adventure
Forgoing a nursing home, an elderly widower flies his house (via balloon) to a South American natural wonderland.
On a more precise, human level, the first act of Up is every bit as grim as the justly praised opening of Pixar’s previous people’s choice, Wall-E. Whereas Wall-E’s boldness was its austere allegory, Up is painfully real and human. It’s not every kiddie picture that squeezes a miscarriage into the first reel.
Carl and Ellie recognize each other immediately as soul mates upon their first meeting in the ‘30’s. They share an enthusiasm for the exploits of the globe-trotting (via dirigible) adventurer that stars in Newsreels at the cinema and vow one day to visit the far-flung locales Charles Muntz so vividly describes. They marry and set aside a jar in which to deposit spare change to fund their trip to Muntz’s Shangri-La, Paradise Falls. The jar never fills, though, as that nuisance known as life keeps interfering. I guess it truly is what happens while you’re making other plans.
Kids don’t work out for Carl and Ellie (see above) but their love is a bottomless one and more than enough companionship until she dies. Carl then occupies himself mostly with refusing offers for their house from a developer looking to put the finishing touches on his conversion of their neighborhood into a mini-mall.
I’m starting to think the name “Pixar” is an inside joke. One day someone got one in the junk and screamed, “Dammit! Right in the Pixars.” If there’s one authorial thread to the computer animation giant it’s, well, giant pixars. There’s your first act setup for their most recent all-ages blockbuster: Lonely widower being pressured to sell the home he shared with his recently deceased beloved.
Pixar’s pixars, then, can be defined as its confidence in delaying the wonderment and rooting it in something very real, sure that when they bring the fun it will be more fun than anything offered by anyone else in a film aimed at any age group. Up fits this formula to a tee. Its opening is humorous but generally somber, and leads to rousing adventure of unadulterated joy.
There’s also the fantastic writing. Carl’s curmudgeonly disposition is never off-putting; it always feels appropriate in the insensitive world he inhabits and actually can’t help but endear him to us. Them Pixar cats are unapologetically populists at heart, though, so, an unconventional animated protagonist though he may be, we’re not going to have to endure Carl as an anti-hero too long. Finally forced into a nursing home in a scene of unexpected and almost completely straight pathos, Carl, who’d made his living hawking balloons, stages his escape as the orderlies arrive to help him move. A mass of helium-filled balloons is released from his chimney, lifting his house off the foundation and liberating Carl.
With neighborhood nuisance Russell accidentally along for the ride, Carl steers the house toward his and Ellie’s hypothetical Paris, Paradise Falls. As ever, the technical achievements of this Pixar production are so sublime it’s barely worth it to attempt to find new superlatives with which to describe them. The animation is lush and brilliantly communicates Carl’s renewed verve. Michael Giacchino’s score is as crucial an element of storytelling as the script. His music for the riveting climax is as wonderful as his eerie compositions on Lost.
The Paradise Falls settings, typically gorgeous interpretations of Venezuela’s tepui mountains, are indicative of the compellingly humble charm of Up. Given its similar father-son themes, it’s interesting to think of Paradise Falls in relationship to Finding Nemo’s ocean. Whereas Nemo delighted in throwing schools of fish at us from out of nowhere and tumbling the camera through choppy seas, the tepuis are a far more static background and turn the portion of the film set there into a sort of Western. Up is arguably Pixar’s least ambitious production technically; its primary focus is the breaking down of Carl’s emotional walls and getting him to relish his belated opportunity at fatherhood.
That chance is yet another example of the Pixar universe feeling blissfully more human than our own. Russell knocks on Carl’s door one day soliciting his help in acquiring a merit badge for aiding the elderly. He’s persistent (can’t earn as many badges as he has without being so) but never annoying. It almost ruins the joy of watching the actual movie to think about how cutesy and cloying this character could have been in most any other movie. It really is a wonderful creation by young Jordan Nagai. He and the script reveal Russell’s vulnerability gradually. He’s never a victim. He discusses the absence of his father matter-of-factly, not as a desperate appeal for Carl’s sympathy and substitution.
If Up represents some sort of maturation for Pixar, one typified by animation that is still superb but perhaps less showy and a greater focus on character than adventure, all indications are the company shall succeed as immeasurably as it has when the heart-to-spectacle ratio was flipped the other way.
A band of kids embark on a journey to find the lost treasure of One-Eyed Willy.
Introduction
Over the eighteen years I spent living and breathing on this earth I’ve wasted many hours sitting back, and watching a flick. Dark Knight, Rocky, Frankenstein, The Deer Hunter, you name it I’ve seen it. But, there was always this one exception to the rule. A 1985 comedy adventure from executive producer Steven Spielberg called The Goonies (sound familiar?) was one of the few mainstream movies which I’ve never experience through my own eyes. Over the years I’ve let all the references to “the truffle shuffle”, “hey you guysssssssss!”, and most importantly “Baby Ruth” fly right on over my head. For years, many of my friends and family have been suggesting for me to watch The Goonies, but I never actually had the chance to watch the film. With free time on my hands, and The Goonies anxiously waiting for me to view, I kicked back, relaxed, and tried to comprehend the hype.
Review
Even though I’ve never had the chance to watch The Goonies until recently, right from the start I could tell the movie had a nostalgic feeling to it (Like pretty much every eighties movie). I can imagine why this movie is considered a cult classic among the many critics of the cinema community. This is a great movie to watch when you’re older, so you can reflect on old childhood memories. The Goonies was saturated with everything a child loves in a movie. Action, adventure, comedy, characters they can connect with, and of course pirates. If I was eight years younger this movie would be my movie of choice. But, don’t be fooled by the PG rating, because this film is fun for kids and adults. There are many juvenile jokes to keep kids on their seats, but at the same time humor suitable for more mature audiences. It’s pretty hard for a children’s film to keep my attention for such a long period of time, but The Goonies had me bursting out laughing every couple of minutes. And, while I couldn’t connect too many of the younger characters in the movie I could kind of connect to the teenage character named Brandon Walsh. All of the characters featured in The Goonies are different inside and out, and allows the viewers at home to bridge with the character of their choice. This movie is just nonstop fun throughout the whole two hours. The combination of Sloth, criminals, and pirates kept my attention glued to the television for the entire movie. These are the many different elements which allow The Goonies to stand out among the many classic family films, and be classified as one of the most memorable movies from the eighties. And, after eighteen years I finally know what the truffle shuffle is.
good concept, shaky executution
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