The conversation in which John Lasseter managed to convince the head honchos at Disney to back Pixar's latest film, Up, must have been an interesting one. "We're going to have miscarriages, widowers, dysfunctional families, and an old man is going to drag a house around a jungle whilst getting chased by talking dogs." So then, just the usual kid-friendly Disney schmuck...
Not quite Disney, but more significantly Disney Pixar, and the magical 'P' word always means there'll be a special kind of magic when it comes to a new animated film. Pixar has a habit of making a kid's films that often strike the chords of their parents more than it does their children. This was true with Wall-E, and given some of the really deep and dark themes explored in Up, it's even more apparent here.
In a nutshell, Carl Fredricksen, a 78 year old man decides to attach 1,000's of balloons to his house in order to travel to South America in order to fulfil the last wishes of his recently deceased wife, Ellie. Carl discovers a young boy scout Russell, has accidentally come along for the ride. As they land in South America, they discover that Carl's childhood hero, explorer Charles Muntz is looking to kidnap a rare bird named Kevin (don't laugh at ME, it was the kid that gave it that name). And so it's up to Carl and Russell to, yep you guessed it, save the day, all done with a house attached to Carl's back....
I'll admit, it does sound farfetched, even for animation, but the inclusion of themes such as miscarriage and death mean that this is the most human story and film that Pixar has created. Within the first magical five minutes (along with the historical montage at the beginning of Watchmen is one of the most beautifully crafted openings in film this year), I had already formed a tight connection between Carl and myself. I don't think I've ever had the same sense of emotion and thought for characters within the first few moments of any film.
The gorgeous animation and colour palette that looks like a Crayola factory on steroids mean that the backgrounds quite literally pop-out (this is especially true if you're watching the 3D version) and the animation emphasises how far the studio has come since the days of Buzz and Woody. The voice acting is also suitably Pixar, with plenty of emotion and relative unknowns pulling out stellar performances. Edward Asner gives Carl a real 'gruffness' in a sarcastic and comic kind of way (think of Carl as an computer generated Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino). Jordan Nagai manages to make Russell a comedic and cute character, but not in the usual children's film manner. Instead he is cute because he has a personality, and it's nice in the youth-obsessed market that is Hollywood, the old guy's are smarter than the damn kids.
If I'm being picky, Charles Muntz is one of the weakest villains in Disney history and he almost seems to be an afterthought as he is given no screentime alone, and we never really get any backstory on him like we do with the other two main characters. There isn't as much subtle adult humour, and most of the laughs come from pretty basic slapstick. But that's not necessarily a bad thing, because I was so wrapped up in the characters stories and the some of the brilliantly crafted action scenes that I wasn't too worried that I wasn't laughing hysterically every 5 minutes.
VERDICT: Does Up reach the dizzy heights of the Toy Story films? No. But this is the closest Pixar has come to reaching the stratospheric heights of it's best two films. Never before has there been an animated film that pulls on the heartstrings as much as this (yes Mufasa, your death is no longer the saddest thing in Disney, try harder next time) and it continues Pixar's tradition for making films that will appeal to absolutely everyone. Brilliant. Over and out xD
Dan this was good until the very last two characters.
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