Over the years, PIXAR movies have excelled in sprinkling in moments of deep emotion within all the inventive fun. I remember particularly well the sadness when Jessie the Cowgirl sings about her long lost owner in TOY STORY 2 or the final moment of MONSTERS INC. when Scully sees Boo again (the one moment makes watching the whole movie worthwhile...not that it wasn't already). WALL E certainly had many touching moments.
But Pixar's new UP has them all beat. There are some moments of such profound emotion that I almost hesitate to call this movie a comedy. The opening ten minutes nearly caused me to lose my composure altogether! We meet Carl Fredricksen as a young boy in a movie theater (probably during the early days of the depression), enchanted by the true-life adventures of Charles Muntz, a dashing explorer of the newly discovered Paradise Falls in South America...a man who is fearless, flies a dirigible and is a bit of an inventor too. Carl is a shy boy, particularly when he meets Ellie, a talkative, high-spirited girl who also idolizes Muntz. The two become fast friends, Carl silent and admiring, Ellie fast-paced and brave. Through an extremely well-executed montage, we literally see Carl & Ellie go from young friends, to boyfriend/girlfriend to husband & wife. We see the path their marriage takes (and we see quite clearly how their dream of one day living at Paradise Falls never comes true) right to its end with Ellie's death. (This is not a spoiler, in my opinion...I told you WHAT happens in the first 10 minutes, but not HOW...which is key.) This montage has several touching moments, and the ultimate affect was to leave me feeling very sad...a feeling I couldn't shake for a long time, actually.
Carl (brilliantly voiced by Ed Asner) is not a happy widower. He mostly sits on his porch and watches his once quiet small-town street become part of a sprawling metropolis. He's the kind of old man that kids always steer clear of. He carries with him the feeling that he let his beloved Ellie down in life, mostly because he couldn't take them to Paradise Falls. It's a bitter feeling.
Then one day, when he has nothing left to lose...he inflates thousands of helium balloons, attaches them to his house, and floats his entire home away in the hopes of drifting to South America to finally give his house a home there. It's such an absurd idea, but is beautifully executed (not a big surprise from the visual geniuses at Pixar) and the image of this old wooden house carried by these brightly colored balloons becomes almost iconic.
Carl has accidently flown away with a young boyscout named Russell cringing in fear on his front porch. Since Carl can't toss the unwanted kid overboard, he must bring him inside.
That's enough plot. Carl and Russell have a number of heart-stopping or hilarious adventures...eventually joining forces with a large purple ostrich-like bird named Kevin and best of all, they meet Dug, a simple little dog who has a wonderful collar around his neck that allows his thoughts to be turned into speech. Pixar & Disney movies have always thrived best when there are some colorful "side kicks", and Dug is one of my recent favorites. Carl and his gang even meet old Charles Muntz, who is not necessarily quite like the man Carl used to admire.
UP is one of the best movies I've ever seen about growing and being OLD. It's not just a movie with an old man as its hero. It gives us a clear emotional picture of the frailty, the disappointments, the loneliness and the sadness of being an old man. It also clearly shows that old men can have amazing resources, wisdom and frankly, a lot to offer the world. Carl had thought his life was nearly over except for waiting around for the actual end. He discovers this isn't quite true. For this alone, UP is a movie I dare to call IMPORTANT...because kids are going to see it, and it has the potential to actually change the way some of its young viewers see their grandparents.
It's also a visual treat. The floating house tops the list of great images, but Pixar does great things with an old dirigible as well. And if you can see the movie in 3D, that's a plus. The 3D isn't essential, and there are no moments in the film when you know the director was simply cow-towing to the desire to give us one of those "in your face" 3D moments that never quite work anyway. But the 3D adds loveliness to the experience, and it's worth the extra 3 bucks.
This may be the least purely funny Pixar movie. I laughed at plenty, don't get me wrong. It's surely funnier than most films...but it's no TOY STORY or RATATOUILLE. But it is a classic nonetheless. It's been a few days since I've seen it, and I would happily go again...even though the opening scene (and a few others later in the film) are sure to wrench some tears. UP takes you on an emotional journey that is as layered and textured as anything you could expect from a film. Frankly, I don't know how Pixar keeps doing it. It is truly a company staffed entirely by miracle workers, apparently.
Simply put, GO SEE UP! Now!!Get more detail about Up (4 Disc Combo Pack with Digital Copy and DVD) [Blu-ray].
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