Up is the latest offering from the good people at Disney/Pixar. I'll tell you right now, if you're here for some snark and some hate and some throwing rocks at the kid on the pedestal, it ain't gonna happen. It's too good. And I like throwing rocks, especially at kids on pedestals, but mostly just kids.
I'm also not going to provide any spoilers because, and this is new, they SPOIL shit. Who wants to be that guy? Oh, and Darth Vader is Luke's dad. Deal with it.
Pixar has once again achieved an animated work of genius. It actually plays like two movies, the first consisting of silly things that the kids will love without resorting to gross humor or boring the parents. They play silly smart.
The second movie, if you will, consists of a romantic drama, complete with a montage that will make the Oscars weep. Yes, those Oscars. It's so damn sweet that I feel the need to make the fun, and yet I can't. I could only listen to the sniffles around me and smile in my seat. You see, I'm a crying on the inside kind of clown (possible exceptions: Rudy and The Dirty Dozen). Also, Botox.
The two could easily play apart from each other. Hell, they could probably stand on their own. Pixar doesn't go for that. They make them coexist and the result is wonderful. Next for Pixar, the Gaza Strip.
Here's what I was thinking about 5 minutes into Up: Everyone. Else. Sucks.
Seriously. I drop dime all over the place for my two kids and most of the stuff is just glorified Happy Meal commercials. Those guys don't get it. Sure, they make money, but what's the shelf life on Space Chimps?
The secret to Pixar's success isn't so secret. Have a good story. Make it funny, sweet and aesthetically stunning. Don't talk down to the audience, which includes the kids. It's not rocket surgery.
Someday when our children are all grown they aren't going to have fond memories of farting jello monsters channeling their inner Seth Rogen, they're going to think of WALL-E, alone on a forgotten planet, dancing with his own robotic joy to the classic songs of Hello, Dolly. Well, they may not remember Hello, Dolly, but they'll remember the moment.
Up is where it carries you. Yes, I went there, and I'm not done. It floats between adventures had and those ahead and in between is the greatest of them all. Sure, it sounds cliché, but how many clichés do you know that contain talking dogs and Ed Asner? Four or five, tops? That's what I thought.
It is a film about love and friendship and things so basic they've become forgotten, like kindness and respect. Remember those? It takes you Up and it holds you by countless balloons tethered upon so many heartstrings.
Seriously, those strings are made from Snipe heart. It's gross, but highly effective.
Up is another feather in the cap and you'd have to be totally daft to call it macaroni. Up is me fighting the temptation to make a Viagra reference. Up is Chuck Norris in a 3-wolves t-shirt. And I mean that.
There's no place to go but Up. Really, it's either that or Angels & Demons, and let's face it, Dan Brown is the Kenny G. of the literary world.
Pixar would be your Beatles.
Ed Asner would still be Ed Asner.
I give it 5 unicorns:
