Another year, another Pixar masterpiece.
If there’s one certainty on my annual movie calendar It’s that a new Pixar movie is going to come out and it will make every other animated release of the year unworthy. This year is no exception, Pixar have another 5 star classic on their hands with their tenth feature, Up, a tale of a retired old man and a sprightly young fellow going off on the adventure of a lifetime. Up is also the first Pixar film to be released in Disney Digital 3D (next year brings Toy Story 1 & 2 as well, followed by Toy Story 3). Unfortunately the 3D print was unavailable when I saw Up so this review is coming from the standpoint of the 2D version.
Before I get underway I have to express disappointment at the lack of a short film beforehand. Every Pixar movie I have seen at the cinemas has come with a delightful short – whether it’s three men busking for one girl’s change or a rabbit who really wants his carrot, the short beforehand is guaranteed to get me in the right frame of mind for the movie. Up didn’t have one. I checked IMDB when I got home and sure enough there was a short made to screen before this, _‘Partly Cloudy’_ but only in selected cinemas. I’d be interested to know if the general or 3D release comes with Partly Cloudy attached or not.
Now with that grumble out of the way… Up is another example of how far ahead of the curve Pixar are with their movies. Who else would think having a 78-year-old man in the lead role would equal box office success? The only animated studio that can compete isn’t even American – only Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki can match Pixar for the inventiveness, charm and sheer unbridled joy they bring to each release. Director Pete Docter (Monsters Inc.) takes the reigns for Up and within seconds he had transported me out of a boring Tuesday and into a world where houses can fly, dogs can talk and zeppelins are still the coolest mode of transportation out.
Up opens with Carl Fredrickson (voiced by Edward Asner) as a young boy in depression era America watching newsreel footage of the great adventurer Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer). He longs to be like Muntz, whose great zeppelin travels the world looking for exotic species. While day dreaming about his voyages he meets Ellie, a likeminded adventurer who shares his dream of making it to South America to see the famous Paradise Falls. What happens next is classic Pixar as an extended montage tracks Ellie and Carl’s life together, all the way to present day where we end up with a lonely Carl in his quaint house, surrounded by encroaching industrial development. Barely more than five minutes and I have more empathy for Carl than most films can create in their whole runtime. Not one word spoken and I am almost in tears. I ♥ Pixar.
After a run-in with a construction worker Carl finds himself heading off to the ‘Shady Oaks’ retirement home, condemning his house and all the dreams, hopes and memories contained within. To hell with that! Carl uses his former job as a balloon salesman to get his house airborne with 20,000 helium balloons and on it’s way to Paradise Falls to finish the dream he and Ellie shared. The shots of the house flying gloriously over the city are some of the best I’ve seen all year. Everything is going to plan until a knocking on Carl’s door announces the presence of an 8-year-old wilderness explorer, Russell (Jordan Nagai – Pixars first Asian American lead character) hanging on for dear life on his porch!
Russell is eventually allowed inside where he announces his intent to Carl – by helping him he can get the last badge on his wilderness training, ‘assisting the elderly’. For such a seasoned explorer Russell has never once been in the wild. His dad is never around to take him. Russell may annoy Carl who isn’t ready to deal with the boundless energy of an 8 year old kid but slowly and surely over the course of their adventure Carl’s hardened exterior, developed after years spent as a recluse, crumbles as he becomes a wonderful father figure for him and embraces life again. This transformation gives the movie a tremendous emotional core.
I’m not going to say what happens at Paradise Falls, or whether they even get there. That’s for you to discover as you share the adventure with these two lovingly detailed characters. Kids will be delighted, especially by the lovable talking dog Dug, who left me with my favourite quote from the movie – “My name is Dug. I have just met you, and I love you.†Adults will be enchanted and no doubt appreciate the references to Star Wars, King Kong and The Lost World that Pixar drop in. Pixar have yet again managed to make a movie that appeals to all ages without dumbing down to anyone. I have no doubt that when Toy Story 3 comes out they will continue their 10-0 run of critical and commercial success. Until next year Pixar.
*****