Up: Movie Review

Up: Movie Review

Rating: 7/10
Voice Cast: Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai, Bob Peterson, Delroy Lindo, Jerome Ranft, John Ratzenberger
Director: Pete Docter
A Pixar film is always a joy to behold.
You know that animators have spent hours poring over every frame, ensuring every pixel is in place and every moment is perfectly crafted.
But with the level of excellence continuing to rise each time, it's inevitable somewhere that one film will fail to meet the mark.
That's not 100% the case with Up - but the problem with Pixar films, is you inevitably hold them to account with their predecessors.
And in this case, it was the fabulous combo that was Presto, the short tale about a magician's rabbit - and Wall-E, the robot.
Up is the tale of Carl Fredericksen, who, in the twilight years of his life, after realizing he never followed his (and his wife Ellie's dream) of taking a trip to Paradise Falls in South America, decides to do something about it.
So with the bulldozers literally knocking at his door to make way for a development, Carl unveils a roof full of balloons and heads for the skies as he relocates for good.
The trouble is, just prior to his leaving, Carl was visited by Wilderness Explorer, Russell, who's trying to earn his final badge - for helping the elderly - and who was near the house when it took to the skies.
With his unwanted companion, Carl and Russell head off for adventure - even if Carl doesn't want it.
Along the way, the duo cross paths with disgraced explorer Charles Muntz, who's trying to prove he's not a liar to the exploring world by trapping a rare bird and taking it back to civilization.
Will Carl sacrifice his dream to get involved in Russell's new quest?
Up is quite an adult tale - it's a yarn about accepting what's in your backyard and living life to the full; it has a winsome quality and has some truly touching moments.
The first sequence which fully illustrates Carl's life with Ellie before the present day is just beautiful, emotionally stunning. Quite how a 3 minute sequence of animation can reduce this reviewer to near tears is a testament to the human touch these computer animators haven't lost.
But I didn't feel the resolute joy with the rest of Up that I have done with similar Pixar releases - whether it's because this story didn't resonate with me, I don't know exactly how to pinpoint what it was- certainly there's no qualms about the animation and inventiveness on screen.
That said, I do love the fact that Carl loses his purpose in his life after the loss of Ellie - a rare quality for an animated film to portray - and by relocating and following what were his family's dreams, he rediscovers who exactly he is.
Up may not appeal across the spectrum too - it's very wordy at the start (so much so, one poor little darling in the screening shouted "Boring") and there's very little real action until the final 30 minutes of the film - but it's the closest Pixar have ever really gotten to reality - and for that it deserves to be treasured.

However, for every moment of minor misses, there are 1001 visually stunning moments on Up - and at the end of the day, when you're watching animation on the bigscreen, sometimes it's more than enough to simply look up and be impressed.