Up!

Pixar has always set the bar high for itself and, like many of the studio’s devoted fans, I’m always worried that they’ll make a movie where their ambitions exceed what they actually achieve. In the case of the studio’s latest venture, Up, all of the early images and trailers that I saw left me baffled as to what the movie would actually be about. I must have said numerous times in the last month "What is this movie even about? I don't get these trailers." Some old guy attaches a bunch of balloons to his house and flies into the sky?  Was the studio responsible for such modern cartoon classics as Toy Story and Finding Nemo about to lose their shit? 

Up isn’t just a good movie—it’s fucking great and certainly the best to come along so far this year and one of Pixar’s greatest achievements to date.  And having now seen the film, I also understand why the studio resisted showing us what happens after the film’s star Carl (voiced by TV legend Edward Asner) straps those balloons to his two-story home and lifts off into the sky.  

In a beautiful and brilliantly executed 15-minute prologue, co-directors Pete Docter and Bob Peterson (who also wrote the screenplay) guide us through the nearly 80-year adventure Carl experienced before he embarked on his current aerial escapade.  As a kid, he was fascinated by explorers, particularly the dashing Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer), who vanished into the jungles of South America in pursuit of a rare creature.  Heading home from an afternoon matinee at the local movie theater, Carl meets fellow adventure enthusiast Ellie, a young girl with big dreams and a fearless spirit.  That chance encounter leads to a decades-long love story, as Carl and Ellie grow up, marry and experience life’s many pleasures and disappointments together until her death.  Told without dialogue, this single sequence provides an entire movie’s worth of laughs and tears.  It also lends the fantastical events that follow a hefty dramatic and emotional weight.  After Ellie’s death, Carl withdraws from the world, closing himself off to the very possibility of adventure.  Even when he takes off into the sky, he’s not looking to start anew—he’s preparing for his final act.

If I’m making Up sound almost unbearably sad—particularly for an animated feature—that’s because, at times, it is.  But it’s a good kind of sad, a sadness that feels honest and true instead of forced on the audience by plot crap.  It’s also balanced by scenes of genuine comedy and eye-popping action, including a climactic chase set atop…no wait, I’ve said too much already.  Carl may not be looking for an adventure, but adventure finds him in a big way and forces him to move forward instead of standing still.  

And that’s why Up is such a marvel.  At it's core, only Pixar could take a simple adventure story and turn it into a profound statement about life’s infinite possibilities. And if you think I'm being over-the-top and cliche, go see this movie right now. I dare you to disagree. It's pure magic.

A