Up (2009)

I'm so glad I caught this on a big screen (I missed its release in America and it didn't reach Germany while I was there). Up sports an interesting premise: After his wife passes away and he's about to be shuffled off to a senior home, elderly Carl Fredricksen decides to embark on the epic adventure she'd always dreamed of. He loads up his house with thousands of helium balloons and sails away in the direction of South America, only to discover the dedicated and talkative Wilderness Scout, Russell (who needs a badge for helping the elderly), on his front porch. The two land a few miles away from Carl's intended spot of Paradise Falls, where his wife had wanted to have a house when she was a little girl.

The house is still buoyant but only barely so, and Carl and Russell attach themselves to the garden hose intending to drag it the rest of the way. En route they encounter a large unclassifiable and multicolored bird whom Russell befriends and names "Kevin". It's being hunted by a pack of vicious dogs with special collars that allow them to speak English, and Carl must decide whether or not to continue his quest to Paradise Falls or sacrifice his wife's dream to help Kevin evade capture.

Up has a poignant, interesting story with typical Pixar themes of friendship, responsibility, and innovation. It made me cry like 5 times, which is saying something for a kids' movie. Something about an old person losing a loved one and the ensuing extreme loneliness just really gets to me. I liked how the film kept me on my toes for the most part- I didn't expect a lot of the plot developments. The talking dogs feel out of place, but the Dug character is so funny I didn't mind too much. Everything connects together really well from beginning to end, and while it's very imaginative, it's not inaccessible or unbelievable.

One thing that frustrates me about this film is, surprisingly, the visual design. The animation is fluid and beautiful of course, but I am not a fan of how the characters and settings fit together. The people are blocky and exaggerated in size and proportion, which is fine (though not usually to my taste in CG animation), but their placement in exceptionally detailed, elaborate, and overall realistic backgrounds is a bit jarring. It's not a big issue, and probably something that doesn't bother most people, just a personal opinion.

I'm not going to make a big comment about the lack of female characters, since many others have spoken about the subject more eloquently than I ever could, but yes the lack of women is very apparent to me, especially when taken in consideration with all of Pixar's other films. Kudos for having an Asian-American as a lead character, though!

4.5/5