Up (2009)

05Jun09

Up IMDB Link

Directed By: Pete Docter

Written By: Bob Peterson

Starring: Edward Asner

There is a fine line between a movie like Up and movies like Johnny Tsunami and Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off. If you are at all aware of those made for TV Disney movies you are screaming at me right now “How dare you? How dare you put Pixar next to that trash?” No, I’m not writing a negative review just to be “that guy” to get attention, quite the opposite actually.

I brought up Chaplin in my review for Wall-E and I’m bringing him up again. Charlie Chaplin is an often forgotten amazing cinematic auteur. He not only produced, wrote and directed his movies, he also acted, edited and composed the soundtrack. What’s even more forgotten is how he had a very classic Walt Disney-esque approach to cinema where he would labor over his project, tweak them over and over until they were perfection. Why do people usually forget his incredible artistry? Aside from his character being so powerful and over riding any thoughts of creativity I think it’s just his ability to make you not think about it.

Like Walt and Chaplin, Pixar has a philosophy of film making that if you can see them behind the camera then they aren’t doing their job correctly; no superfluous scenes, nothing that’s not needed will be added, and always build the story and keep the audience engaged. But then why with all this adoration must you compare Up to Johnny Tsunami and Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off? Maybe it’s  because I’ve been soaking myself in the NBA Playoff’s but execution is something that can never be over looked. The difference between a team advancing over one going home can be as little as keeping your hands up while guarding.

If I wanted to be a dick I could break down Up’s story into a childish version of Gran Torino. Old grizzled man whose wife could never bear a child meets young Asian boy who has no father and they go on an adventure in South America where they learn to love one another and learn about life. But you can make anything sound cheap. The difference is movies like Johnny Tsunami and Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off are executed so poorly that they lose you, you see the cheese seeping through and it doesn’t work because of it and they come off as cheap.

But in a Pixar film, you’ll be shown a medium shot where a character sits down, then notice a painting in the background building on his character, then realize the shot was really so you could see something through the window in the background building story, then the thing in the background will do something wacky and make you laugh all in a single medium shot that lasts for about 20 seconds and is filled with gorgeous art, lighting, style and great acting. This type of incredibly well executed cinema is exactly what separates the cheap from the incredible and Pixar is masterful at it.

Again in Up, the intro on paper could probably be read as cheesy but the execution is so good that within 20 minutes you have a big lump in your throat over computer generated character’s. Look around, you’ll see grown men with tears in their eyes. You are invested and that’s the key. With that sort of emotional investment brought on by the perfectionist attitude of Pixar, the rest of the film feels that much more important. Be not afraid, Up is no Johnny Tsunami or Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off, it’s a beautiful and well executed film that will be added next to the long line of classics from Pixar and somewhere you know Walt Disney and Charles Chaplin are loving Pixar for continuing their philosophy of cinema.

Filed under: Comedy, Documentary, Recent   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: Chaplin, Disney, movie review, Pixar, Up