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Movie Review: Pixar’s Up

Despite all of the summer movies I should have seen already (ahem, Star Trek), Up becomes my very first one of the season.

I’m a big fan of Pixar. In this day and age, do you know of any other entity that is batting a thousand? They have no mediocre, just average, meh movies. Every one has been an excellent blend of animation, characters, and story.

Up is a strong follower in this tradition.

But…Pixar may have played themselves out of the realm of some children this time around. Up is rated PG, and parents should take that rating seriously.

This is a movie with some scary moments, violent actions, and dark themes.

I also think that adults will get more out of watching this than kids do because the storytelling is more sophisticated than it has ever been. This assessment is also true for the animated short “Partly Cloudy” that plays before the main feature.

Pixar regularly makes use of wordless montages, but the subtlety and beauty that they achieved in an early sequence of Up left me touched and amazed.

There were character reveals within these early minutes that I’m sure went over a lot of the children’s heads.

I’m not giving anything away by saying that the main character is an older man. As such, he’s dealing with life experiences that are just plain alien to kids. During these times of job losses, financial insecurity, and deferred dreams, Carl Fredericksen’s movie concerns and struggles become that much more poignant to an adult audience.

There are still plenty of elements to delight our younger sensibilities though. Dug, a dog, is particularly funny and charming. And yay! to the Asian boy character.

There is also a strong environmental message to the movie that is never mentioned explicitly. Very sophisticated and trusting of your intelligence.

I saw this in 3D and didn’t think it was necessary. I would have much rather appreciated the colors and scenery in the film without the distorting glasses you still have to wear.

Really, the only downside to seeing this movie has to do with the boyfriend regularly breaking out into the Dug voice. Do all animators do voices?

I have to confess that I “squirrel!“-ed a couple of times while walking the dog the other day though.

If I Picked the Oscars (in order of my vote)

Best Picture:

Animated Feature Film:

Tags: Movies by Ms. SP
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