Up

a film directed by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson

review written by jack floobles

January 19, 2010

Up is the latest Pixar movie to hit the big screen. And it's wonderful. One of my biggest complaints with children's films these days is that they pull too many punches. Too many children's films want to save children from having to see the sadder parts of life. Somewhere along the way though, the people at Pixar realized this wasn't the way to make a great kid's film. Kids should be exposed to as much of life as they can be, and by exposing it to them in a beautiful animated format with believable but funny characters, the children are more able to accept those hard facts in life.

At the beginning of Up, we're introduced to Carl Fredricksen as a young boy. He loves flying. He loves big hot air balloons. His hero is Charles Muntz, a blimp riding explorer who has caught some of the world's strangest, most exotic animals. Carl meets Ellie, a plucky, tom-boy of a girl who shares his love for flying and adventure. We're given a beautiful montage of pictures that perfectly show us Carl's life without a single line of dialog: he and Ellie fall in love, marry, Carl grows up and sells balloons to kids, they share the dream of visiting Paradise Falls but are never able to go, Carl and Ellie want to have kids but they're unable, they grow old together, and Ellie gets sick. And inevitably, only a few minutes into the film, we already care enough for Carl and Ellie that we're deeply moved when Ellie passes.

This is a rare film that can tell so much story with so few pictures. We're so used to films these days that are all dialog, words spitting at you at rapid fire across the screen, and we're still not sure what's going on. Up is a sort of magical film where the characters come to life purely through their actions.

After Ellie's death, Carl (now old and voiced by Ed Asner) is sad and bitter. He never had a chance to have his adventures with Ellie, and he misses her severely. A small Wilderness Explorer Scout named Russell (voiced by Jordan Nagai) comes to his house, knocking eagerly on his door, hoping to earn his final badge so he can become a senior scout member. Carl ignores him. He's the typical angry old man telling people to get off his lawn. A corporation has erected hundreds of skyscrapers around the home he and Ellie built, and they are trying to kick Carl off his own property. He is mad at the world, mad at everyone and troubled.

Eventually after being court ordered to leave his property, Carl decides he will finally fulfill Ellie's dream of visiting Paradise Falls. He fills his house with millions of brightly colored balloons. He releases them all at once, and he and his house all take off together.

He soon discovers that Russell is a stow away on his flying house. At first, Carl is reserved about including the boy on his adventure, but it isn't long before the two become inseparable friends. From there, he and the boy enjoy many adventures together on their quest to get Carl and Ellie's home to Paradise Falls. Of all things, there are talking dogs, a rare exotic bird and an unexpected villain. All in all, the story is fun, fast-paced and never bores. It works perfectly with the humanity that Ed Asner brings to the role of Carl Fredrickson, a bitter, angry man who finds love and hope again after the passing of his wife. In this way, it's of course predictable; we never believe we won't arrive at the ending at which we inevitably arrive, but the fun isn't in a surprise ending, the fun is in loving the characters and enjoying the adventure they have together.

Up is a great film. It affirms that Pixar knows how to make great movies. Wall-E still stands as my favorite Pixar film, but Up might be a close second.

the following actors/directors were tagged in this review: