Despite its name, this latest offering from the Pixar Animation Studios ends up rolling downhill from a moving and memorable prologue to a limp and predictable epilogue. In between, it tells the tale of Carl Fredricksen (voiced by Ed Asner), a lonely old curmudgeon who decides to fulfil a sentimental childhood dream by travelling to South America. The catch here being that his choice of transport is to make his house airborne through the use of hundreds of Skittles-like balloons. Unbeknownst to Carl, though, is the fact that he has an accidental stowaway onboard in the form of a chubby boy scout called Russell (voiced by Jordan Nagai). What follows next are their adventures together and room aplenty for some personal growth, don’t you know.
Having been presented with Carl’s life in an initial series of short but entirely effective silent scenes, the audience definitely empathises with the pain that he is feeling from now being alone and feeling isolated in a relentlessly changing world. Moreover, the fact that he ends up having an odd-couple relationship with Russell, which gives him a fresh perspective on life, does have echoes to it of Clint Eastwood’s impressive depiction of the same theme in Gran Torino. Indeed, on that note, there are also hints of inspiration from other films to be found here – be it from Apocalypse Now to Star Wars or from Indiana Jones to Police Academy. Even several of the Looney Tunes cartoons get a look in!
Initially, Up is a real pleasure to watch. Carl’s character is sympathetically drawn in that first series of scenes, the animation is engaging, and for a few wonderful moments when his house tears itself away from its foundations and sails past people going about their daily lives, you delight at what writer-directors Pete Docter and Bob Peterson respectively are looking to accomplish with this film. After all, here is this unlikely hero throwing off his despair and worry, seizing the moment in such an innovative and unapologetic manner, and thus escaping the concrete jungle that had been threatening to engulf him and reduce him to a mere shrivelled shell of a being. Charles Kane had everything, yet pined for “Rosebud”. Carl Fredricksen decides that he is to have no such regrets.
Perhaps, though, these thoughts are too fantastical and gravity, in the end, must win. For as surely as the helium is leaking out of the balloons attached to Carl’s house, the fate of Icarus comes to mind as a disappointing Sesame Street-style second act sets up a familiar-looking all-action final one. Younger viewers may disagree with such an assessment, especially as more kid-friendly characters do get introduced at this stage. However, despite remaining a warm and reasonably engaging work, the nagging feeling remains that the film’s zenith has long since been passed by then.
Glorious to look at, but a rather hackneyed plot after some initial magic.
Filed under: Cinema, Films, Movies | Tagged: Bob Peterson, Christopher Plummer, Ed Asner, Jordan Nagai, Pete Docter, Pixar, Up
