Film Review: Up

Director: Pete Docter

Another joint effort from Walt Disney and Pixar studios to produce a bright CGI movie that was originally released with a 3D option, naturally I saw the 2D option myself. The project had been going through pre-production since 2004 with Pete Docter working on a story of somebody escaping mundane life for an adventure and it took until 2009 for his vision to come to fruition. It became the first fully animated film to be released at the Cannes Film Festival as well as the first 3D film to do so.

Carl Fredrickson was a shy boy who idolized explorer Charles F. Muntz, who is claimed to be a fraud after he found a rare bird skeleton at Paradise Falls in South America. Carl always dreams of going to Paradise Falls to capture the bird but he eventually gets married to Ellie and the money that they save for the trip ends up being spent elsewhere, especially on the house. After a life changing event Carl decides to finally embark on his adventure.

Carl with Russell and the floating house

The early scenes showing Carl growing up and marrying Ellie with highlights of their life as they grow old were very touching and emotional. It mirrored so many people's lives as they go through life and their dreams often take a backseat to more mundane real-life problems. The first act captured the happy and sad moments of life perfectly but unfortunately the rest of the film fell into a rather annoying spectacle with a giant bird, talking dogs and the obvious bad guy. The character of Russell suddenly joined the annoying new characters in their attempts to make the film rather tedious as they just got on Carl's nerves for around half the running time of the film. A good opportunity lost for me.

2/4 Touching but ultimately annoying adventure