UP (Pixar)
In its ten feature films to day, Pixar has been offering a clinic on how to make a feature film. Humor, emotion and damn good storytelling are the keys to success. UP is a good film that I’m sure will be enjoyed by children, both young and old. The folks at Pixar have fine-tuned the art of appealing to the child within all of us, while still tugging assertively on the heartstrings of compassion.
I saw the 3D version of UP today with my wife Kathy and out children, Israel, Cimone, Zachary and little Imara. We chose to pay a little extra to watch the 3D version thinking we’d hold on to the glasses to watch the DVD of Journey to the Center of the Earth with real glasses instead of the paper 3D glasses that came with the retail DVD. I watched UP; I laughed. I laughed out loud. I got weepy eyes. I cheered. I had a good time.
UP (Pixar)
After watching WALL-E last year I was in awe of Pixar’s ability to illicit laughing-out-loud without uttering a word of dialog. In UP a similar technique was employed during a 40+ year montage sequence that had just about everyone in the theater sadly cooing with pronounced awwwws and ohhhhhhs. In mere minutes, we follow a young boy and girl through their unified exuberance over wilderness adventures to their adult lives and beyond. This is true storytelling where the message (moral: what’s really important in life) is beautifully woven in that doesn’t have much chance for tongue-in-cheek analysis of the fantasy.
I was captivated by the humor, the humanity, the irony and the conflict. Even the use of voices for the film were dead-on. Up is worth the wait and worth the money. I can only wonder what Pixar is up to now, but whatever it is, they will surely continue onward and upward.
Up is Pixar’s best film since 2003’s Finding Nemo. The story of Carl’s(the terrific Ed Asner)adventures with Wilderness Troop explorer, Russell proves that you’re neither to old or to young to bring adventure into your life. It’s also a film that not only appeals to kids but adults as well.
Sam wants to see this real bad. I’m not much of an animated film lover (my ex boyfriend, Carlos used to always take Sam without me…LOL) but if anyone can thrill me I’m sure Pixar can!