Carl Fredrickson (voiced by Ed Asner) is forced to enter a retirement home after his wife’s death. Instead, he tries to escape from that future, chasing a dream he held in his mind since childhood.
After Wall-E's critical acclaim, the question on everyone's mind was how Pixar would follow up this success. Where once Disney's Lion King achieved perfection for its animation, it could only be succeeded by the rebellious technological advancement which was Toy Story. Further advancements, such as 3D digital animation, have not been enough to shift focus from content and so it was always inevitable that this would form the basis of comparison between Wall-E and its successor.
Pixar Understands the Importance of Story
Quality plotline is how Pixar manages to maintain its enviable high standards. All members of the audience are catered to as Up sees the story of a young boy become intertwined with the story of a troubled aging man. Senseless action plot lines are traded for funny and more meaningful ones. This is a blessing for both the younger and older audience while the latter may also find themselves reaching for a Kleenex as the first twenty minutes will seem like an animated version of About Schmidt - as Mr. Fredrickson's life is played out from his adventurous childhood, through a happy marriage and finally the death of his wife. The tone, however, swiftly changes and the mood picks up as the remainder of the film plays out (a select few may even consider they are being treated to an animated version of a future Indiana Jones film).
Something for everyone in Up!
Though the film reaches out to all members of the audience it does not do so at the expense of the film's structure, which is well contained without falling prey to too many mood fluctuations. The darker plot elements, such as an aging man's solitude and the loss of the dreams of a lifetime, play against the more up-beat elements in perfect harmony. And so this odd pair's adventure and the use of such a fantastical elements as a floating house, unfamiliar exotic surroundings and animals with human voice translators render this a perfect story with an immaculate flow.
And it is with this momentum that Pixar establishes itself as an animated film production company with a cross-age audience. Because of this, the rather risky decision was made for Up to be the opening film at last year’s Cannes film festival. Without trying to surpass the visual splendour of Wall-E, Pixar instead focused on any plot shortcomings and improved on those, thus propelling Up (as well as its predecessors) ahead of any competitors and outside the realm of competition. Should Pixar continue in this fashion, then each new film will be its masterpiece, but only until the next arrival.
Tasos Melemenidis - Watching and reading frantically about cinema as a teenager, had a major impact on my studies in IT. This was a negative impact as far as ...
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