So up front, I’ll admit; I’m super biased when it comes to Pixar films. One might call me slightly obsessed, but I really don’t see anything wrong with watching every single one on opening day then being the only person in line at Best Buy waiting to purchase the DVD (now Blu-Ray). Hopefully this review of Disney Pixar’s latest UP! won’t be too one sided, but I really believe this was one of the best movies I’ve seen in theaters this year. Okay, so if you’ve read some of my reviews before then you can stack this next to Star Trek, but after watching UP! I’m sure a lot of people will agree.
What Pixar has done extremely well since the beginning is capture character and emotion that go beyond the animation. With the technical capabilities and and the computer geniuses in the world right now, you can pretty much put everyone on an even level with regards to what can be done. Pixar goes beyond this by looking past what can be done with animation and deep into the emotional state of a character. That’s why you feel sorry for characters like Bob Par in the Incredibles, Sully from Monsters Inc and why you’ll probably relate so well to their latest protagonist, Karl Fredrickson. The heart of the movie is simple, live your life to the fullest and try your hardest never to have any regrets. Pixar just looks at how people will deal with real life situations.
The voice cast put together for this film is also amazing. Maybe this is just because I can actually picture Ed Asner being in this role, but I think he plays perfectly into the role of a sour, grumpy old man on the surface with tons of reasoning behind it. The voice of Russel was also a great casting decision because not only was Jordan Nagai young enough to nail the tone, he also embodied a very honest innocence that some accomplished child acting stars would definitely lack.
The story of UP! ties together nicely as do most Pixar flicks, but what this film does better than most is give the audience something to care about and someone to cheer for. This isn’t an action flick, its not a mystery nor is it comedy – UP! is a story about finishing something you started. The movie is also rich with characters making sure each of them, from Karl and Russel all the way to Doug the talking dog, have multiple layers. Often times with family movies and animation in particular it is difficult to find anything more than the surface of a character, but UP! differs greatly and establishes real characters very well.
Dealing with abondonment issues, the fear of being alone and the drive to complete something for someone else, UP! is a great way to spend an evening.
June 10th, 2009 at 11:57 am
OMG… This was the best movie i’ve seen all year so far… I Totally caught myself crying 2 times in the movie.. Its so funny cause I was looking around , surrounded by a bunch of 4 yr olds- CRYING! Fabulous movie….everyone MUST watch this.