UP

[bluejeans07]

twirlynoodle invited me to see UP yesterday so I got up super early, got ready and hauled my ass to Burbank! Woo hoo! FROG TRAILER ON THE BIG SCREEEEEEN TWO-DEE SO AWESOME YAAAAY~

Anyway, UP. It was a cute movie. Like Mary Poppins is a cute movie. The best thing I have to say about the movie was the COLOR. Oh my god, colorgasm! The color was just amazing, it was really like a fantasy children's book movie with strong, beautiful, almost candy, fantasy colors with the right amount of strength and saturation. It was a JOY just to see all these beautiful colors work so well together, so WELL DONE.

On the other hand, I wasn't attached to the characters that much and I didn't enjoy the plot as I thought I would. I enjoyed Carl's backstory and it was very moving to see him fall in love with his wife and then lose her without going on their adventure, but there was a bit too much explanation of why things are the way they are with these characters. I liked watching the dogs, I liked Russel, but I didn't see anything beyond their one line character descriptions:

Carl- A bitter old man who is determined to fulfill his promise to his dead wife for the adventure she always wanted.

Russel- An over enthusiastic city kid who is gung ho about earning his badges so that he could see his father who has left him after his parents' marriage ended.

Dug- Funny talking dog who wants nothing more to protect and serve his master.

Russel and Carl do step a little bit outside these guidelines when it comes to rescuing Kevin, the rare bird, and things do get resolved for them, but they still stay consistently in the character stereotypes. Pixar has extremely well rounded characters most of the time, and these characters seemed to fall a bit short on their potential compared to their predecessors.

I did see the villain a mile away, can't help it, it was a little bit obvious.

But overall, the movie was fun, the designs were pure Pixar/Mary Blair, the color was FAB, and the story is okay. The movie isn't as strongly a character movie as it is a gag movie since the characters don't really cause the gags that much as they are just a part of them. It does over explain things but maybe that'll make it easier for a kid to understand. I do recommend it, it is a cute movie and you do leave the theater feeling light and free like a balloon. :D

Comments

[chobit001.livejournal.com]

Now that I've finally seen UP I can come back and read this post and comment...:)

It was a VERY visually well done film! Honestly though I liked the characters and didn't think they were that one dimensional. I think I was mostly shocked how Pixar pushed the envelope to talk about certain issues and I mean...blood in a Pixar film? (Granted it wasn't that gory but still...)

Part of me wishes that when I get older, God willing, that I can be as vibrant as how Carl ended up finding himself. :)

[bluejeans07.livejournal.com]

HAHA, yeah I totally did that too XD I saw so many comments on my flist and I really restrained myself from the spoilers.

Well, the blood didn't surprise me much, there was blood in Finding Nemo. XD It could just be me but blood is never an issue, even in children's entertainment: every kid has fallen over at some point and hurt themselves, it's no secret that when you get hurt, you bleed.

I did like the backstory in the beginning :D It was so sad but it was great too!

It's hard for the characters because they inevitably get compared to Wall-E and Eve. These were two characters who didn't have normal character 'faces', didn't really have ability to talk, and still, everything they did spoke loads! They were fully rounded, developed characters, they had to be because of the way they were designed and lacked the ability to be able to express themselves vocally.

Carl and Russel didn't push that envelope as far as Wall-E and Eve did, they could talk and they had recognizable features, but the problem was for me that I felt that they developed as much as the story gave them allowance to. I'm starting to think that they didn't really HAVE to either because they had normal character features and could talk.