Up (2009)
Grade:B+
Here’s the thing: you know that Up is good. A quick perusal over at Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes shows that the film’s a solid outing. And it is. Up serves every purpose it should. It’s marketable, it’s entertaining, it features gorgeous animation, fully-realized characters, takes advantage of animation as a medium, offers thrilling action and emotionally potent moments, and is destined, I think, to become a minor classic, something kids will be going back to for years to come.
But this is Pixar. Through their own fault, I hold them to higher standards. They had the wondrous one-two punch of Ratatouille and WALL•E for their last two films and to think they could top those two outings in terms of sheer originality and ingenuity is impossible to expect. Their insistence on such quality makes me expect more from them, because they’ve proven that they without a doubt can handle it. WALL•E remains one of my very favorite films of the decade because it took risks, soared above those risks, and remained a family-oriented children’s film in the process. It achieved more than I thought an animated film could ever achieve, and if f I fault Up at all, it’s because I feel that it’s an easier film to do well than some of their previous outings.
Tailor-made to an eventual Disneyland or California Adventure attraction, Up is an odd couple adventure featuring curmudgeon Carl Fredricksen and go-getter Wilderness Explorer Russell. After tying thousands of balloons to his house, Carl soars away in search of the adventure he and his recently deceased wife Ellie dreamed of their whole lives. With Russell accidentally stowed in the house, they land in South America and begin their trek to the other side of the canyon where a famed waterfall resides. What Carl exactly intends to do there is a bit muddled (as well as how he inflated and tied those thousands of balloons to his house in what I think was a span of one night – details), but it’s the journey he’s set out on, and Russell is along to hopefully earn his Assisting the Elderly badge.
It’s all a lovely setup and premise, allowing for sweeping vistas, breathless airborne action, and some eccentric animals and characters in the jungle. As Carl and Russell make their way, they run into a famed explorer in the jungle as he travels the world in his majestic blimp, outfitted with a trained army of dogs with collars that allow the dogs to talk. If this sounds cloying, it potentially was, but the Pixar wizards handled it about as well as you could imagine, and actually mine the twee setup for unexpected laughs.
The opening chunk of this film also deserves special note. We open with Carl as a child first meeting Ellie, and the entire sequence is absolutely lovely. Their dynamic (quiet Carl versus outspoken Ellie) develops into a tender love story that the film explores in a montage set to Michael Giacchino’s outstanding score. After WALL•E’s perfect opening moments, here’s another introduction that perfectly sets up the tone and story of the film (as well as touching on some plot points that are kind of heavy for a kids’ film – some unexpectedly bleak and poignant stuff in this montage). It’s just as good as anything Pixar’s done.
What fell a bit flat about this Pixar outing for me was how calculated it all seemed. The Pixar formula is starting to feel like such a resounding formula. Protagonist + secondary character that’s protagonist’s antithesis + cute tertiary character sidekick + passionate search for something the protagonist loves + eventual return home + learning what really matters in life + awesome animation = pretty much every Pixar film. And it’s a winning formula, for sure, but I would really really REALLY love to see this studio stretch themselves thematically. WALL•E did this beautifully – more so in the first half of that film than the last half – but it was such a joy to see the boundaries of animation pushed. With Up, Pixar has crafted an incredibly sturdy family film. It hits all the notes you think it will and does so expertly. I’d love to see Pixar hit some new notes, though.
Finally, a semi-unrelated note about 3D. This is the first film I’ve seen in 3D, and perhaps I’ve read too many of Roger Ebert’s vehement oppositions to the technology, but I am officially in the camp that can do without it. I understand the impulse to make 3D work, and the 3D in Up is employed in service of the story with one exception of “Oh my God it’s like that stuff is flying right at my face!” theatrics. But the glasses just gave me a headache and muddied up the image. It just felt unnecessary, especially for a film with such vibrant visuals. Go and see the 2D version if you can. Until the technology is perfected and there’s no extra cost, there’s really nothing added by the 3D.
Bottom Line:
Up is expectedly fantastic, but in an expected way. Pixar has latched onto a formula with their films, and it would be nice to see them try to stretch themselves thematically in their upcoming projects.
© 2004-2009 Ben Waldorf. Posted May 29, 2009. IMDB
Great review. I haven’t seen the film yet, but I also tend to hold Pixar to a higher standard because of their exceptional work. That being said, I have found some of their films to be missteps, such as ‘Cars’ and ‘Ratatouille’ (which I loved but couldn’t get behind like so many people). ‘Up’ does seem more like a candy treat after the wonderfully fulfilling meal of ‘Wall*E’ but when Pixar tells a wonderful story, then I know that I will enjoy it.
— William May 30, 07:41 AM #