Reviewed by Lamar Kukuk
6/8/09
Let's be honest: no
matter how fond we might be of the Dark Knights,
Iron
Mans and Star Treks of the world, the decline
of creativity and originality in Hollywood's choice of subject matter is
a troubling trend bordering on crisis. Everyone's got to envy the
winning lottery ticket a string of animated blockbusters has handed to
Pixar, the tiny little division of Disney that can pretty much release
anything they want and watch it become a hit. And they haven't wasted
it: whatever you might think of their relative quality, they've had
the guts to release movies about fine dining (Ratatouille)
and the end of the world (WALL*E) these last two
summers and now bring us Up, a lovely little comic adventure about
an old man rediscovering his zest for life on what he thought would be
his final journey. Funny, high-spirited and above all moving, Up
is the kind of large-scale original no one would be able to get green-lit
these days without a little bouncing lamp before the opening credits.
In the late 30's, adventurer
Charles Muntz traveled the world in his blimp and brought back all manner
of amazing finds. But when scientists declared a giant bird skeleton
he claimed to have found at remote Paradise Falls to be a fraud, Muntz
disappeared into the Falls vowing never to return without the real creature
to prove his innocence. Among the legions of young fans who continue
to believe in him are Carl Fredricksen (Jeremy Leary) and Elie (Elie Docter),
the feisty adventurer he meets in her secluded secret clubhouse.
It's love at first sight, and a lyrical montage shows us how the two spent
almost seven decades dreaming of their own trip to Paradise Falls.
Alas, Elie died just when Carl had finally bought the tickets, leaving
him a sad, bitter 78-year-old (now voiced by Ed Asner) clinging to every
piece of Elie he has, including their house, which sits in the middle of
a construction site. But circumstances conspire to give Carl a choice
to either move to a retirement home or do something crazy: crazy like tie
thousands of balloons to his house and fly it off the foundation like Muntz's
blimp. Carl's ready to settle in for a pleasant trip, but he's got
a stowaway: young scout Russell (Jordan Nagai) had been by before
looking for a chance to earn his Assisting the Elderly badge, and was caught
on the porch when the house went aloft. Carl tries to set the house
down and find the kid a way home, but a storm strikes and the next thing
he knows Russell has steered them to a plateau across from Paradise Falls
with his handy GPS. Now all that remains is to simply walk
the house to its' destination like a parade balloon, but circumstances
intervene. A pack of dogs outfitted with electronic collars that
translate their speech are prowling the island looking for the bird, which
takes a liking to Russell and his candy bars. One of the dogs, the
dimwitted Doug (Bob Peterson), falls in with their group as they try to
get the bird back to its' secret lair where eggs have just hatched.
But someone else has plans of his own for the magnificent creature:
the elderly Charles Muntz (now voiced by Christopher Plummer) has been
waiting a very long time to collect his prize...
Up is that rarest
of animated features, one whose most important asset is its' screenplay,
written by co-directors Pete Docter and Bob Peterson with an assist by
Tom McCarthy (The Visitor, The Station Agent),
whose unmistakable stamp it bears. McCarthy is a master of the psychology
of loneliness and connection, and because the early scenes depicting Carl's
life and loss are so poignant, late moments that could have come off as
hollow bromides instead strike a potent emotional punch. In fact,
I honestly can't remember the last movie that made me cry as much as this
one did, and it's got an action climax pitting a flying house against dogs
flying biplanes! In that sense, it's a perfect collaborative marriage,
with McCarthy's emotional depth providing heft to the colorful adventure
for which the Pixar animators are known.
Up is a deceptively
simple story, built on what proves to be a durable metaphor of the old
man who can't leave his home without taking that home and all the baggage
it contains with him. And as things grow more grave, the house that
at first floats safely above, causing no trouble, loses more and more balloons
and becomes a heavier and heavier burden on Carl's attempts to move forward.
But his problems are nothing in the face of Muntz: while the Fredricksens
may not have lived the life they drempt of, they did live a life.
The adventurer, on the other hand, grew so single-mindedly obsessed with
proving a point that he went mad in the jungle and tossed his away, along
with those of untold others whose grisly fate at his hands is only hinted
at (there's kids in the audience!). Asner and Plummer are suburb
in these roles, making palpable the contrast of lives lived well and poorly.
The movie sparkles with beautiful
colors, particularly the balloons and the big ol' bird Russell names Kevin
(even though it's a girl). The dogs are a hoot, and the movie has
a great time projecting canine characteristics onto hired goons, from the
ease with which they're distracted by a cry of “squirrel!” to the horrors
of the “collar of shame” bad dogs are forced to wear.
I saw Up in 3D, my
format of choice these days, but I was a bit disappointed in Pixar's decision
to use the effect sparingly. It's one thing to declare (as Pixar
head John Lassiter has) no interest in “throwing things at the audience”.
It's another to charge for 3D but to keep it mostly on the bench.
There are some shots enhanced by the extra dimension (the cityscapes below
Carl's initial flight are impressively dimensional), but other opportunities
are allowed to go by. For instance, the balloons should pulse as
a collective mass of individual shapes (like the crowds in U2
3D), but really don't. And I did poke the glasses down my nose
a time or two (as I'm known to do) only to find that the screen before
me looked no different than the one the folks paying the 2D price down
the hall were seeing.
But that's a small quibble
with a truly excellent movie. With the genuine emotion to keep the
grown-ups invested and the wacky talking dogs and pretty colors to engage
the kids, Up should truly captivate all parts of the family audience.
It'll have to tide fans of original animated storytelling over for a while,
since next year Pixar's going with Toy Story 3. |
