One big disappointment

Rating: 2/10 (27 March 2010)

I can't believe how much this movie disappointed me. When I saw the first trailers I was already looking forward to it. It looked like a funny movie and the idea felt fresh and unique. After last years "Wall-E", which was one my favorite movies and Pixars best in my opinion, I had to see "Up" too. I consider myself a big Pixar fan and I had the feeling that I would love this one as much as I loved Wall-E.
After seeing it on big screen I still can't believe how much I was wrong. The trailers, the hype, everything feels so wrong afterwards. But were did it all go wrong?
You see, the first act of the film is interesting and promising. We get to know the dreams and the hopes of our protagonist and I really started to feel for the old man. The problem arises in the second half of the film, which is, in my humble opinion, weak and surprisingly not entertaining at all. That's why the biggest beef I have with this film is the logic in the story. There were many times when I had to ask myself "How is that possible?" while watching it. Being 21 years old, I still can appreciate a story with fantasy, talking animals and lots of other stuff not existing in our real world. The only important rule is: It has to make sense in the universe in which the story is playing. Carl Fredricksen is an old man. The first half of the movie we see him having problems walking around. He even needs help to get up the stairs. This is the same man who can drag a house on his back while climbing trough a rocky dessert the other half of the film. I don't care if he had balloons tied on the house, it still must be heavy. Some of the balloons even get destroyed over the course of the film. That alone would make the house heavier as time progresses. Even the bird was able to escape the pack of dogs while dragging Carl, Russell AND the house tied on its back, jumping around like it was just carrying papier mâché instead of real persons (and a freaking house!). Mind you, Carl was even strong enough to climb up a ladder outside a zeppelin. Why? I guess because the plot needed him to.
My second problem with this film was the lack of promised jokes. Interviews led me to believe that this was going to be "Pixars funniest film". Yet, all the jokes were seen in the trailers and at the time I saw them on big screen I couldn't laugh because of them anymore. This film is the exact opposite of "funny". The first 15 minutes are depressing and heart-wrenching. Russells family story wasn't uplifting either and even in the end I felt more depressed when his father never showed up. Kevin gets bitten, separated from her children and captured, Dug gets humiliated and also physically abused by the other dogs, the house nearly gets destroyed over-dramatically and the main villain, who was actually interesting at first, was just an old, crazy man, shunned by society. This film was Pixars funniest? I highly doubt that. I still think that title belongs to Monster Inc. which is also better in every aspect possible.
The villain Muntz, as I said before, was interesting at first. How old is this guy anyway? He was already an adult when Carl was still a young boy not older than 8. And he still lived when Carl was 80 years old. No explanation on that mystery? The talking dogs were a nice idea but it ended being that when they were able to fly on mini airplanes shooting at our protagonists. The dogs were all menacing (except Dug who was drawn round and friendly) and stereotypical. Making the Doberman the most evil of them all was just the icing on the cake.
Was there anything I actually liked? Yes and I can name it. Kevin. Watching this bird movie and interact with all the other characters was entertaining. She was by far the best character and my favorite. Too bad she gets hurt and shoved aside at the middle of the film.
A final few words to the animation: I saw it in 3D and I was impressed. Yet I still think that the animation and the backgrounds in Wall-E were more breath taking. They draw me into the story whenever I watch it and I have the feeling that I'm a part of the film. I kind of missed that while watching "Up".
The traditional short film at the beginning was way better and more entertaining than the main film. And that's quite sad if you ask me.
I had to get this rant of my chest. After hearing that it won at the Academy Awards I was disappointed again. My favorite animated movie 2009 was the underdog "Coraline". It had everything I missed in this mess. I prefer watching "Coraline" over "Up" any day.