"Up" worst of 2009 so far

Rating: 1/10 (24 June 2009)

I don't think I've ever been so mad at a Disney/Pixar film before! "Up" was beyond terrible!! I don't want to give away any spoilers, but there's really nothing to spoil. The basic plot of the movie is this: After the death of his wife, an elderly man (Mr. Fredricksen) decides to fly his house to South America using thousands of helium balloons as a tribute to his wife's life-long dream to live at the top of Paradise Falls.
That doesn't sounds so bad, right? WRONG! My daughter is very sensitive to topics like death, and loss, and loneliness, and depression BUT THOSE ARE THE MAIN THEMES OF THE MOVIE! *headdesk* We should have left the theater after the hospital death scene and funeral home scene, but I thought "hey, it can't get any worse!" WRONG.
Just when Mr. Fredricksen takes off to the sky, he learns that a little boy (Russell) has become a stowaway on the trip - he was on the porch just as the house broke free of it's foundation.
Russell is there to provide comic relief, but at the same time we learn that his father has abandoned him, he may or may not have a mother at home, and all his good memories are boring ones.
*headdesk* Oh, they make it to South America just fine and that's when the real "adventure" begins. Not. Mr. Fredricksen and Russell become the protectors of a giant endangered bird who is trying to escape from a hunter who has spent nearly all his life in search of the bird. Oh, yeah, the hunter has also been breeding an army of dogs who can talk via a collar translator that he developed.
Please read that last paragraph again. An old man and young boy in a flying house have to protect a giant bird from a man who has an army of talking dogs.
*headdesk* It is that level of ridiculousness that makes you feel like a rube for being taken in by the sentimentality of the first 15 minutes of the movie - when Mr. Fredricksen and his wife meet as children and we see their long, happy life together in a beautifully done montage.
It is that level of ridiculousness that makes me question why Disney/Pixar would have such a heavy hand on the "death" aspect of the movie. Oh, it doesn't stop once Mrs. Fredricksen passes away. Throughout the movie, Mr. Fredricksen talks to his wife, gazes lovingly at her old pictures, invokes her name in times of trouble, and makes it his mission to fulfill her final wish at any cost.
Sure, he eventually has an epiphany about what's important to him now, and how he needs to live in the present, not the past, but it is too little too late. My daughter was already scarred.
When the lights came up in the theater, she didn't want to stick around for the credits. She bolted up the aisle, out the door, and went to the car without saying a word. I know that she was trying to hide that she had been crying, which broke my heart (especially since she had been looking forward to this movie for a long time).
I guess I should have done a thorough search for "Up" reviews before we went. I know that from here on out I will. I guess it is my fault for assuming we would have a good time at this heavily promoted Disney film. I know that from here on out, I won't.
Shame on you, Disney/Pixar, for being so out of touch with your audience.
Two thumbs down.