Up - Pixar

It's almost cliche at this point to proclaim 'Pixar has done it again!' for their new release every summer. As every other film studio seems to put out more and more ridiculous 'summer blockbusters' that offer more special effects and explosions than you could want, with little in the way of story or characters, Pixar (and I guess Disney) put out heartfelt innovative films that appeal to every age and make. How does a film studio turn out a wonderful movie year after year without any missteps? I don't seek to answer these questions, frankly I have no idea how they do it, I will just continue to look forward to the Pixar release every summer much more than the next installment of whatever franchise Hollywood is pushing on us.

As with most Pixar films, Up is a simple story held together by fantastic animation, great characters and story, and timely jokes. And like their previous superlative release, 'WALL-E', Up goes in a direction that no other studios would dare go. A grumpy old man as the main character? No 'big names' on the poster? A chubby Asian-American cub scout as the only relateable character for kids? There is hardly anything here in the way of merchandising (at least 'WALL-E' had robots), which is why you haven't really seen a barrage of Up advertisements across billboards or fast food and toy commercials. Pixar doesn't seem to care (or they made enough merchandising money with 'Cars' not to have to care), they just want whatever team they have working on the movie to make it interesting, emotional, funny, and fun.

Up starts with an opening sequence that follows a young boy and girl who first get along because of their mutual infatuation with adventure, who then grow up to get married and get old together. This sequence is mostly dialog free and is reminiscent of the first 20 minute or so of 'WALL-E' which A. O. Scott called a 'poem'. I love that Pixar doesn't feel the need to talk down to it's audience and thus can put in large sequences where instead of paying attention to dialog, you take notice of small facial features and body movements which tell the story. I wonder if it is possible that in the future Pixar may work on an almost dialog free movie? Sure it would be a gamble, but if it is anything like these past couple of sequences it might trump anything else they've done.

Seeing that the old man's wife is not in any of the promos can let you figure out what happens next. I had heard that this movie was very emotional, and a tear jerker, but frankly I didn't find it any more emotional than other Pixar movies. After his wife's death, and some other unfortunate circumstances, he sets out to move their house to a tropical location in South America that they as a couple had yearned to see for years. The aforementioned cub scout tags along and they meet a ridiculous (and hilarious) bird and a talking dog along the way. I'll stop there, because I won't give away too much in terms of plot because I figure many of you haven't seen it yet and plan on doing so.

There are some pretty funny recurring jokes (mostly revolving around the dogs) and some pretty terrifying action sequences. This might have just been because as a child I was afraid of heights, but the idea of flying to another continent on a house held up by balloons, and the troubles you might encounter scared the shit out of me. There are plenty of 'oh my god!' moments, but because this is a kids movie you know that the old man isn't just going to trip and fall off his porch thousands of miles to the ground. The talking dogs are pretty interesting as well, mostly in the take on the whole 'talking animals' thing that Pixar has using sparingly compared to the other studies making animated/CGI films.

Up is definitely one of the better movies I've seen this year, and easily the funniest. It was a nice change up from 'WALL-E', mostly because it's nice not to have two movies with heavy morals in a row. Pixar movies tend to have pretty strong themes (like the eco-friendly message in 'WALL-E' or the weird Randian themes of 'The Incredibles') and it was nice to have a sweet, fun movie that was mostly concerned with the life, regrets, and stubbornness of an old man. Go see it!