lighting, Jean-Claude Kalache; edited by Kevin Nolting; music by Michael Giacchino; production designer, Ricky Nierva; produced by Jonas Rivera; released by Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes.
WITH THE VOICES OF: Ed Asner (Carl Fredricksen), Christopher Plummer (Charles Muntz), Jordan Nagai (Russell), Bob Peterson (Dug/Alpha), Delroy Lindo (Beta), Jerome Ranft (Gamma) and John Ratzenberger (Construction Foreman Tom).
UP Photo's
Ganda nung PSP game nito. xD
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