Reviews
Yes yes… I know it’s been out for as long as the time span of the film (one man’s lifetime). And I know it’ll start leaving the nation’s cinemas in the coming few weeks. But it’s still showing at some places this week at least, and if you’re like I was, and you’ve been meaning to see it all this time, but not quite got round to it, then this week might be your last chance.
Up is the predictably sweet and sentimental tale (Disney) of Carl. Carl and Ellie were best friends, lovers, and man and wife almost their entire lives. They met and fell in love over a shared dream of adventure. Their pipe dream was to move (their entire house) to the jungle of South America and live free to have adventures aplenty. Fair enough concept when you’re 8, but as they grew older, all they ever did to make it happen was put some change in a jar. No one ever actually asked them just how they planned to move their house thousands of miles. The dream was stalled every time they needed to dip into the jar for emergencies, until Ellie dies.
Oh no, don’t worry. That isn’t a spoiler. All this happens in the first 10 minutes. It’s nice and sweet to see them start and develop their relationship, to see it grow into a love, and a marriage. But as the first act, it seems awfully rushed and far too simply explanatorily. Like films with a full 5 minute back story in the photograph based opening title sequence, and then kick you straight into the action. I suppose had they hidden the back story in the events of the actual film, it would have been better, but hard to understand for the elderly (the kids would have been fine, they get nowhere near as much credit as they should these days).
So as an old, regretful widower, Carl is being forced out of his home by a big construction company, already having demolished the other houses on his block. This is Carl’s last stand. As a retired balloon salesman, it is a leap of faith to accept Carl has the necessary intellect to be able to attach enough children’s balloons to his house not only for it to float, but for it to be ripped from its foundations, never mind whether it’s even possible in the first place.
Accepting that this is a Disney film, and throwing its silliness faults out the window, onto the passing ground below, Carl makes his way for South America having accidentally kidnapped a local schoolchild. Whether he really wants to or not, he embarks on the adventure he and Ellie had always dreamed of (although you get the feeling it was always Ellie who really wanted the adventure, he just wanted a quiet life and didn’t want to say anything).
Most of the problems I have mentioned that I have with the film, I’m sure you will pass off and say ‘well it’s a kids film, it’s supposed to be silly’. Maybe. But if you look at the last Pixar made movie Wall.E, that was a film that made perfect sense without exposition, that had absolutely no words for the first 45 minutes, and that was loved by children! They’re not as stupid as everyone doesn’t give them credit for.
Having said this, Up is a nice little film. The first half is sweet and sentimental, as Pixar carries Disney’s torch for this kind of thing like a proud angel on the front of its bonnet. While the second half (once they hit the jungle) is genuinely funny all over the place – however all the comedy comes from basically the same joke. It still had me laughing almost embarrassingly raucously during every one of them.
Upon exiting the film, it left me a little disappointed that it didn’t have the wit and sophistication of Wall.E. But then Wall.E was the best Pixar flick since before Toy Story, so that’s not really fair. Truth be told, it was a truly sweet, funny and enjoyable film.
Up - Brought to you by James Wormald -