Pixar rests on its laurels

Rating: 4/10 (2 June 2009)

It's gotten to the point that most people assume that whatever Pixar does, it's going to hit a home run. But in the case of their latest 3-D animated story, "Up", I'm sad to report that this new Pixar concoction does not live up to the all the hype. For those who are watching a Pixar animated film for the first time, of course 'Up' will seem quite impressive. After all, no other studio comes close to Pixar when it comes to the technical aspects of animation. But ultimately, whether a film is animated or not, it's the story and the characters that make a film great.
It was a bold move to choose an octogenarian as the film's protagonist—on the surface the crotchety curmudgeon, Carl Fredrickson, the elderly Spencer Tracy look-a-like, is the type of character we haven't seen before especially in an animated film. And 'Up' starts off with two very neat scenes: 1) a take-off on the old Movietone newsreels a la Citizen Kane and 2) a lovely montage sequence which chronicles the graceful aging of Carl and Ellie, the girl he's known since childhood, who becomes his wife.
The montage sequence is notably silent and doesn't allow for much character development as to what makes Carl tick. It seems he was always introverted but seemingly happy until Ellie's death. It's perhaps suggested that loneliness has turned Carl into a curmudgeon but with all those happy memories of Ellie, I wonder why he turned into such a sour puss. And that essentially is the problem for most of the film: Carl is simply not very likable. He spends most of his time not acting very nice to Russell, the Explorer Scout stowaway, until the film's climax. But it's quite predictable when Carl finally learns the all-important life lesson that it's much better to be empathetic than uncaring.
'Up' is similar to Pixar's prior effort, "Wall-e', in that it takes too long to introduce the film's antagonist. In Wall-e, we spend a little too much time observing Wall-e as earth's last operable trash compactor. But even those activities prove to be far more interesting than the flying house in 'Up'. After about five minutes, the house with the balloons becomes tiresome; it's not a very clever idea to begin with and all the smashups as it makes it way to South America, prove to be more repetitious than Wall-e's penchant for turning mounds of junk into perfect cubes.
When we finally meet up with the long lost "Man of Adventure', Charles Muntz, and we saw that Muntz was already probably 30 years old in the newsreel at the beginning of the film, then we must conclude Muntz would be at least 110 years old when he meets up with Carl. But he doesn't look a day older than 90! Muntz at least has a little more personality than Carl but he's much too mean a character for such a light-hearted story. For all parents who plan to take their young children to see 'Up', be forewarned: Muntz and his talking dogs are vicious and wholly inappropriate for your young children who will probably leave the movie theater quite scared and some even crying! The giant dodo-like bird, Kevin, is much more appropriate for the kids but when Muntz's pit bulls start attacking him in old-fashioned bi-planes (straight out of King Kong), the charm flies out the door.
The film's denouement wouldn't have been so bad had the adventure in South America been a little more engaging. There were just too many scenes of Carl and Russell tethered to the house, huffing and puffing as they try to reach the illusory waterfalls along with the talking dogs. The rest of it was perfectly acceptable: Carl becomes the good guy, realizes that the reaching his goal was an illusion and bonds with Russell back home. The best part of the film are the closing credits which give us a sneak peak into Carl and Russell's life after their return to the 'ordinary world'.
In the end, 'Up' is a tale of political correctness. Two outsiders, the elderly Carl and the obesity challenged Wilderness Explorer Russell, are able to not only defeat pure evil but overcome both the forces of nature and their own limitations. For Carl it's his self-pity and for Russell it's his lack of self-confidence. Ultimately 'Up' falls 'down' since it's all rather predictable stuff. Pixar has become complacent, simply resting on its laurels. There is only one direction Pixar can go from now onand that is up!