Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Up

Last night Jess, Jude, Ashley, Aravis and I all had the pleasure of seeing Disney/Pixar's newest film, "Up". It is truly amazing how beautiful a well made film can be. I could go through the list of positives, how "Up" has great visuals, vivid colors, a heartwarming story, a unique premise, good humor, interesting characters, etc, etc, etc. I found it to be more entertaining than "Wall-e", but then that film had a main character who couldn't talk, whereas here even the pets can talk, so "Up" has an unfair advantage. The powers that be at Pixar seem to understand the fundementals of what makes a great film, and they once again have delivered. That is not to say that they have come up with a formula, because formula is boring. No, they realize that at the core of a great film there must be heart and purpose. Then there has to be a story, an explination for the heart and purpose being onscreen. The characters are just as important as the story, and the must be well defined, interesting characters. And finally, imagination is what ties everything together. The audience needs to see things that captivate our minds and fill us with wonder. "Up" has good old fashioned ideas and feelings, presented to us in a way that makes it fresh and new. This was a good film.

1 comment:

mom said...

We rarely see a movie in the theater--too expensive. We'd rather wait for the DVD and have time to mull over the reviews before watching. However, I had read a rave review and gotten another one from a friend, so we all went to see Up on Saturday night. It was David's farewell! We even saw it in 3-D! I was dreading that, since the 3-D glasses we got for the Super Bowl did nothing except give me a headache.
Watching the 3-D was fun, but the movie was excellent without it. I especially liked the prologue. I knew what was coming and I still cried. I think it's amazing that a totally kid-friendly movie could have such unlikely main characters. Who did you all think Carl looked like?