Disney Pixar’s Up is a fairly wonderful film with relatable characters, a life affirming story-line, and a dazzling palette of colorful visuals. In short, Pixar has done it again. Let me go on the record and say, Pixar animation studios is hands-down the best production company in the film industry. I’m not talking merely about animated movies, I’m talking about all of film. Period. If you need any proof of this (if you actually do, then I guess you really haven’t been to the movies in about 10 years), then look no further than this year’s Cannes film festival. Last week Pixar’s Up opened the festival, marking the first time in Cannes history that an animated feature hallmarked the event. Now just imagine a bunch of European art snobs and critics staring at a brightly animated silver screen, 3D glasses donned and all. Need I offer another argument to prove that Pixar blends art and candy like it’s as natural as Mel Gibson films and bloodlust?
Taking their cue’s from the silent era greatness of Charlie Chaplin, their creative teams manage to say an infinite amount by stringing together not series of jokey dialouge, but frame after frame of pictures. Seriously, I wish story-tellers would take notice at these guys’ craft because they’ve got it down. Remember last year in the triumphant WALL*E when we received the entire back-story of planet Earth’s demise in one sweep of the camera? That’s the kind of “nothing-more-nothing-less” approach to story-telling Pixar boasts. Up is no exception to the brilliant understanding of narrative that this creative team possesses. If only live-action films could be as poetic, heart-warming, and yes, as true as these films, then every movie-going experience would be an adventure.
Up focuses on the life of Carl Fredrickson (Ed Asner), who is grieving the death of his bride Ellie. We learn that Carl and Ellie were life-long companions who as children found friendship through their common desire for adventure. The two aspired their whole lives to up and leave for an exotic South American location where their adventurous hearts could roam freely. Pinching and saving every penny, the two set out to one day retire far away from the ebb and flow of life. Of course life, as it often does, got in the way of their plans and the two found themselves nursing broken bones, blown tires, and medical bills to pay their way out of their vacation fund. All of this back-story is set up seamlessly within the first few minutes of the film. Since Ellie’s death, Carl has had trouble letting go. His house has become a monument to her, standing in the same place for years, even as the incessant string of retail stores pop up around it.
When Carl meets a chubby, well-intentioned young boy scout named Russell one day, both of their lives begin to change. Russell endearingly approaches Carl’s front door in hopes that the gruff little man will help Russell earn his last of a long line of coveted boy scout badges. “Is there anything I can help you cross?” Russell asks. Although Carl is defiant with the boy at first, we get the idea that Russell will most likely help Carl cross some chasm in his life even though it may not be across the street or across his yard.
When Carl hatches a plan to skip town and head for South America, the boy is accidentally brought along with him. Carl, who spent years as a balloon salesman, attaches several thousand balloons to his house in order to float away from all that reminds him of failure and heartbreak in his own neighborhood. When the duo reaches their destination these very adult targeted themes are carried along in the plot with the help of robotically talking dogs, an exotic bird named Kevin, and a house of balloons that keeps going and going.
If the film has any shortcomings, it’s that the story eventually falls on familiar Pixar formulas of the past. But oh how that formula shines. The film is visually extraordinary, accentuating the tiniest of details within its landscapes. What makes Up so endearing though is the remarkable humanness of its characters. Quite an impossible feat when considering they are cascading over the horizon in a makeshift hot-air balloon house, with a talking dog. Pixar has not merely ruled the market in Animated films, they have redefined the terms of the market itself, continuing to make us laugh and cry over and over again.
Up may not be in the top tier of Pixar films. I’m sure that will be debated for months to come. In the end I don’t think it matters though either. They don’t have to outdo themselves with each subsequent picture. What Up does instead is add to an ever-expanding canon of classic films, not merely cartoons.
4/5
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