Up Review
by Homer Yen (homeryen88 AT gmail DOT com)June 2nd, 2009
Thumbs "Up"
by Homer Yen
(c) 2009
When I see pictures of Tiger Woods, I've always grown accustomed to one thing. When he's competing on the golf course, he always wears a sports cap with his sponsor's logo or his own TW company's logo prominently emblazoned on it. Check out any photo of him (I just did with Google images) and you'll see this to be true. Now, if I were to see him without this piece of apparel in competition, I would probably think that this would be a strange image. It's not that Tiger won't perform up to his usual excellent standards. I'm just saying that it might look/seem/feel odd.
"Up" is Pixar's newest and most fanciful offering to date. Indeed, with each new Pixar film, it seems that the texture and the color palettes and the inventiveness take an evolutionary step forward with each new release. Lots of impressive imagery will be seen in the peripherals of the film. "Up" (I saw the 2-d version) takes place in the golden age of the early 1930's when life was simpler and the imagination could be fueled by undiscovered places in the world. One of the nicest renderings was a zeppelin whose interior looked as grand and as exquisite as the first-class levels of the Titanic.
The most touching part of the film comes in the first act. Two young kids meet, they share an unbridled interest in exploration, grow up, get married, and begin their journey through life. It is an incredibly tender 10 minutes of film that you'll ever see.
The story is about two men who start their lives looking for purpose. One is the famous explorer Charles Muntz (voiced by Christopher Plummer) who resembles Kirk Douglas in his sunset years and who goes off to faraway lands in his aforementioned zeppelin. His various discoveries, especially that of a never-before-seen type of flightless bird, are met with tremendous skepticism back home. He vows to capture it and to bring it back home. The other is the less resourceful but equally ambitious Carl (voiced by Edward Asner). At a younger age, he vowed to take his wife on an adventure of a lifetime in South America. But life got in the way and time took its toll. Although he doesn't have a zeppelin, his understanding of helium balloons allows him to go where others only dream of. Both of these men, now in their sunset years, are still looking to fulfill their destiny. In this tale, Charles's dreams are mutually exclusive of Carl's. Charles uses technology and science to forward his ambitions. Carl uses good ol-fashioned imagination and compassion to forward his.
You know, as I re-read what I just wrote, it certainly sounds like a well-constructed story. And, it is. My personal reservation is that it leaned heavily on the whimsical side, which is something that I have not come to expect. I've seen every Pixar film that has ever been released and will always make it a point to see all of their future releases. But this film didn't seem as compelling or as much fun as the others. Yes, it was amusing and touching and sentimental. Yet, I enjoyed this film less so than "Wall*E" and "Ratatouille". I even was unmoved with the opening animation short, which I've come to look forward to with each Pixar release. Perhaps, like Charles and Carl, the curmudgeonly side of me is starting to creep in.
Grade: B
S: 0 out of 0
L: 0 out of 0
V: 0 out of 0
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