Up
Director: Pete Docter and Bob Peterson
Starring: Edward Asner and Christopher Plummer
MPAA: Rated PG for some peril and action.
I remember growing up on classics like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and The jungle Book. Then during my life time came the hits like Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King. In 1995 a little novelty was released that turned into massive hit, Toy Story. Now, 15 years later Up is the standard in excellence. I am more and more surprised by the incredible stories that are told through these detailed works of art that come from this studio. In comparison to the older Disney films these computer animated masterpieces are just so full of life. They are visually phenomenal, and so much more interesting than the older classics. Not to say I don’t love the originals, but every Disney/Pixar film gets better and better.
Up takes the genre to new heights of extraordinary in visual beauty that challenges the imagination, and also in a story with rich and interesting characters that touch the soul and warm the heart. I was captivated with Up from the moment it started. The movie opens with a little kid in a theater seeing the downfall of his hero, a great explorer named Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer). The little boy dawdles his way home and meets a little girl who also is a fan of Muntz’s and the two become friends. Their life is played out quickly in pantomime and they grow old together. In this little set up piece the full range of emotions played across my heart and I want from joy to sorrow and back and forth. Then Carl (Edward Asner – Who was Lou Grant in the Mary Tyler Moore Show and Santa Clause in , the little boy from the beginning, is all alone, and an old man now with a little cane/walker complete with 4 tennis balls at the bottom to keep it from scuffing the floor. Carl then proceeds to take his house and accidentally a little Cub Scout boy on the adventure of a lifetime. They find exotic animals, tread the un-trod landscapes, and soar across continents in the most unlikely of transportation. And finally come face to face with the even older Charles Muntz.
The movie is so funny, so sad, so happy, that it is everything I look for in a film. There is even some exciting action so creatively and beautifully put together it captured my mind and enveloped me in a cloud of imagination. In 90 minutes I was whisked around the world and shown some of the most fabulous landscapes I have ever seen, and I was also taken on the best emotional roller coasters I have ever been on in a film. Up is definitely a film that should not be missed.
It is amazing that this film actually made its hero a 70 year old man. This crotchety old widower is the best hero I have seen in years. He is a real person, and average Joe, what we will all become. He is grumpy and lonely and wants to fulfill a promise to his late wife. Movies these days seem to be packed with rebellious children who know more than their parents and always seem to be right and the authorities are always stupid and wrong. Carl’s stowaway Cub Scout neighbor, Russell is a little bit of this stock character. But it was nice to see a child hero that was a little pudgy, a little naive, and still respectful to Carl. Up shifts away from the standard to readily used in today’s entertainment and I think that it showed good moral sense in this decision.
Up is a masterpiece well deserving of its two Oscars and two additional nominations. In fact Up was probably the best or close to the best film made in 2009 and well deserved it’s best picture nomination. I would give up a 9.9 out o10. It wasn’t perfect but as close as it gets in film making. It is an uplifting film that succeeds in entertainment and art.
No Sex/Nudity -
Violence/Gore – minor cartoon peril and action
No Profanity -
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