Rating: 
It’s time to be controversial. Sometimes a film fan just has to step up and speak their heart, regardless of the tides of popular opinion or the potential backlash he may receive. This is one of those times. So, here we go. Pixar are brilliant. There, I said it. Phew. It felt good to get that off my chest.
In all seriousness though, Pixar are animation wizards. If they’d have enjoyed the success they having at the moment a few hundred years ago I’m confident they would have been burnt at the stake. Since stepping up to bat way back in 1995 with Toy Story, which is an absolutely perfect movie and still probably their finest work, they’ve just gone from strength to strength, none more so then in the last few years. Wall-E, from last year, was a technical marvel that manages to pull of the incredibly ambitious silent majesty of its character with a frightening degree of execution, particularly that bit where Wall-E and his love, EVE, dance in the open space with a fire extinguisher, a scene that had me in floods of tears. Ratatouille is a gloriously complex film, on one level a bright, comic story of a Rat who yearns to be a chef and on another a celebration and mediation on the process of art itself in manner of Fellini’s 8 ½ or Godard’s Le Mepris, except neither of those thought to use the vocal talents of Peter O’Toole, a mistake I lament in many films throughout cinema’s history.
There latest work, Up, surely can’t be up there with these works (see what I did there). The film tells the story of Carl Frederickson, a cantankerous curmudgeon mourning the death of his wife who decides to pick up his things and fly off to South America, quite literary, to pursue the adventures the two always dreamed of but never quite imagined. On his way, and the with help of a boy scout named Russell who pitches along for the ride, Carl learns the true value of his life lived and the portion of it left to live. Up is an existential treaty, a celebration of laughter, a virtuoso of storytelling and a joyous, joyous, joyous journey of a film.
Ten minutes in and a sensation of almost fearful dread comes along as you realise that not only is this thing as good as the studios best efforts but, if anything, it might actually be better. If Pixar deserve any criticism at all for there latest efforts it is that, although richly engaging to adults, they might risk alienating their core child audience. Ratatouille’s concerns are, after all, in the adult world of the modern kitchen whilst Wall-E’s technical bravery might come at the expense of making a film too tough a ride for children. Up is funnier and brighter than both these efforts. Its story is adventurous and brisk, dealing with a broad palette of adventure and journey that succeeds in engaging children in a thrill ride they can enjoy. The comedy is also broad, with the side characters the characters meet on the way hilarious in a physical way that engages children and adults at the same time. The very design of Kevin, the exotic bird they locate and look after, succeeds in making the audience chuckle, as does its well-crafted mannerisms and movements. For around five minutes after his introduction, I lost my way in the plot because I was laughing too hard at it just standing there twitching. The film succeeds masterfully in engaging its dual audience of child and adult alike in a spellbinding journey.
But it doesn’t sacrifice Pixar’s emotional and intellectual complexity to do this. I do admit to not crying in the film like I did in Wall-E but I don’t admit it didn’t deserve my tears. The opening montage is one of the most effective ten minutes of cinema I have witnessed recently and the characterisation of both Russell and Carl is complex and interesting without distracting from the wild plot. It’s also intellectually deep. The film’s mediation on life through Karl’s situation, mourning is wife’s death yet trying to live on in her name at the same time, is on a par with something like Antonious Block’s struggle with Death in Ingmar Bergman's classic The Seventh Seal, it really is, and how on earth a kid’s cartoon can get that deep without getting dry in the slightest is surely the manner of some strange witchcraft.
So the film is brilliant, Pixar are brilliant. Perhaps the only down side of the film is the villain of the piece, who does come across as a little lacklustre. This does bring me to a general point: Pixar have yet to create a truly memorial villain to rival the likes of Disney’s pantheonic greats such as Cruella de Vil, the Wicked Stepmother or Scar. This perhaps remains the only fence they still have to jump through if they are to rival Disney for the title of greatest animation studio ever. But, for now, Up is a true delight and one of the most rewarding films of the year. Pixar, you’ve done it again.
In all seriousness though, Pixar are animation wizards. If they’d have enjoyed the success they having at the moment a few hundred years ago I’m confident they would have been burnt at the stake. Since stepping up to bat way back in 1995 with Toy Story, which is an absolutely perfect movie and still probably their finest work, they’ve just gone from strength to strength, none more so then in the last few years. Wall-E, from last year, was a technical marvel that manages to pull of the incredibly ambitious silent majesty of its character with a frightening degree of execution, particularly that bit where Wall-E and his love, EVE, dance in the open space with a fire extinguisher, a scene that had me in floods of tears. Ratatouille is a gloriously complex film, on one level a bright, comic story of a Rat who yearns to be a chef and on another a celebration and mediation on the process of art itself in manner of Fellini’s 8 ½ or Godard’s Le Mepris, except neither of those thought to use the vocal talents of Peter O’Toole, a mistake I lament in many films throughout cinema’s history.
There latest work, Up, surely can’t be up there with these works (see what I did there). The film tells the story of Carl Frederickson, a cantankerous curmudgeon mourning the death of his wife who decides to pick up his things and fly off to South America, quite literary, to pursue the adventures the two always dreamed of but never quite imagined. On his way, and the with help of a boy scout named Russell who pitches along for the ride, Carl learns the true value of his life lived and the portion of it left to live. Up is an existential treaty, a celebration of laughter, a virtuoso of storytelling and a joyous, joyous, joyous journey of a film.
Ten minutes in and a sensation of almost fearful dread comes along as you realise that not only is this thing as good as the studios best efforts but, if anything, it might actually be better. If Pixar deserve any criticism at all for there latest efforts it is that, although richly engaging to adults, they might risk alienating their core child audience. Ratatouille’s concerns are, after all, in the adult world of the modern kitchen whilst Wall-E’s technical bravery might come at the expense of making a film too tough a ride for children. Up is funnier and brighter than both these efforts. Its story is adventurous and brisk, dealing with a broad palette of adventure and journey that succeeds in engaging children in a thrill ride they can enjoy. The comedy is also broad, with the side characters the characters meet on the way hilarious in a physical way that engages children and adults at the same time. The very design of Kevin, the exotic bird they locate and look after, succeeds in making the audience chuckle, as does its well-crafted mannerisms and movements. For around five minutes after his introduction, I lost my way in the plot because I was laughing too hard at it just standing there twitching. The film succeeds masterfully in engaging its dual audience of child and adult alike in a spellbinding journey.
But it doesn’t sacrifice Pixar’s emotional and intellectual complexity to do this. I do admit to not crying in the film like I did in Wall-E but I don’t admit it didn’t deserve my tears. The opening montage is one of the most effective ten minutes of cinema I have witnessed recently and the characterisation of both Russell and Carl is complex and interesting without distracting from the wild plot. It’s also intellectually deep. The film’s mediation on life through Karl’s situation, mourning is wife’s death yet trying to live on in her name at the same time, is on a par with something like Antonious Block’s struggle with Death in Ingmar Bergman's classic The Seventh Seal, it really is, and how on earth a kid’s cartoon can get that deep without getting dry in the slightest is surely the manner of some strange witchcraft.
So the film is brilliant, Pixar are brilliant. Perhaps the only down side of the film is the villain of the piece, who does come across as a little lacklustre. This does bring me to a general point: Pixar have yet to create a truly memorial villain to rival the likes of Disney’s pantheonic greats such as Cruella de Vil, the Wicked Stepmother or Scar. This perhaps remains the only fence they still have to jump through if they are to rival Disney for the title of greatest animation studio ever. But, for now, Up is a true delight and one of the most rewarding films of the year. Pixar, you’ve done it again.
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