Another year, another Pixar movie. Last year, in "WALL-E," audiences were brought to a post-apocalyptic world vicarously through Disney, which is apparently inhabited by a sole robot, who spends his days cleaning up the rubble of our destroyed civilization accompanied by his pet cockroach. The opening of the movie is quite reminiscent of "2001: A Space Odyssey" with hardly a trace of dialogue. The film also manages to create an endearing and intelligent story with two characters who pretty much spew each others' names every time something happens. Nonetheless, it wowed audiences (as every Pixar movie has done to-date).
Now, a year after "WALL-E," Pixar releases their second movie based on humans (the other being "The Incredibles"). I'm not sure if it's intriguing or disappointing that Pixar tends to focus more on inanimate objets as main characters instead ofh umans, but it does make a good sales for the children. However, they decided to opt out of their inanimate object drama to focus on what we can sympathizer with a bit more: a real human. In "The Incredibles," Pixar took out some of the funny for some action, creating the only PG-rated Pixar movie until "Up." In "Up," some of the funny is also taken out, but this time it's replaced with realistic drama and adventure.
The first five minutes of the movie presents us with some of the high drama that Pixar is deciding to handle, as a montage of the main character's life fast forwards to present day, and his present predicament. Within five minutes of the movie, we are presented with innocent youth, family issues, love, lost love, urban renewal, and dealing with being part of a dying generation. Needless to say, this movie starts off as the heaviest Pixar movie to-date. But because of this, it may be perhaps the best one that Pixar has released.
The film is, for all intents and purposes, a coming of age story. The only catch: the main character is well into old age. Dreaming of being an adventurer early in his lifie, he got caught up in young love and spent the rest of his life with his wife, dreaming of adventuring, but preferring to stay at home with the love of his life. Cute? Absolutely. Realistic? Most likely; not many people go traveling off to a secret, forbidden area of South America just because they want to. Now living alone in old age, Karl Frederickson ends up leaving home (and we've all seen the trailers and commericals of him sailng away in his house). So what makes this a coming of age story? Karl is never looking for an adventure. He goes off in the hopes of finding this secret area of South America, but he never dreams of reaching it. Not only that, but the side characters presented in the story that aid Karl provide more than just a side story for him. The enduring youth, Russel, as well as Dug the dog, and the wonderfull bright foreign female bird, Kevin, help Karal realize the things about him he's missed since his wife died so many years ago.
The context of this personal drama is present amongst a fun and wonderful adventure story, full of wild villains not seen since Disney's heydey back in the 90s. What makes this movie so fun and enjoyable is how easily Pixar is able to meld the personal dramas of each individual person (or creature/animal) and fuse them together to make a stunningly realistic fantasy adventure. Even with all of its wild colors, "Up" is most definitely Pixar's darkest movie (even taking into account the post-apocalyptic nature of "WALL-E"). Why? Because the villain will stop at nothing to get what he wants (including killing animals and children), he has a pack of ravenous dogs that bow to his every whim, and the human characters add a sense of sympathy that is usually missing from Pixar movies (it's hard to sympathize with a toy, insect, car, robot, fish, rat, etc.)
However, even will all of this personal drama, Pixar is still able to make the movie extremely funny. Some moments are laugh-out-loud funny, while other moments are so subtle it's hard to notice them on the first watch. The movie shifts so seamlessly between drama and humo it's hard to say that it's still a Pixar movie. It's such a departure from their previous movies that it feels as thought it's na 80s or 90s Disney film (which is always a compliment...just don't touch the 00s).
Overall, the entire movie is enjoyable, even if it isn't as laughable as Pixar's previous films. However, it's their most personal and dramatic, and absolutely a must-see. Just be prepared for a rather dark kid's movie
Score: 9.5/10
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