Plot Inspired by his childhood hero, adventurer Charles F. Muntz (Plummer), and the wishes of his late wife Ellie, octogenarian Carl Fredricksen (Asner) uses a bundle of balloons to fly his house to the jungles of Paradise Falls. His problems start when he discovers a stowaway, boy scout Russell (Nagai).
Review In 1982, Werner Herzog made Fitzcarraldo, the story of an over-zealous Irishman (bonkers Klaus Kinski) who, in his quest to bring opera to the South American jungle, drags a huge steamer up and over a mountain. An epic, visionary, never-to-be-repeated slice-of-life action movie, it is also an unlikely touchstone for an animated summer entertainment, the likes of which are usually powered by focus groups and the need to tie in Happy Meals. Like Fitzcarraldo, Up, Pixar’s tenth feature-length slice of genius, is driven by a tenacious lead character dragging his home across the jungle, a real cinematic width and a sense of wonder at both nature and the burden of dreams. Unlike Fitzcarraldo, Up will break your heart in the first five minutes, boasts scene-stealing dogs with high-pitched voices and stars a rare exotic bird called Kevin. Herzog missed a trick there. A bird called Kevin would have done wonders for Fitzcarraldo’s box office.
If the traditional view of animation is that it is kiddie-aimed fare with a dose of adult slyness smuggled inbetween the primary colours and thrills and spills, Pixar appears to work on opposite principles. Even by its own standards, Up stretches the limits of what stories are permissible in mainstream animation. For all of WALL-E’s wordless abstraction, it still had sci-fi trappings, whizz-bang spaceships and cute robotic sidekicks. Here, the treatment and imagery is even more bizarre. It’s a character study of a cantankerous old git. It’s a buddy movie where the buddies are separated by 70 years. It’s a love story where the love transcends death.
Up also reveals an interesting retro reading on Pixar’s previous heroes, recasting the leads as figures stuck in a rut and looking for a way out of their status quo: the factory-working drones of Monsters, Inc., oppressed by the need to garner children’s screams; the obsolete superheroes of The Incredibles marooned in suburban mediocrity; the sewer-dwelling rat who dreams of a five-star kitchen in Ratatouille; WALL-E’s trash-compacting robot who yearns for life (and love) beyond the garbage. In Up’s case, the hero, Carl Fredricksen, is literally tethered to his house, dragging it across exotic South American landscapes, but in reality he’s tied to his memories of a previous life. It’s this that gives the U-rated thrills huge emotional heft.
As well as Fitzcarraldo, Up also shares trace elements with Chaplin, The Station Agent, The Wizard Of Oz, It’s A Wonderful Life, About Schmidt, Gran Torino and Hitchcock, so given its affectionate melting pot of filmic influences, it is perhaps apt that the movie starts with a little boy sat enraptured by the flickering images on a cinema screen. Carl Fredricksen, his eyes wide beneath aviator goggles, sits glued to the exploits of intrepid explorer Charles Muntz, detailed in a lovingly mounted mock-’30s newsreel, mouthing along with Muntz’s catchphrase, “Adventure is out there!” This ’30s milieu looms large: the entire film is fuelled by that decade’s spirit of derring-do, the thrill of hero worship and the sense of the world as a huge playground waiting to be explored. As Carl leaves the movie theatre, he imagines the newsreel narrator describing his journey home as a grand adventure, his imagination turning stepping over the cracks in the pavement into jumping over the widest ravines. It’s a lovely gracenote that acknowledges the importance of dreaming (and day-dreaming) within everyday life without once pouring on any sentimental, saccharine claptrap.
On the way home, Carl hooks up with fellow Muntz fan and wannabe adventurer Ellie (who looks like the kid sister of The Incredibles’ Helen Parr), and what follows is the most beautifully wrought, poetic love story of the year. As the couple’s dreams of adventures in far-flung places get parlayed into the reality of everyday life, Docter and Peterson provide snapshots of married life, a kind of Revolutionary Road without the harsh shouting, that movingly document the tiny triumphs (turning a rundown house into a Technicolor dream home) and crushing catastrophes (Ellie’s sad discovery at the hospital) that constitute a life. It’s a perfect piece of simple story-telling so lucid and moving that if you left the movie at that point, you’d feel thoroughly satisfied that you’d got your money’s worth.
Yet, happily, Up has plenty more surprises in its locker. Resembling a boxed version of Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner-era Spencer Tracy, old man Carl (voiced by Ed Asner), withdrawn from life and facing eviction from his cherished love nest, comes up with a plan to finally realise his long-held dreams. Working his entire life as a balloon vendor, the plucky pensioner ties his inventory to his house, floating himself, his home and the movie into an entirely different zone of unpredictability. The first surprise is that Carl is not alone: an eager-beaver Junior Wilderness Explorer named Russell, desperate to earn his ‘Assist The Elderly’ badge, has stowed away on Carl’s porch. Russell boasts more buoyancy than all the old man’s balloons put together, and his relationship with Carl is tenderly etched. The arc of Carl’s initial disdain to the pair’s mutual companionship and dependency might be obvious, but the bond never feels forced.
What this second phase of Up doesn’t have is the kind of tight plotting that makes the best of Pixar sing (it also has one of the studio’s weakest villains), but its more freeform approach delivers some real delights. There is a run-in with colourful wildlife: the rare exotic bird Russell dubs Kevin is straight off the Chuck Jones drawing pad, a space-cadet version of Road Runner; in a genius move, a pack of dogs on the trail of the bird are able to vocalise their inner thoughts and obsessions through electronic collars. The best of this bunch is Dug (hilariously voiced by co-director Peterson), a goofy, endearing nerd of a mutt. Up also delivers the best action sequences of the season: an escape from the drooling dogs and a heart-stopping third act aerial combat involving a Zeppelin are perfectly crafted, virtuoso set-pieces where you can actually tell who is pursuing who. Most animation bombards the viewer with sensory overload and sees what sticks, but Up is more classical in approach. From subtle joke-making — look out for the cute sideswipe at C. M. Coolidge’s Dogs Playing Poker paintings — to a beautifully controlled colour palette that moves through the muted tones of Carl’s house to the explosion of hues in Paradise Falls, to Michael Giacchino’s lovely, artful score, this is refined filmmaking by any standards. Every now and then, Docter and Peterson deliver some 3-D bravura — the depth of field in a jungle sunset, or Russell swinging towards the camera on a rope — but for the most part they are admirably restrained. This is because they have bigger fish to fry. Up doesn’t need 3-D gizmology because, ironically, it is rooted in solid foundations. For all its fantastical leanings, Up is that rare animated film that sees the world as real. Its pains feel real and its joys feel earned. That may be an obvious thing, but it lifts Up into a class by its beautiful self.
Verdict If it had lived up to its golden first five minutes, Up would have been the film of the decade. As it is, it remains the best animated flick of 2009, a funny, moving, beautifully made argument that dreamers can move mountains.
RE: the feel good film slumdog millionaire was advertised for ebing
The opening twenty minutes were quite touching. The rest of the film was likable, with charming characters.Slighly over-rated imo. This adventure would have been more emotionally and breathtaking 3D. Fantastic Mr.Fox is still best fave animated feature this year.
7/10 ... Read More
This was an amazibgly animated, thought provoking, intelligent film, which managed to bring a few tears to my eyes (I was crying at a cartoon!!) It's one for the adults and kids and is one of the best films I have seen this year (I'm 30 years old!!) ... Read More
Saw this a few days ago and thought it was brilliant. It is great to see a studio not afraid to push the boat way out. Hope this does well so that pixar continue to produce films that are well scripted and put together rather then films put together solely to maximise profit. While I agree that this is probably not the best film for small kids animation does not always equal children's film. this reminded me of Batteries not included which also dealt with major topics sensitively and managed to ... Read More
I loved this film I cried in the first 15 mins and then was laughing a lot and my stepson loved it!! I cried again at some point later on too!! Pixar just seem to be on a roll!! I hope it doesn't end with Toy Story 3!! ... Read More
RE: the feel good film slumdog millionaire was advertised for ebing
I wasn't completely sold on the 3D and thought they could have put it to better use, but that aside I thought the film was brilliant. And yes, those first 5 minutes had me in tears, as did the bit where he reads the message in the adventure book, as did the very end where he gives Russell the badge... Damn that was a sad film. My problem though was that it never lived up to the first 5minutes. As for the talking dogs, I did find them funny at the time, but that was mainly down to the fact that ... Read More
RE: the feel good film slumdog millionaire was advertised for ebing
The first 5 mins or so were the most heart breaking I've seen in many a year, but once the film got into full swing it was good fun, though not the masterpiece some would have you believe.
I'd give it 3.5 out of 5 as it still doesn't come close to the Toy Story movies or The Incredibles (which I consider to be Pixars finest).
As a side note when we saw it today the two youngish kids sat near us were asking to go after about an hour. ... Read More
RE: the feel good film slumdog millionaire was advertised for ebing
Unbelievably cute, incredibly heartbreaking, yet equally heart warming. Had me in tears at numerous points, honest running down my face. Im glad I watched it alone, I wouldnt have been able to bear the mocks of my friends. Well done pixar. ... Read More
Superb film. I agree with empire. Animationwise it's absolute brilliance. 3 D is the best ever seen. Story is fine. But not UP to Pixar-PAR.The scenes with Carl and his wife are so beautiful, I could watch them every day. But here lies the only problem. It is not a kids movie. It is for adults. It should have been for adults. Docter tried to make it a kids friendly film by adding the talking dogs (BAD idea, the mouse pulling a Chef's hair in Ratatouille was so-so, but this is BAD) and a big red... Read More
Classic
Excellent
Good
Fair
Tragic
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