Up (2009)

Directed by: Peter Docter/Bob Peterson
Written by: Peter Docter/Bob Peterson/Thomas McCarthy

Pixar just keeps outdoing themselves. But first, let’s see what some inferior studios are up to.

PARTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS–Looks to be pretty dumb. Yes, the 3D may be really good, but it just looks like a stupid premise. A crazy scientist invents something that creates food from water. Good for him. Done.

G-FORCE–Even dumber. A bunch of hamsters work for the FBI. Whatever. Baby Geniuses all over again.

TOY STORY 3–Just a teaser, but a really funny one. I’m ready for it. Bring on Woody and Buzz!

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE–Goddamn. That’s all I have to say. Goddamn. I cannot WAIT for this movie to come out. Yes, I’m worried because, as with everyone else in the known and probably unknown world, this was one of my favorite books as a youngling. But, for some reason, I trust Spike Jonze to turn a twenty-page kid’s book with about 100 words into a feature-length movie. Hell, even the trailer is a tearjerker! And the monsters look FUCKIN’ AMAZING!! I’m all over it.

Ok, let’s get Up….but wait! There’s more!

PARTLY CLOUDY

As with all Pixar films, this one started with a short. And, as with all Pixar shorts, this one was most likely a test for some new technology they were trying out just before they started the movie. Of course, this one was probably a test for the 3D.

It’s the story of a cloud who makes babies. But he doesn’t make just any regular babies. He makes the babies for the most dangerous animals in the world. So what happens when his stork has to take the alligators and snakes to their new parents? Watch and see!

It’s not the best Pixar short, but it’s certainly very good and there’s a lot of fun to be had. Plus, those baby crocs are so cute!

Back in December, I was lucky enough to see about 40 minutes of Up before anyone else saw it. Sure, it wasn’t anywhere near finished with line drawings and 2D animation filling in for unfinished shots, but that didn’t matter. The characters and story were so well drawn without actually being drawn that it could have been released like it was at the time and still been huge. Of course, at the end of the 40 minutes every single one of us was going crazy trying to figure out where it was going. It was kinda torture.

But now I’ve seen the whole thing, and it was good. So….fucking…..good.

Carl Fredrickson (Ed Asner) has lost pretty much everything he’s ever loved in this world. He’s all alone since his beloved wife died and now they want to take his house away. But the 78-year-old former balloon salesman has a few tricks up his sleeve…a few thousand tricks, actually. He ties balloons to his house and takes off for South America and Paradise Falls.

What he doesn’t know is that Russell (Jordan Nagai) is on the porch. Russell is a Wilderness Explorer who had tried to assist him earlier in the day in order to earn his Assisting The Elderly badge.

There are more surprises when the two of them actually make it to South America. I don’t want to give too much away, but I will say that it involves Christopher Plummer, Delroy Lindo a giant bird and a bunch of amazingly funny dogs.

This is Pixar’s first 3D feature and absolutely not their last. I think all of their films will be in 3D as long as the trend lasts. It’s a gimmick right now, but I trust Pixar with anything, so they could make a movie in Odor-Rama and I would go see it a dozen times. They did an amazing job with the 3D here without overdoing it. This is how 3D should be done. No annoying things being poked at you. No close-ups with noses in your face. Just 3D pictures going by with great depth and scenery. Awesome.

But what of the characters? And the story? Amazing and amazing. Carl is a total curmudgeon, but he’s great and totally loveable. Russell is a lot of fun. But Dug and Kevin really kind of steal the show once they show up. They’re awesome and I want them to be my weird friends.

Is it Pixar’s best? Mmmmmm…Wall-E might be a BIT better, but not by much. I loved everything about this movie and it didn’t slow down in the last act. Wall-E, as much as I hate to admit it, kind of did.

Will Pixar ever fail? The closest they’ve ever come was Cars. And even that was pretty funny at times. If Disney had released that under their banner, people would have said it was the best Disney movie in years. Since it was Pixar, it was a disappointment. Up, however, is NOT a disappointment on any level. I already can’t wait to see it again.