Up (2009)
Thanks for the adventure. Now go have one of your own.
— Ellie
As you probably know by now, my love for Pixar movies have been waning lately. Their last two efforts were not as good as they were advertised in my opinion. I had some hesitation when I saw their latest release, Up this weekend.
The movie is currently #22 of the Top 250 of All Time on IMDB. It also has a Metacritic score of 88. The movie is good, but the movie has some serious plot holes.
The story revolves around a 70-year-old cantankerous balloon salesman, Carl Fredericksen (Ed Asner) that recently lost his beloved wife, Ellie. Their promise to each other is to visit Paradise Falls in South America when they get older.
Plans change when Ellie dies, a land developer wants Carl to leave in order to build a new building. He gets in trouble when he assaults of the contrcution workers and they want him to go into a retirement community.
Carl decides to take the trip to Paradise Falls by tying thousands of balloons to his house and flies over to South America.
Carl doesn’t realize that Russell (Jordan Nagai), a pudgy boy scout was on his porch when the house lifted.
In South America, they encounter a large colorful bird, a talking dog named Dug (Bob Peterson) and an unexpected villain.
I enjoyed this movie, but there was some things that doesn’t ring true. I was discuss that in the spoiler section of the review.
Judgment: This is solid effort by Pixar with some flaws.
Rating: ****
(SPOILER SECTION)
Having trouble with some the plot elements of this film. The first time the house takes off, the big tarp breaks reveals the thousands of balloons lifting the house in the air. How did he fill all of those balloons?
When the people at the retirement community knocked on his door, nobody is there. When the house lifts off, Russell magically appears.
The house goes into the clouds. There is limited oxygen at that high of an altitude. There was no labored breathing or anything.
The winds does not blow the house off course.
The whole thing with Carl and his walking cane. He is unable to walk down the stair of his house, but he is able to run, jump and pull a house, a fat boy, a big bird and a dog on a rope. Say what?
There are just some glaring inconsistencies in this movie that pissed me off.
Posted on June 29, 2009, in 2009, Academy Award Winner, Action, Animated, Best Animated Feature, Comedy, Family, Running Feature, Top 250 of All Time on IMDB and tagged Bob Peterson, Christopher Plummer, Delroy Lindo, Ed Asner, Jerome Ranft, Jordan Nagai, Josh Cooley, Pete Docter, Pixar, Up. Bookmark the permalink. 1 Comment.
Foolish Blatherings 
The front yard is filled with helium gas canisters and the retirement home guys make a comment as they leave about the mess that the old man has made.
Russell said that he was under the house looking for the bird when the house left the ground.
After the house took off, Carl did go inside and sit down on a chair with his eyes closed. Perhaps he was conserving oxygen?
They ended up in a few precarious situations on their way to South America, however Carl’s sophisticated steering and his compass, as well as Russell’s GPS kept them in the right direction.
The film showed a rejuvenated Carl. He perhaps discovered that rediscovering life also meant that his body became more active again. Adrenalin can also cause impressive physical feats!