Up

Never in my wildest imagination could I have thought that Up would be one of the movies to run… SQUIRREL!… with the big boys this summer, and I’m happy that it is. Right away I must tell you – that if you haven’t seen this film yet, please do yourself a favor and go see Disney and Pixar’s newest feature – Up.
SYNOPSIS:
Can’t give everything away with this synopsis because half of what makes it good happens in the beginning of the movie. Though with that, if you can’t guess by just looking at the image I found online, Up is about the adventure that a grumpy old man and a Chinese, Korean, Japanese (hell if I know what he’s supposed to be) kid embark upon in a floating house. Like I said, I don’t want to reveal much because really you need to see this movie and it would help to not know a lot going in.

PROS of the FILM:
Pixar seems to have a huge knack for story telling and they do it so well. I really loved Wall-E last year and was amazed at how well it could touch someone and then Pixar comes along and one-up’s themselves and brings us the story of Carl Fredricksen. To make a great movie you have to have a strong story behind it otherwise what is the point? Really when you think about it we’ve had great stories such as Finding Nemo, Toy Story (1 & 2), Wall-E, The Incredibles, Monster’s Inc., and now they add in Up.  Honestly when I saw the trailer for the first time in the theater, oh about a little less than a year ago, I was not impressed and thought that Up was going to be another flop like Cars. (I know a lot of critics loved Cars – I thought that movie was garbage! – but we won’t get into that…) Though, that was originally just the teaser trailer. Then about 6 months after that initial release of the teaser, the official trailer debuted and Up looked like it might be worth seeing.

That leads me to my 2nd point of the PROS is that Disney/Pixar did an excellent job selling me with their marketing. They didn’t over do their plug to make you see this film. They knew that Pixar itself would draw the crowd to see it and they showed us just enough in the trailer to get us really excited. I also have to commend them on what they show us in the actual full trailer of this movie, because as I’ve said about other films how it pisses me off that we’re given entirely too much footage and it ruins good moments in the movie – this time around I can’t complain. There was really only one part of the movie that was in the trailer that I didn’t find nearly as funny as it was the first time I had seen it, but it was still a great scene but it was definitely not the best scene of the movie.

Character – boy does this movie serve up a strong side of it. The best part of every character in the film is that there is one or more in there that anyone who will see this movie should be able to relate to in one way or another. Personally – without trying to ruin much for anyone – I related to the character of Dug and the rest of the K-9(s) in the film because I myself own a dog and knowing a dog’s mannerisms and they way they act over certain things just really made me laugh when I saw it all on the big screen. There truly is a character for everyone though, you’ve got Carl for the older crowd, you’ve got Russell for the kid crowd, you’ve got the bird for the animal crowd – wait no, can’t take animals into the movie … ummm – well either way the bird is a solid character too. There are so many delightful faces that are brought to the screen, that I can’t touch on every one of them without giving away too much.

With every Pixar movie there is always a short film before it – and let me just say that this one was pretty solid. It wasn’t near as good as the old man playing chess (yes – that’s my favorite) but it was a close 2nd. Make sure that you don’t miss it!

CONS of the FILM:
Now with every PG or G related film you have to take it all in as if you are a kid. This means to suspend some disbelief and just have fun with it. Though with a lot of this movie I can see how people might find some things hard to swallow. Though for you people I have one thing to say – suck it up! If you can’t put away stupid logical ideas for 2 hours to just have fun at the movies and enjoy yourself then you have my pity.

There are also a few things that seemed oddly paced for me – which I can’t quite divulge with my readers for sake of ruining anything. But towards the end of the movie when they meet their “nemesis” it seems as if it’s almost a little rushed so that they can push the climax of our story. Which is too bad since they took so much time to build up to that point – but it really won’t detract from the overall experience.

I just had to put this line of text in here as a spot where I would talk about a point I’d like to make with Disney and what they do in about 90% of their films, but I’ll save that for the comments and discussions below this review…

Oh, and this won’t ruin anything for anyone – but at the beginning of the film, when Carl unleashes the Balloons there is a huge tarp that covers the balloons! Where the hell did he get that thing and where was he keeping it?! That whole sequence kind of bugged me because he blows up a bajillion balloons in one evening and then has the strength as an old man to not even take a nap! Now come on! I would’ve liked to had seen him in a brief sequence blowing up all the balloons and getting them ready and seeing his plan in action. Sort of like when that kid in Home Alone sets down his blueprints of his booby traps and sketches everything out. I don’t know – I guess I’m stretching for a good Con but I seriously think that could have been a nice little sequence to see Carl get everything ready for his big departure using the balloons etc.

SUMMARY:
Great movie no matter your age. If you think you won’t like this movie – I challenge you to go see it and prove me otherwise. It was so much fun to watch Carl and Russell on their adventure and it makes you wish that you could embark on some type of adventure of your own. Great laughs and you’ll be surprised with everything else that Disney and Pixar have rolled up their sleeves for this movie…

FINAL MOVIE RATING: 9/10

~ by phoenixwave on May 31, 2009.