Up

I’m sick of Pixar. They make me sick to my stomach. So darn good at everything they do. Even their ‘bad’ movies are high grossing and I can barely shave my face without cutting my elbow. Yeah, my elbow. It’s a well known fact now that Pixar staff exhale excellence and eat awesome.

Anyway, Pixar deliver in spades yet again. This time in ‘Up’ (Edward Asner), the protogonist is an old man who, after losing his beloved wife, sets out to fulfill his childhood promise to her of travelling to Paradise Falls in South America, by tying thousands of balloons to his house. Only after lift off does he find out he’s not alone when he hears a knock on the door from an 8 year old, chubby ‘Wilderness Explorer’ (Jordan Nagai).

This marvelous story has all the hallmarks of a quality Pixar film, heart, laughs, emotion, imaginative and original ideas, real life issues and memorable characters. Where ‘Finding Nemo’ had Dory, ‘Wall-E’ had the titular character and ‘Toy Story’ had Buzz, ‘Up’ has Dug (an adorable talking dog). I won’t spoil things any more for you, so you can just go see it. Minor characters in Pixar also leave a lasting impression on you years after you see it, even if they only have 10 minutes screen time. Sid the sadistic bully and the alien toys in ‘Toy Story’, the surfer dude turtles in ‘Finding Nemo’ and the obsessive, compulsive cleaning robot from ‘Wall-E’ are just some of these memorable characters. Dug the dog will definitely be one of these unforgettable characters.

Once again, Pixar kick a** on the visuals frontier and is still the benchmark for 3D animated movies. Like most Pixar movies, from memory, the main event is preceded by a high quality short story. ‘Up’ has ‘Partly Cloudy’ a telling on where the storks actually get babies from to deliver to the mothers in the first place (everybody knows storks deliver babies). These 15 minutes are worth my 16 dollars, unlike most gimmicky movies these days (cough cough ‘Public Enemies’ *yawn*).

When you go into a Pixar movie, you don’t ‘watch’ a movie. When you go into a Pixar movie you are an on adventure, lose track of time and leave the cinema feeling like you just had an experience. I hope it’s not just me, otherwise I need to get out more. In all seriousness though, Up is one of the best films I have ever seen, let alone a 3D movie. Whether you’re 8 or 80 (I doubt it), go see it.

Mark says *****