Pixar Retrospective: "Up"
"Up"
Starring: Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer
Directed by: Pete Docter
Ouch. That emotional gut punch hurt. Pixar's trend of more mature-ish films continues with "Up," but it also has that double appeal, to kids as well. That montage in the beginning, wordless, is possible the sweetest single animation pixar has ever produced in their feature films. Paired with their equally heartwarming short "Partly Cloudy," pixar seems to really have been trying to make audiences cry.
"Up" is such an unlikely story, and something I couldn't imagine being popular on the drafting board. An elderly man and a kid on an adventure in South America? An old guy as a hero? Talking dogs? A house set to fly with helium balloons? Pixar took these seemingly incongruous elements and made them into a cohesive, heart-wrenching film about love, devotion, and the adeventure of life.
"Up" begins, after a short film about Muntz, with the aforementioned montage. It chronicled a life of early love and shared dreams, sadness at having no children (why not adopt?), rekindled dreams, sickness, death, and loneliness. As Carl is about to be sent to a retirement home, we truly feel sad for him. If we just saw an old guy protecting his mailbox and hitting someone on the head, we'd think he's just a crazy old wizard. But knowing how much the home and mailbox meant, as a remembrance to his wife, made it so much more meaningful. If "WALL-E" was pixar's most artistic film from a visual standpoint, "Up" battles "Toy Story 3" for their most artistic film from an emotional standpoint.
We grow to like Carl and relate to him, because we understand what he's lost and what his goals are. So, when Russell comes along for the journey, I can empathize with his frustration. There, they meet Dug the talking dog, along with Alpha and his pack, and Muntz. And Kevin, of course, who forms the basis for the rest of the plot.
I found it interesting, in the bonus features, about how the story designers spent time deciding Muntz's fate. It turns out Muntz stayed young-ish all these years by eating the egg of Kevin's species, which wasn't touched on in the film. Muntz seems to have definitively died in the film; a sort of serious end to a villain for a pixar film. Although, he's not quite a villain. Muntz was only a man trying to redeem his name after false accusations that he was a fraud. But the pixar team decided he needed to definitely die. Why? Because he represented Carl's initial desire to be an adventurer, and his death meant that part of Carl could move on. Not only that, but the loss of Carl's house, symbolic of his love Ellie, meant that Carl could let that part of him go; pick up his bags, and move on. Seeing him make that step forward, that growth in his character, was fantastic.
The friendship between Russell and Carl, developed over the film, was also wonderful. I really felt like the pixar team spent so much time on Carl's character, and they fine tuned his growth throughout the film to make emotional and logical sense. It's what I wish Lucas did a little more with "Revenge of the Sith," because the foundation for Anakin's fall was there, but the way the plot was structured made it seem a little hasty.
Finally, the film showed that you're never too old to live your dreams. But don't get caught in the past; live for the future. A truly beautiful work of art, and also pixar's last original film to date. After the wonderful "Toy Story" sequel and the not-needed-but-still-fun-to-watch "Cars 2," I'm excited for pixar's next original work, "Brave," which seems different from their usual films.
Starring: Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer
Directed by: Pete Docter
Ouch. That emotional gut punch hurt. Pixar's trend of more mature-ish films continues with "Up," but it also has that double appeal, to kids as well. That montage in the beginning, wordless, is possible the sweetest single animation pixar has ever produced in their feature films. Paired with their equally heartwarming short "Partly Cloudy," pixar seems to really have been trying to make audiences cry.
"Up" is such an unlikely story, and something I couldn't imagine being popular on the drafting board. An elderly man and a kid on an adventure in South America? An old guy as a hero? Talking dogs? A house set to fly with helium balloons? Pixar took these seemingly incongruous elements and made them into a cohesive, heart-wrenching film about love, devotion, and the adeventure of life.
"Up" begins, after a short film about Muntz, with the aforementioned montage. It chronicled a life of early love and shared dreams, sadness at having no children (why not adopt?), rekindled dreams, sickness, death, and loneliness. As Carl is about to be sent to a retirement home, we truly feel sad for him. If we just saw an old guy protecting his mailbox and hitting someone on the head, we'd think he's just a crazy old wizard. But knowing how much the home and mailbox meant, as a remembrance to his wife, made it so much more meaningful. If "WALL-E" was pixar's most artistic film from a visual standpoint, "Up" battles "Toy Story 3" for their most artistic film from an emotional standpoint.
We grow to like Carl and relate to him, because we understand what he's lost and what his goals are. So, when Russell comes along for the journey, I can empathize with his frustration. There, they meet Dug the talking dog, along with Alpha and his pack, and Muntz. And Kevin, of course, who forms the basis for the rest of the plot.
I found it interesting, in the bonus features, about how the story designers spent time deciding Muntz's fate. It turns out Muntz stayed young-ish all these years by eating the egg of Kevin's species, which wasn't touched on in the film. Muntz seems to have definitively died in the film; a sort of serious end to a villain for a pixar film. Although, he's not quite a villain. Muntz was only a man trying to redeem his name after false accusations that he was a fraud. But the pixar team decided he needed to definitely die. Why? Because he represented Carl's initial desire to be an adventurer, and his death meant that part of Carl could move on. Not only that, but the loss of Carl's house, symbolic of his love Ellie, meant that Carl could let that part of him go; pick up his bags, and move on. Seeing him make that step forward, that growth in his character, was fantastic.
The friendship between Russell and Carl, developed over the film, was also wonderful. I really felt like the pixar team spent so much time on Carl's character, and they fine tuned his growth throughout the film to make emotional and logical sense. It's what I wish Lucas did a little more with "Revenge of the Sith," because the foundation for Anakin's fall was there, but the way the plot was structured made it seem a little hasty.
Finally, the film showed that you're never too old to live your dreams. But don't get caught in the past; live for the future. A truly beautiful work of art, and also pixar's last original film to date. After the wonderful "Toy Story" sequel and the not-needed-but-still-fun-to-watch "Cars 2," I'm excited for pixar's next original work, "Brave," which seems different from their usual films.
posted by DarthDooku at
2:39 PM
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