Thursday, December 3, 2009

UP - A Review

I am not a fan of animation. I never really like animation. But this one is one good animation.


The story told of young Carl and Ellie meeting each other as children. They were fans of adventurer Charles Muntz. The first half hour of the movie showed us Carl and Ellie marrying each other, and all their lives together. Finally Ellie died of old age. To honour Ellie, Carl who also got sick of his mundane life, tied their house to a lot of balloons and flew to Paradise Falls, somewhere where Ellie had wanted to go since her childhood. Unfortunately, a wilderness boy scout of sort, Russell, hid under Carl's house and got flew to South America altogether. In the process of getting the house next to Paradise Fall, Carl met a rare bird, Kevin, and a talking dog, Dug. Also, Russell was being a pain in the butt for Carl. When Carl finally met the famous explorer Charles Muntz, he discovered that Muntz was trying to kill them for mistakenly thinking that they wanted to steal Kevin away. After a lot of adventure, Carl saved Kevin and the whole bunch while the evil culprit died. Happily ever after, ala Disney.


I am quite surprise that this is a Disney production. This one is very mature and it is no longer the usual cutesy fairy tale with the typical Disney style. It deals with impotency, death, divorce, single parent, absent parent, disappointment in a kid, and many more. I am also very touched by the love story of Carl and Ellie. They literally built their lives together and around each other. The most touching part is when Carl saw Ellie's Adventure Book and realised that all her adventures in life wasn't about going to Paradise Falls or discovering rare creatures, but to build a life with Carl. I also love the thing about Carl doing everything he can for the wife, even when she is dead. Besides the emotional mature parts, I also love the comical humour part. Russell being the royal pain in the butt is really really funny!!


The animation was pretty good. The landscape animation on South America and the waterfall were very surreal. The design and concept of the rare bird Kevin is funny but astoundingly cute at the same time! Initially, Russell appeared as usual to me due to his extremely "sepet" eyes on his very fat round face. But as the movie progressed, he actually looked cute to me. Overall, the animation was real enough to be convincing, but comical and cartoon-ish enough to remind audiences that this is an alternative reality. I mean, who can float a house all the way to South America?


Another thing I love very much about this movie is the music scores. The OSTs fit in the movie perfectly and it played such a major part in the emotions of the movie. The theme was played with different instruments, at different pace, in different situations. And I am amazed at how the same tune, played with different styles, can influenced the mood of the movie so much!! Kudos to the music director!! Sound wise, the voice actors are virtually unknown, which actually make the movie better! I am so sick of watching shitty animated films with the voice of Brad Pitt or George Clooney that has relatively repeated or no plot.

In a nutshell, I would say that this is one interesting animated film in a whole new category of its own. The concept and the story is new and fresh. The characters are very well-written. The movie actually made me cry and smile and the same time. It is very touching and it leaves a warm feeling inside of me.

Ratings : 8.5/10. High ratings due to amazing OSTs and very very nice story!! Highly recommended!!

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