UP

I've been deliberately avoiding this film since it came out,but finally came to see it yesterday.

Everything after Finding Nemo seems too calculated,they know audiences today prefer animated stories that address adult issues-the first 30 minutes of Wall-E saw him gathering thrash alone and constantly beeping adorably in a planet long vacated,in Ratatouille the protagonist is a hopeless garbage boy who befriends a talented rat.

The themes are obvious,and I really felt that for a while Pixar were carefully strategizing their way into our minds,I hated Wall-E,Ratatouille and judging from the trailers for UP: I expected a grumpy old man,innocent young boy and some sort of unrealistic adventure where both grumpiness and innocence are overcome.

But UP,was nothing like its trailer.The balloons,which I expected to fill every frame so excitable kids would keep thinking "Wow,balloons",merely gives a gentle push for the story to achieve its own glory-I believe a film is held most by its moments,and in UP the first scene that will make your heart soar and jaw drop is when the balloons pop up from the chimney,and the house takes flight.It lasts for 2 minutes at most,but is inconceivably well-done: like when The Incredibles get cornered and Dash gets the green light to go full stride ("As fast as I can?"),when they first tell the story of Jessie in Toy Story 2,or the opening montage of Finding Nemo at the end of which one surviving egg is shown.

Moments.

The two main characters aren't as restricted as I imagined-Carl's story opens the movie,and a slight temper eruption leads to an order to be sent to a home,and while the chubby boy-scout Charles is cheerful and hyperactive neither of them fit the age or physical stereotype the trailers would like you to believe.

As a child and a so-so cartoon-lover,I think I'd prefer something loud and silly like Kung Fu Panda,but as a lover of film UP is a drug.Its kept solid by a handful of short moments,the tale does get slightly farfetched in the middle,when a typically psychotic cartoon supervillian enters with an army of plane-operating dogs,but beyond that it is a tale of friendship,and an adventure in pursuit of some distant feeling the two characters wish to re-experience.

In a year full of stale,blockbuster movies UP has definitely proven to be one of the best and it deserves more than an Oscar accolade Pixar no doubt has too much of already.

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and,

09' is almost over :)

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