I was getting a lukewarm feeling from the trailers. I mean, the idea of a house floating away on balloons is wonderful ala Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach, but I was put off by the general lack of any sense from the previews.
1. Old man lifts off in house.
2. Annoying looking kid tags along (I bet he becomes one of those kids that I want to choke to death because he's stupid, screams all the time, is nothing but a burden, and gets EVERYONE in some kind of trouble - remember those kids in Jurassic Park that were always screaming and getting noticed by the dinosaurs when they just needed to pipe the fuck down - or die?).
3. Them finding a talking dog.
4567. Them getting chased for some reason by a pack of dogs, a big dodo looking thing, some old madman in a blimp, and that stupid kid getting dragged across the window of the blimp in a really cliched comedy segment.
It all just didn't make sense and I even thought, "crap, is Pixar actually conforming to the declining standards of the movie industry where mindless action > good storytelling?"
Well, I can tell you now that they didn't. The movie was amazing, absolutely heartbreaking in a number of places but supremely endearing in so many others. I couldn't help but cry during a few scenes. The story is incredibly strong and Pixar has actually succeeded in making complete sense out of a movie with a taking dog, a big dodo, a chubby asian boy scout, and a flying house. The visual artistry of the movie is beautiful at times and really conveys the sense of wonder and eccentricity that are trademarks of this movie. I can't recommend Up highly enough.
EDIT: The boy scout IMO still retained some of the "dumb kid" syndrome that is common of other child characters in movies. His, ah, "childish ignorance" created one of the big obstacles in the plot for the main characters, one of those "if the kid had only NOT done this little thing, everything could have continued to go on so RIGHT, instead of EXPLODING." And this begs the question - why can't movies actually make kids part of the solution rather than be the harbinger of problems?
1. Old man lifts off in house.
2. Annoying looking kid tags along (I bet he becomes one of those kids that I want to choke to death because he's stupid, screams all the time, is nothing but a burden, and gets EVERYONE in some kind of trouble - remember those kids in Jurassic Park that were always screaming and getting noticed by the dinosaurs when they just needed to pipe the fuck down - or die?).
3. Them finding a talking dog.
4567. Them getting chased for some reason by a pack of dogs, a big dodo looking thing, some old madman in a blimp, and that stupid kid getting dragged across the window of the blimp in a really cliched comedy segment.
It all just didn't make sense and I even thought, "crap, is Pixar actually conforming to the declining standards of the movie industry where mindless action > good storytelling?"
Well, I can tell you now that they didn't. The movie was amazing, absolutely heartbreaking in a number of places but supremely endearing in so many others. I couldn't help but cry during a few scenes. The story is incredibly strong and Pixar has actually succeeded in making complete sense out of a movie with a taking dog, a big dodo, a chubby asian boy scout, and a flying house. The visual artistry of the movie is beautiful at times and really conveys the sense of wonder and eccentricity that are trademarks of this movie. I can't recommend Up highly enough.
EDIT: The boy scout IMO still retained some of the "dumb kid" syndrome that is common of other child characters in movies. His, ah, "childish ignorance" created one of the big obstacles in the plot for the main characters, one of those "if the kid had only NOT done this little thing, everything could have continued to go on so RIGHT, instead of EXPLODING." And this begs the question - why can't movies actually make kids part of the solution rather than be the harbinger of problems?
