The following review contains spoilers.
The latest film from the animation wizards at Pixar is always an event to mark on your movie calendars. They stand head and shoulders above all other animation studios (some would argue above movie studios period, animated or otherwise), and this, their tenth offering, is right up there with their best.
What Up advances is Pixar's reputation for making animated movies that belie the expectations of the genre. From the majority of cinematic animated fare, we have come to expect bright colours, clichéd characters, and cheap laughs but nothing else. Not so with Pixar, and that continues with Up. It has everything you'd want from a movie of its type: slick, polished, sometimes jaw-dropping technical animation; extremely likable and relatable characters; genuine, effective humour for kids and adults alike; and maybe most importantly, a heavy dose of heart and emotional resonance.
In their nine previous outings, it may have seemed fairly out there to base their films around usually inanimate or plain unrealistic objects or people. They've done toys, fish, bugs, rats, cars, monsters, superheroes, and robots. But Up might be their ballsiest move yet — concentrating on an old man as their protagonist. Looking at the character of Carl Fredricksen - as wonderfully rendered as he is - you wouldn't exactly think he'd be an entertaining, desired hero for an animated adventure. And yet, strangely, it's rather perfect. For the kids who will beg their parents to take them to the movie, it puts their grandparents in a great light, one that they might not have seen them in before. And it sets the film apart with its leading character from any other animated film I can think of.
It seems fitting for us, the audience, sitting there in wonder of the animation that's in front of our eyes, that Up should start off with Carl as a young boy in a movie theatre, wide-eyed while watching the traveling escapades of adventurer Charles Muntz. Already dressed up in the appropriate outfit for flying, Carl makes his way home, imagining his journey there as being narrated as if he were already the adventurer he dreams of being. On his way there he meets future wife Ellie, an equally eager wannabe adventurer with a certain talkative nature that leaves Carl almost awe-struck.
We then move into a simply incredible 10-minute sequence that chronicles Carl and Ellie's life together, from their marriage to her sad death (if you don't feel sad at that point, you're dead inside), all done without a single word. We then catch up with Carl as the lovable old man we spend the majority of the movie following. He's being forced out of his home and into a retirement village, which of course he's not happy with. So what does he do? Well, of course he ties thousands of helium balloons to his house and literally lifts off the ground, up into the sky, and flies away on the adventure he and his wife always wanted to go on. Did I mention Carl used to be a balloon salesman?
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