Posted by: Mike Vachon in blog on Jun 21, 2009
I am so glad that Pixar and Disney studios decided to kiss & make up. ‘Up’ is yet another hit that they can add to their track record. I have to confess that the little kid inside of me has always been attracted to good animated films and I don’t always get to play my grandparent card as a pretext to go to one of these showings. Fortunately, Pixar has seen fit to deliver a product that plays well on many levels, so there’s no stigma associated with the ages of viewing audience.
Much like ‘Wall-E’ before it, ‘Up’ tackles some pretty heavy subject matter here such as death, grieving, and infertility (infertility hits a new high – or low depending on your perspective); but the delivery is such that it comes across well to the broader audience. I tried to note reactions of the younger set in the audience of the showing I attended and I don’t think much of it was lost on the littler ones. The sad parts were just that, sad; and the funny parts were generally hilarious. The story moves along well and there is no requirement to analyze the weighty topics all that deeply.
Ed Asner and his on-screen altr-ego, Carl
Ed Asner lends his voice as Carl Fredricksen, the lead character. After seeing this, I couldn’t imagine anyone else doing this! He totally nails the cranky old guy routine. Christopher Plumber also contributes as an adventurer from the past who has sort of gone off the deep edge. He does a great job of switching between being noble and villainous.
John Ratzenberger continues his streak of voicing a secondary role- see if you can pick him out while watching.
True to form, Pixar’s animation is top-notch. I attended the 3-D showing and didn’t think the added visuals were that big of an impact [only a fraction of the sequences are actually in 3-D]. Watching this in the regular format would be just as satisfying. If you pay attention to the details, you’ll get a sense of the degree of craftsmanship that goes into a Pixar film. They are little things, like proper shadow rendering and surface details that all generally go unnoticed, but contribute to the overall quality of the animation. You’ll need to re-watch any Pixar DVD several times and focus only on such details to get a full appreciation of this.
The only beef I had with the movie is that I wished that Pixar had not shown one the funnier bits in the trailers that preceded the movie – that’s where there’s a knock on the front door AFTER the house is in the air. If you’ve seen it, you’ll know what I mean; if not, you’ll enjoy the surprise. Like all the previous Pixar films, ‘Up’ has a moral or two to absorb, but it doesn’t come off as preachy. Here is yet another film adults can take their kids to and not be bored themselves – or be selfish and see it without the kids!
Official Site:
http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/up/
Jordan Nagai and his character Russell </font>