“up” film review

If you haven’t heard, the creatively awesome storytelling geniuses over at Pixar have done it again! This would make their winning track sheet 10-0; meaning Pixar has yet to make a movie that flopped. Critics and regular moviegoers alike have spoken, and I must agree, this was another job well done.

I’d like to take an aside by saying what I like about the Pixar movies. Do you need a refresher of the 10 winning movies I’m speaking of? Sure, I’ll tell you. Count with me now and reminisce the good times you had the first and/or second time you watched these amazing, imaginative films. Toy Story, A Bugs Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille, WALL-E, and finally, Up. Might I add that the animation seems to get better with each movie? I felt like I was watching stop-motion photography like the good-old-days with miniature dolls and houses. What I also like about these movies is how they appeal to kids, but appeal even stronger to adults. That’s mostly my opinion, but it’s no secret that many parents take delight in watching many of these films even without their children. I believe Pixar breaks the stereotype that animated movies are for kids only. Everyone enjoys their movies no matter how old they are. And, might I add, they are timeless.

Up is the same way. Indeed, ’tis very child friendly, but it has some grown-up themes. I think they handled the serious stuff very well, like a character dying and memories of absent family members. These back stories were told so well, I think I felt my eyes getting a little more moist than usual at certain dramatic parts. It could’ve been my allergies though. I did forget my medication that day, and there are always specks of dust wherever you go. So who knows?

The funny thing about this movie (one of them anyway) is the title. I’ll tell people “I’m going to go see Up.” “Up?” “You know… the movie… Up?” [Blank expression.] “The movie with the old guy in the house with balloons…” “Oh! Up!” Yeah, I had this conversation almost word for word at least four times. You can have a lot of fun with it though. (“What’s Up?”)

If you are still a little unsure of the plot, it’s about an elderly widower who is forced to leave his home. He and his wife have strong connections to the house they grew old together in, and can’t bare to leave it behind after she passes. [Tear.] So to fulfill a life long promise to her, he decides to uproot the entire house to carry out a marvelous adventure. Unfortunately, this grumpy old man unknowingly brings a scouting companion whose goal is to earn his “Assisting the Elderly” badge so he can graduate to a senior scout. He’s a cute kid. I don’t blame the old man for finding him to be irritable, but he’s cute and it’s definitely entertaining to watch these two interact.

Another source of entertainment comes from the animals these two encounter. I don’t want to say much about the animals, because I went into this movie not knowing and I think that made it more fun for me. I will say that when my friend and I left the theater that night, we had a new favorite joke about squirrels that’s only funny after watching this movie. Or perhaps we just find random things funny and we were the only ones laughing the hardest at the little things we noticed. (There were 10 people total for this showing. My friend and some lady behind us were the loudest.)

Overall, I’ve got to say this was a great film. This movie does have the 3D viewing, but I wasn’t at a participating theater. [Tear.] Like all Pixar movies, make sure you are on time to watch a Pixar short before the feature presentation, which is worth watching for a good laugh. Special thanks to such wonderful coworkers who supplied my free screening of this movie. My next step is free tickets to the big premieres in Hollywood.