Ho hum: another animated masterpiece. Must be Pixar. What's Up with that?
This makes ten feature-length, computer-animated cartoons from Pixar: Toy Story; A Bug's Life; Toy Story 2; Monsters Inc.; Finding Nemo; The Incredibles; Cars; Ratatouille; and Wall-E preceded Up.
Take a look at that list. Masterworks all. Has there ever been a movie studio with this kind of quality control?
Up, a bittersweet tale of literal and psychological escape from the mundane which spans seven decades and two continents, is about Carl Fredricksen, a dyspeptic widower voiced by Ed Asner, a square-jawed 78-year-old who looks like a cross between Spencer Tracy and Asner himself.
More or less sleepwalking through the routines of daily existence, frequently glancing at a photo of his late wife, the grouchy recluse feels that his life is over because the love of his life has died.
And he's now faced with eviction to an old-age home. So the former balloon salesman hooks 10,000 multicolored, helium-filled balloons to the roof of his house and fulfills a lifelong dream by flying off to the mysterious South American jungle.
He hopes to arrive at remote Paradise Falls in Venezuela, a place he had always hoped to visit with his beloved wife Ellie and that he has actually longed to see ever since, as a kid, he saw a newsreel about world-famous explorer Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer) having returned from there.
Well, he'll encounter Muntz soon enough. But first he'll discover that he has an inadvertent stowaway aboard his floating domicile in the form of an eight-year-old boy named Russell (Jordan Nagai), an enterprising lad who hopes to earn his "assisting the elderly" badge in an effort to become a Senior Wilderness Explorer.
Among the creatures that Carl and Russell encounter when they arrive at their destination are a rare 13-foot-tall flightless bird that Russell names Kevin, and a pack of dogs wearing high-tech collars that translate their canine thoughts into human speech in several languages.
Yeah, just like the creatures in your neighborhood.
Animation veterans Pete Docter and Bob Peterson, who co-wrote and co-directed, pull off the tricky feat of blending pathos and absurdism, and manage to indulge a mood of melancholia throughout their wondrous magic show without diminishing the magic.
There are all kinds of highlights throughout, many of them hysterically funny sight gags in the "Looney Tunes" style. But perhaps the most effective and indelible sequence is a tender wordless montage early on that compresses the story of two lifetimes and a sequence that lasts less than five minutes.
If this visual poem of romance and regret doesn't touch, disarm, or overwhelm you, have your vital signs checked immediately.
This love story / adventure epic / character study / surrealist dream is playing in some theatres in 3-D. Sure, that will render the breathtaking aerial views of the South American landscape even more spectacular.
But, honestly, to add a dimension to this already astounding 2-D feature is, if not to distract unnecessarily or to dim the brightness somewhat, then at least to gild the lily.
So we'll fly over 4 stars out of 4 for a visually dazzling, disarmingly unpredictable, brilliantly imaginative animated gem that's exquisitely funny, sad, sweet, and zany. Who the heck wouldn't be down with Up?
Movie Reviews - Week of 11/16/09
KYW movie critic Bill Wine gives his thoughts on the movies "Planet 51," "New Moon," and "The Blind Side." (3:02)
Movie Reviews - Week of 11/9/09
KYW movie critic Bill Wine gives his thoughts on the movies "Precious," "2012," and "Pirate Radio." (3:02)
Yada Yada Movies - Weekend of 11/13/09
This week KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine take a look at the drama "Precious," the adventure disaster "2012," and the comedy "Pirate Radio." (17:24)
Yada Yada Movies - Weekend of 11/06/09
This week KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine look at the comedy-war film, "The Men Who Stare at Goats," the animated re-make, "A Christmas Carol," and the horror-mystery-thriller "The Fourth Kind." (18:45)
Movie Reviews - Week of 11/2/09
KYW movie critic Bill Wine gives his thoughts on the movies "The Men Who Stare at Goats", "A Christmas Carol" and "The Fourth Kind". (3:01)
Yada Yada Movies - Weekend of 10/30/09
KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine take a look at the Chris Rock documentary, "Good Hair," Michael Jackson's "This is It," and the action-crime-drama "The Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day." (17:43)
Movie Reviews - Week of 10/26/09
KYW movie critic Bill Wine gives his thoughts on the movies "Good Hair", "This Is It" and "Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day". (3:00)
Yada Yada Movies - Weekend of 10/23/09
KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine take a look at the animated adventure "Astro Boy," the bio-drama"Amelia," and the action-adventure-comedy "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant." (17:20)
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And he's now faced with eviction to an old-age home. So the former balloon salesman hooks 10,000 multicolored, helium-filled balloons to the roof of his house and fulfills a lifelong dream by flying off to the mysterious South American jungle.
