Up | Review
Pixar always makes amazing films, like Wall-e, Ratatouille, or The Incredibles. The ones that aren’t amazing are usually pretty decent, like Cars or A Bugs Life. Finding Nemo has always been my favorite because of how great the story was, the beauty presented in the movie, and the variety of characters it had. Up has two of the three things Finding Nemo has – Beautiful scenery and a wonderful story. Up’s story isn’t as smart or complex as Ratatouille or Finding Nemo, but it’s still entertaining and fun. Up doesn’t have that many characters, but it is Pixar’s most emotional movie to date.
The first ten minutes of Up will make you want to cry. It sure made me want to give up my god-like manliness. Those that don’t give in to Up’s emotional beginning don’t have a heart. I like how the story isn’t all about Carl (the old guy) and his sad story. The movie sheds some light on the other lead’s (the little kid, Russel, who accompanies Carl. He also happens to be ASIAN!!) background. Carl is mourning his wife, while the film briefly explains Russel’s issues with his father.
Althought there wasn’t a variety of characters in the movie, there was still a whole bunch of dogs, a colorful bird, and another old dude, who happens to be the villain. The dog, if you’ve seen the trailer, is Dug. Dug is a very cute, playful, and loyal dog, who appears to be a Lab. Kevin is a beautiful female prehistoric bird that the other old guy, Charles, is searching for. The movie is fun because it offers so many laughs from the four characters of Carl, Russel, Kevin, and Dug. Charles, however, is a different story.
Charles Muntz is Carl’s childhood hero. He’s a famous explorer that, about 70 years ago, discovered the bones of some kind of bird that no one has every seen before (we, the audience, know that it’s Kevin’s race). Scientists claim that Charles made up everything, so Charles swore that he would find a living speciman. This is where Kevin comes in. Charles spent the rest of his life trying to capture Kevin, and when Russel and Carl grow fond of Kevin, the two parties are at an opposition. Now, Carl finds his childhood hero trying to kill him.
I respected Charles and his character in the movie, but I soon grew intolerant of him. I understand that he spent his life trying to capture Kevin, and it’s his passion. However, Charles becomes an asshole to the other characters when they get in his way. Charles even endangers a little 7-year-old boy, Russel, just to get what he wants. By the end of the movie, I felt that Charles got what he deserved.
Up is the best film I have seen all year, and is the only movie so far of 2009 that I’ve given a 10 out of 10. I can’t think of any animated movie, or live-action, that has been as emotional, sad, funny, and charming as Up has been. I also loved the animated short film that appeared before Up, called Partly Cloudy. I liked how the short film kind of has a similar setting as Up, and I think that Partly Cloudy has a story that Pixar could actually make into a feature film. One think that disappointed me at the theater, though, was the fact that the trailer for Toy Story 3 wasn’t shown. Every Pixar movie has a teaser trailer of the next movie that’s going to be released, so I kind of felt cheated. Even though I saw the trailer for it already, I still would have liked to see it on the big screen, and also for everyone else in the theater to know about it.
