Movie Notes: Up

June 7th, 2009

= 5 stars

Starring Edward Asner, Jordan Nagai, Christopher Plummer
Directed by Pete Docter

Synopsis

Grumpy old guy Carl Fredricksen has spent a lifetime dreaming of a great South American adventure, and finally decides to make good on his intentions.

The Good

• An excellent opening establishes the grumpy Carl character, replaying his entire life and marriage, underlining the ensuing adventure with the universal fear of unrealized dreams at the end of one’s life, and his love for his wife, Ellie. The sequence is mesmerizing in its efficiency (ties, hills, the final moment of retreat into his house).
• The expected Pixar inventiveness is on display in scene after scene: The character’s forms support their personalities: Carl is all blocky rectangles, in contrast to the rounded, soft Russel. Small details like the leaf blower and comfy chairs are reused later. The flying house is a character: a heavy burden like a dream deferred, to the memory of Ellie.
• Frentic humor peppers the middle as Carl’s adventure starts falling apart and he runs into a series of ridiculous characters: dorky dogs talking through electronic collars, a magically goofy bird, resulting in inventively funny situations.
• A larger statement about life ambition at the expense of relationships with others.

The Bad

• The more standard action-adventure section of fighting off a villain, laced with corny comedy, felt a little paint-by-numbers. I agree with Russell, we’ll just remember the “boring parts.”

Conclusion

Upon further thought, Russell, Carl, and Charles Muntz could represent different life stages, as there are similarities between all three — Russell has the same naive love for adventure as the young Carl, who idolizes the great adventurer Charles Muntz. But eventually, Carl learns Muntz isn’t worth idolizing as the famed adventurer’s ambition has taken a turn toward dangerous obsession. But beyond adventure is a message about interpersonal relationships. The real “adventure” may just be the “boring parts” — so eloquently displayed in the opening sequence, and documented in Ellie’s scrapbook. The danger of dreams and isolation is all elegantly presented with the metaphor of a flying house (think “head in the clouds” vs. being “grounded”). The ending is a near-perfet, as Carl finds a balance between ambition and relationships, and his break with the past to join the future.

Pixar is on an unprecedented roll of ten excellent animated films with some outright masterpieces. Personally, Up is the best installment since The Incredibles. And what I loved most about Up is its glimmer of tantalizing potential — based on the movie’s exquisite first half, Pixar is on the cusp of doing a straight-up, animated drama. I’d love to see Pixar further destroy the stereotype that mainstream audiences will only watch animation that is funny, frentic, and geared for kids. At this juncture, the public will gladly join them on whatever journey they choose — the sky’s the limit.

IMDB: Up
Wikipedia: Up
Rotten Tomatoes: Up 98%