UP (mini review)

AArdvark · Post by **AArdvark** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 4:22 am

I don't know why I bother to call these things reviews since it's really just me explaining how the movie in question impacted me emotionally. Guess they gotta be labeled something.

UP is 'spozed to be 'you-can-have-an-adventure-even-if-you're-old' kind of movie. To me it was a seriously depressing reminder of one's mortality. They put the adventure part after the main character lives his whole life with his wife. Then she dies. Being a person living on that same lifetime road it just made me think how unsettling the coming years might be. Sucked all the fun out of the rest of the film. I hate funsucking movies. The talking dogs could have been so much more.

There was the usual Disney formula of nobody gets really hurt during the adventure except for the bad guy (but you never see him die) and they all fulfill their goals.
Lotsa thematic stuff too, maybe too much, actually. They kept throwing the balloon theme and the bird theme at me, just in case I didn't see it five seconds ago.

(possibly more later, hafta work now)

THE STAY
TUNED
AARDVARK

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 10:25 am

Up is the best of all of the Pixar movies, and an awesome, awesome movie. Anybody who doesn't like it sucks.

AArdvark · Post by **AArdvark** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 4:01 pm

I guess in that case I must suck, but I only suck a little because I didn't totally dislike the movie.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 5:53 pm

Okay, you suck a little.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 9:18 pm

On my flight to Austin, I declined buying television for the monitor in front of my seat.

The loop that it showed, then, must have played the trailer for Up fifty times.

I already think Pixar is full of the least talented storytellers in the history of civilization, except for maybe pre-verb cavemen (NOOK HUTT CLUB BONE APPLAUSE!) but seeing their goddamn stupid CG demo reel on infinite cycle made me despise them on a level that I didn't previously know I was capable of.

I am sure I could predict every single thing that happens in the movie by simply seeing the old man, the kid and the balloons. Wow, adventures!

At least they didn't make a movie that had talking animals in it, like they normally do.

AArdvark · Post by **AArdvark** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 4:10 am

D'Oh! There are talking animals in UP. Least all the dogs have collars that talk for them. Close enough to be in that category, tho. One of the things that Pixar does well is to tell a story using only still images. Unfortunately the story the images tell is standard Disney fare.

THE
HACKNEYED
AARDVARK

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 6:01 am

I dare anyone over the age of about 35 to watch the first 10 minutes of that movie and not bawl like a baby (or at least get choked up). If we make a thread of movies that make us cry, this one goes on the list. Why is the popcorn so salty daddy? BECAUSE I'M CRYING IN IT JUNIOR.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 10:06 am

What Flack said. Holy Christ, the first ten minutes of Up, by themselves, could qualify as one of the best films of the year.

Everyone tears up, Flack. I'm glad you qualified that with "over 35", though. That's probably true.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 1:41 pm

AArdvark wrote:D'Oh! There are talking animals in UP.

I know, friend.

I know.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 1:43 pm

I would like to state that I am not one of those people who feels that his personal preferences = the ultimate arbiter of good taste.

I would like to state that. A lot of people are all, "whatever I don't like must suck."

I don't want to be that guy, but BBSs need a villain to thrive. So for this thread, I will be that villain. It just SEEMS that Pixar makes movies that come off as the cheapest way to pull at heartstrings possible. And I guess I understand it: they are making family films, and the sheer number of man-hours involved in getting these things done must mean that they can't really take risks.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 2:39 pm

I don't want to be that guy

No, so you'll just be the guy who talks about shit he doesn't know anything about:

Pixar makes movies that come off as the cheapest way to pull at heartstrings possible.

The beginning of Up! is not cheap, is not cliche, and comes across in my view as VERY risky, for a "family film" -- 15 minutes of wordless storytelling, covering two lifetimes full of dreams, hopes, struggles, acceptance, and unquestioning love. Sure, you have your talking animals and shit after that, but it gives it all so much more gravity, when built on this strong a foundation.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 5:20 pm

I don't think there is a single detail of the trailer that I haven't memorized. Yes, I WILL be that guy, Pinback. I will be that person, you Godless Media Whore.

(I was going to tell you to fuck yourself in a way that uses the name of the film, but Christ, *I* can't think of anything.)

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 5:21 pm

Also, that kid was so fat, I found it "unrealistic" that the house would still be able to lift off the ground.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 8:15 pm

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:I don't think there is a single detail of the trailer that I haven't memorized. Yes, I WILL be that guy, Pinback. I will be that person, you Godless Media Whore.

Is the trailer the first 15 minutes, you ignorant pusbag?

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 8:40 pm

I don't like how you have framed this into a "yes/no" type of situation. I think that unfairly frames the argument into one I cannot win.

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Fri Dec 25, 2009 6:29 am

Then maybe you should give "up" ...

Five movies that make me cry:

Up!
The Elephant Man
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Saving Private Ryan
E.T. (Not so much anymore, but when E.T. died ... sniff.)

AArdvark · Post by **AArdvark** » Sat Dec 26, 2009 8:16 pm

CE3K!! It's a Richard Dreyfus thing! Isn't it!

THE
THIS MEANS
SOMETHING
AARDVARK

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Sun Dec 27, 2009 8:11 am

You know what's funny? As I've grown older, it's different parts. As a kid, I got choked up at the end when the aliens show up. Not sure why ... it was almost a tears of joy thing. That part still chokes me up, but what gets me worse now is when the little boy gets abducted.

milker · Post by **milker** » Mon Jan 04, 2010 3:19 pm

UP (mini review)

UP (mini review)

Truffle shuffle!