UP

Jul 14, 2009 | No Comments | @andrewmarcec

Carl Fredrickson is an eight year old boy when his hero Charles Muntz left for Paradise Falls in his zeppelin, The Spirit of Adventure.  Carl is infatuated with adventure, and one day on his way home from the theater he meets Ellie, a girl his age who has converted an old dilapidated house into her vessel for adventure.  Ellie is everything Carl is not, and they fall in love.  After getting married and growing old together Carl is forced to deal with things that he was not prepared for, and decided to set off on the adventure he and his wife never got to go on in life.  He attaches hundreds of helium balloons to his house and plans to fly it to the edge of paradise falls.  Much to his surprise, Russell a young wilderness scout is clutching to his porch for dear life when the house lifts off.  Carl and Russel are now on their way to South America where they will embark on the adventure of their lives.

“UP”, directed by Pete Docter (“Monsters, Inc.), is a phenomenal film that gives the viewers one of the adventure of a lifetime.  This is done in several ways, but the most important one is character development.  There was so much care given to creating characters that any viewer will be able to instantly relate.  These relationship between Carl and Ellie and Russell was developed, not by humor or personality of the characters, but through the problems that they must overcome.  Most films that are directed toward younger viewers are usually sugar coated, and deal with simple problems to base their plot around.  What “UP” did was genius, they treated everyone like adults, throwing you into problems like death, parental problems, and even sterility.

Another thing that really hit home with “UP” was how human they made the supporting cast.  Carl and Russell stumble upon a dog, Doug, with a special collar that allows his inner thoughts to be spoken.  By keeping canine mannerisms, and assuming that dogs can understand what we say to them, Doug became the perfect outlet for comic humor.  Kevin, the rare bird species could not speak, however through simple things like body movement, and action, Kevin was given life of its own, and allowed everyone to fully understand these seemingly foreign animals.

“UP” is easily one of the best films of the year to go see.  It is fun for anyone and everyone no matter what your preferred genre of film is.  Go and see this one in theaters before it goes away!

Trailer:

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