Up (2009)

Genre

Adventure | Animation | Comedy

Director

Pete Docter

Country

USA

Voice Cast

Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai, Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Elizabeth Docter, Delroy Lindo, Jerome Ranft, John Ratzenberger, David Kaye, Danny Mann, Elie Docter

Storyline

A young Carl Fredricksen (Edward Asner) and a young adventure-spirited girl named Ellie (Elie Docter) both dream of going to a lost land in South America. 70 years later, Ellie has died, and Carl remembers the promise he made to her. Then, when he inadvertently hits a construction worker, he is forced to go to a retirement home. But before they can take him, he and his house fly away. However, he has a stowaway aboard: an 8-year-old boy named Russell (Jordan Nagai), who's trying to get an Assisting the Elderly badge. Together, they embark on an adventure, where they encounter talking dogs, an evil villain (Christopher Plummer) and a rare bird named Kevin.

Opinion

After taking the risk to make an almost mute film with the 2008 masterpiece WALL·E, winning team Disney-Pixar dares again, making of an old man the main character of their new film. And the result is extraordinary.

Deep, moving, comical, and witty, Up is an explosions of colors, joy, and good feelings that deals with two themes almost taboo in animated films: old age and death.

If on one hand it's plenty of funny characters and comic scenes, with taking dogs, giant birds, chases - that kids will love -, on the other hand, as mentioned before, the film deals with delicate issues related to daily life. First, the moving reflection on old age and the value of memories, then the difficulty to accept the death of someone you love and to let them go, and finally the loneliness that comes from that, but also from being different.

Although is no easy thing to introduce such important, and delicate topics into a story that is supposed to target a very young audience, the result is remarkable.

Then there is Ellie's old album of adventures. She had left lots of blank pages to fill them with pictures of a future project, the house on top of the Paradise Falls. But when Mr. Fredricksen is finally there, we, along with him, realise that the most important adventure in life is not the trip we dreamed for our entire life, but love.

In terms of visuals the film is stratospheric. The attention to details - everywhere but in particular in landscapes - is maniacal, and so well done they seem essential.

The soundtrack, awarded with an Oscar, is also spectacular, and accompanies us in the different scenes of the film, wonderfully alternating melancholic motifs to cheerful ones.

If you haven't already, do yourself a favor and watch this masterpiece.

Quotes

Russell: That might sound boring, but I think the boring stuff is the stuff I remember the most.