Up
May 29, 2009
Rated: PG Runtime: 96 min Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Pixar’s annual summer movie is Up, following last year’s WALL-E.
Carl Fredricksen (Ed Asner) is a 78-year-old widower, cranky and living in the same house that his wife and he shared all their lives. In their younger days, they dreamed of being explorers, fans of the Professor Challenger-ish Charles Muntz, going to a Lost Plateau in Peru. Carl has slowly watched his neighborhood devoured by skyscrapers, and developers want to tear down his house as well. After an altercation, he’s threatened with being shipped off to a nursing home. So he straps a whole bunch of helium balloons to his house, and sets his sights on South America.
Unfortunately, a boy scout, Russell, who was trying to get his badge for helping a senior citizen, is inadvertently brought along for the ride.
Once they’ve ballooned onto the Lost Plateau, they encounter strange animals and make a nemesis.
Where Pixar stands out is in story and characterization, not just the computer animation. What hooked me on this was the touching extended prologue where we see the guy grow from childhood to an old man with his sweetheart.
This is maybe less ambitious of a movie than the recent Pixar efforts (Ratatouille and WALL-E – a rat going to cooking school and a robot pantomining its emotions) – but it’s a better overall result.
The clever bit here in the action sequences is, after the balloons have lost a bit of buoyancy, the house has ceased being a float that can carry our heroes weight and more of a floating tether that they have to haul around. This leads to a series of inventive and exciting action sequences revolving around what happens when you’re being chased while towing a floating house.
Also, in theaters this is preceded by a Pixar short, Partly Cloudy. There have been plenty of cartoons about how the stork brings babies, but none quite like this one!
Popularity: 43% [?]
Seen it? How many stars do you give it?
(3 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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Hmmm. Interesting similarities to Gran Torino. Grumpy old man who’s neighborhood has changed… Well maybe just a similar starting point.
Your review reads more like 5 stars. Can’t wait to see it.
Har, now I’m picturing Gran Torino but with Ed Asner replacing Clint in the role!