Balloons are something temporary. They get blown up, shine bright for a short period of time and then wither and fall back to the ground, a stretched out shell of what it once was. A lot of films are like this too. At first they’re great. After watching it, there’s a sense of enjoyment and maybe even excitement. But as time goes by they simply don’t hold their air, forgotten in the mix of new films, dated themes and even hype. Disney Pixar’s Up is unlikely to be such a film, though. Filled with wonderment and intrigue, it tells a timeless tale of adventure and aging that touches on almost every emotion a children’s counselor’s “Feelings” poster covers. While the somewhat dull third act takes some air out of the film, there’s still a lot to applaud.
Now in the twilight of his life, Carl Fredricksen (voiced by Ed Asner), simultaneously finds himself looking ahead and reflecting back. He’s had a good life. It’s been insignificant by worldly standards, but he navigated a successful marriage, held down a career and always found a way to pay his bills. But now the world around him is growing exponentially as demonstrated by the malls and business centers barricading his old home in. He’s lived a good life but following a violent outburst, Carl is set to live out the rest of his life in senior’s jail.
Rather than idly watching his life fade, Carl opts for the old Western routine of going down with a bang. Although, I guess in this case he’s going up. Strapping thousands of balloons to his house, Carl makes a break for it, house and all, heading on the type of adventure he and his late way Ellie always dreamed of but kept putting off. Along with accidental castaway Russell (Jordan Nagai), Carl finds himself on a journey that takes him to the beautiful jungles of South America, a place for solitude and the rediscovery of the adventurer’s spirit.
The first 30 minutes of Up is some of the finest storytelling I have experienced in a long time, perhaps since the beach storming at the start of Saving Private Ryan. Up tells Carl and Ellie’s tale in a beautiful montage that is funny, touching and heartbreaking all within a five minute span. It does so through carefully constructed images that highlight the most important aspects of their life together from start to finish (at least through the eyes of Carl). This exposes his heart and lays the groundwork for all that follows. Unfortunately, once Carl reaches South America, Up loses some of its momentum.
The film still plods along with great wit and insight into the battle between young and old, however when something starts out amazing and finishes as just “really good,” I can’t help but feel a little let down. Perhaps my expectations got raised a little high, but I suspect it was more because the essential part of Carl’s journey was realized relatively early in the film.
Up is a wonderful film filled with visual marvels, imagination and a great sense of adventure. Although the emotional journey plateaus early, it still provides many points to ponder and celebrate.
Up Blu-ray Review
Continuing the current trend of value-added Blu-ray releases comes Disney’s Up. It’s a four-disc offering that includes the film, a second disc of features, a DVD version and a digital copy.
The film on the Blu-ray looks exceptional – better than I recall when I saw it in the theatre. The picture is in 1080p high definition and offers a stellar blend of detail and color. Audio is available in both English 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD. There’s also dubbed tracks in French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital.
Director Pete Docter and co-director Bob Paterson provide a Cine-Explore commentary, which is essentially an enhanced version of the traditional commentary track with added pictures and video that match up with what they’re saying. This adds a lot more context and is more entertaining as well. This is just the beginning of the bonus features.
Both the theatrical short, Partly Cloudy, which preceded Up in theatres and a new short, Doug’s Special Mission, are included. The first disc also has a 22-minute featurette that looks at the remote locations in the film and the great lengths the filmmakers went to study them in-person. On the second disc there’s separate featurettes on Carl, Russell, the dogs, Kevin, Carl’s home and its creations, balloons and flight, and the character-based score. None of these run longer that nine minutes.
The package has two alternate scenes that are created with a combination of commentary and storyboards. The first looks at the different fates thought up for the film’s villain, Muntz. The second, which is on the bonus features disc, is a different take on the classic ‘Married Life’ sequence.
Addition features include a six-minute montage of promotional materials, two trailers and ‘Global Guardian,’ a game that tests one’s geography skills.
Up Gallery
Trailer
