Up

Ever since Toy Story 2, I've made it a point to go see every Pixar feature made. Fortunately, and despite everything going on lately, I didn't miss this one.

As with Wall·E before it, Up was somewhat of a mystery to me, as none of the previews gave me any good idea of what the story was about.  I actually like it this way; not much is spoiled prior to seeing the movie.  As is usual with Pixar movies, the film was preceded by a Pixar short: Partly Cloudy.  The short was quite enjoyable and showed off some fancy particle animation effects in the form of talking clouds.

The feature opened up with a bittersweet story of how the lead character, Carl, came to be where he is today.  Today, he is a rather crotchety old man whose house is the only one left in a neighborhood that is being turned into a skyscraper, mall, or some other monstrosity.  After getting himself into some trouble with the construction company that wants to buy Carl’s way out of his lifelong home, he decides to leave.  Instead of leaving in a traditional sense, he inflates thousands of balloons with helium and takes off in his newly airborne house to seek adventure.

Naturally, a young boy seeking his “Elderly Assistance” badge was on his porch at liftoff.  The two become companions (somewhat reluctantly on Carl’s part) and thanks to the boy’s short-lived GPS, they end up very near to Carl’s intended destination.  Add in some weird animals, talking dogs (“Squirrel!”), and an antagonist who makes Carl choose between the right thing to do and, well… the other right thing to do and you have your movie.

The animation and rendering in the movie do an excellent job of supporting the story.  Pixar once again nailed the fine line of making things real enough so that you don’t question them while at the same time making things cartoony enough so that you don’t question them.  The movie also opened up the settings quite a bit; I don’t remember seeing such large vistas in purely CG films like the ones in this movie.  One particular shot stands out in my mind where you’re looking over an expansive rocky terrain from hundreds of feet in the air.  The scene is full of detail, and yet it doesn’t appear that they tiled anything (although I’m sure they had SOME help from the computers); if they had created a super-detailed section and then had it repeat over and over again to fill the landscape it would have been obvious at that scale.

But I begin to digress…  The movie was nothing short of excellent, for adults and children alike.  Michael Giacchino’s score was well done and perfectly appropriate to the film.  As with The Incredibles, there are some guns, earning the film a “PG” rating.  I even saw blood for the first time in a Pixar film (done appropriately, of course), so I would advise against bringing kids that are TOO young.  As usual, if you like Pixar films, you are going to enjoy this one.  If you don’t like them at all, you probably need to be seen by a doctor.

Rating (out of 4):