A Movie Made for 3D Animation- Great Fantasy Film Overall

Rating: 9/10 (30 May 2009)

I'll be honest. I was prepared to be disappointed when I went in to see this film. As I said in my review for "Wall-E" last year (which is at this link if you want to read it: "http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0910970/usercomments-293"), Pixar is the only 3D animation studio that has not made a bad or even mediocre film yet. I was a bit skeptical about "Up" not because of the recent news that Disney is worrying about its commercial appeal, not because of the unrealistic plot elements (and there are some), but because after nine great movies, a misfire could be on the horizon. Fortunately, "Up" is far from a misfire. Like the other Pixar movies, it takes an intriguing, original plot line and creates a masterpiece of a story with humor and heart.
The main character of this story is someone who has the least potential to be made into an action figure, which is probably what is making Disney stockholders nervous as of the date this review is being written. Carl Frederickson is reminiscent of Peter "Ralphie" Billingsley (from "A Christmas Story" [1983]) as a child, and a cross between James Whitmore and Mr. Magoo as an elderly man. Although his image won't send kids flocking to toy stores, it doesn't really matter. Some great movies have been made with senior citizens as the main characters ("Cocoon" [1985] and "Bubba Ho-Tep" [2002] come particularly to mind), and it's about time Disney make one.
The most appealing thing about Carl Frederickson is his character. From the moment he appears on screen, audiences immediately get a sense of his happy times and times of loneliness through a clever series of montages in the beginning. There were probably many old men in Hollywood who could have supplied his voice, but Ed Asner was perhaps the best choice. Asner gives Frederickson a voice that is curmudgeonly without being too off-putting, similar to his Lou Grant character from 1970's TV.
In the first 20 minutes of the movie, you grow such an attachment to Mr. Frederickson that you can't help but feel like cheering when his house takes off with the help of balloons he spent all night blowing up. Therein lies the point of the movie where you really have to suspend disbelief. Of course this number of balloons can't pick up an entire house, let alone be blown up in one night without really careful planning. And if you spend too much time wondering how the floor of the house didn't stay on the ground, along with the pictures and other breakable assets in the dwelling, you will miss the point of the movie, not to mention the fun of it. The house is really a symbol of seeking new adventures while hanging on to where you came from all along, at least at first.
The basic premise expands with the addition of Wilderness Explorer (or Boy Scout, minus the legal ramifications) Russell, arguably the Donkey to Mr. Frederickson's Shrek (sorry, Disney, but it's true). Russell is a very funny character, and doesn't miss a beat from the moment he comes on screen reading his Explorer book verbatim. The two main characters played off each other very well with witty dialogue and precise comic timing. Take away the comic relief of the talking dogs, and the down-to-the-hair strand awesome CGI animation, and you'd still have a great film with these two characters alone. The Russell character simultaneously adds a lot of well-needed heart to the film, actually making even me feel bad for the potential extinction of the otherwise annoying bird companion Kevin.
In an emerging subplot, Kevin the bird is hunted down by a Charles Lindbergh/Howard Hughes-inspired adventurer named Charles Muntz, voiced with the right touch of menace by Christopher Plummer. The Muntz character is perhaps the first Disney villain who you don't want to be a villain, especially after seeing the faux newsreel clips in the beginning of the movie. He's a self-made man who's spent his life chasing a dream, sort of like Mr. Frederickson is by dragging his house to South America. He's also killing a bird that many, including Frederickson, finds annoying. However, if it hadn't been for the perfect moral balance between him and Russell, it would have been very hard to root for Mr. Frederickson until the end.
The movie, on the whole, is probably more over-the-top than any other Pixar film made to date. You know many kids in America have a toy collection as diverse as the ones Andy has in "Toy Story", and that humans could create a smart robot like "Wall-E" someday. But anyone who spends their time wondering how Mr. Frederickson planned to survive after moving his house to the South American clip, or how the hose he's pulling doesn't break off the house, is missing a great fantasy adventure with many awe-inspiring takes on life. To paraphrase the theme song to "Mystery Science Theater 3000": "If you're wondering how he eats and breathes, and other science facts, repeat to yourself 'It's just a show, and I should really just relax'." On a personal note, having just lost a grandparent who, in the last years of her life, refused to go to a nursing home because she loved the house she had lived in for nearly 40 years, I'm sure the setup of the story will strike familiar tones with many older audience members. I know it did with me, which is why the film was so touching and heartfelt from beginning to end. Hey, I may even be in that situation one day where I love a house so much I would even consider flying it away. If I actually considered doing it, I would hope that 50 years from now they would have more advanced flying equipment to do it with.