Review of Up (1984) by Harry W — 16 Dec 2014

Since Up won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and was nominated for Best Picture, it sounded like top notch Pixar entertainment.

Up is able to establish a sense of sentimentality really early in. After the film touches upon the source of Carl Fredricksen's childhood dreams, it works to establish them with the relationship he shares with the love of his life Ellie Fredricksen as the heart of the story before it transitions into the fantastical journey that it is known for. Up succesfully works at tugging the heartstrings of viewers early on and creating a sentimental mood to start the entire feature off. It does this with minimal dialogue, like a silent movie where everything is physical or left to the implications. It is really well done because it puts all the focus into the gentle atmosphere and visual elements of the film, giving the film a strong start.

Up didn't really reach me as much as other viewers. I enjoyed the film, but I found that the creativity was lacking. The characters in the film were not as iconic as creations that ones such as Woody, Wall-E or Dory have been. There is plenty of creativity in certain aspects of the film, but when it comes to the writing it just isn't there. The story is really thrown together and the sense of adventure is not so direct as the purpose of the journey is not as clear as it could be. There are some touching themes in the film, but it mixes reality with fantasy uneasily and never exactly sticks to one, making it a story about human characters in a completely unrealistic setting. The general mood of the film confused me because the humour was very juvenile while the story was thrown together with sentimental undertones, and it just never felt right. From a story perspective, Up comes up short. It maintains the best intentions and some strong themes, but the actual story itself felt lazy. I'll admit that I felt something for the protagonist as the film chronicled him living out the dreams he shared with his late wife, but the story saw him teamed up with Russell as a sidekick. Russell proved to be a character without much juvenile charm, and in fact he was actual just an annoying foil. He brought little value to the story in terms of either comic relief or genuine sympathy whatsoever. While the voice efforts of Jordan Nagai were good because he captured the over the top energy for the part and delivered his lines well, the character just seemed annoying. Up had an annoying character and a lazy story which dominated so much of the film which I simply could not overlook and it damaged much of the experience.

Nevertheless, Up remained a good film. It was touching in parts, but I also found that there was a lot of clever humour at times. It mainly stemmed from the story element about dogs using technology to communicate in English. The way that the canine characters speak in comparison to their facial expressions and such is very funny. The concept of dogs communicating is one that has high potential if the writing behind it knows what to do, and Up was one of the better examples. There were a lot of clever uses of this in the film, and so the comedy in Up does prove to be funny most of the time. I laughed plenty, but I was more impressed with the technical characteristics of the film.

As with every Disney Pixar film, Up is another feature with incredible animation. The three dimensional detail is exceptional with Up having an excellent look for its human characters who all have their iconic visual elements to them, while the other creatures all look great. There is so much detail in the setting and the movements of everything that it is unforgettable. The amount of colour in the film is also amazing because it fuels the feature with all kinds of energy. Up uses visual elements a lot of the time to tell its story without dialogue like it does in the intro scene, and the colourful detail is exquisite.

The musical score in Up is also very impressive. While the adventure in the script was not amazing, the musical score ensures that viewers are able to grasp the scale that director Pete Docter was going for. It helps to make the film reach the large scale of the journey within it and add to the gleeful energy of the feature, while in its more gentle moments Up is able to create a strongly sentimental atmosphere by adding a light touch of emotion to the feature. Up always feels like it should even if the story is not perfectly tied together, and so the musical score of the feature remains one of its best aspects in terms of establishing atmosphere.

The voice acting is also nice, in particular the leading effort of Edward Asner. In the part of Carl Fredricksen, Edward Asner is the perfect fit simply because his natural tone of voice maintains a sense of frailty to it while he also has a touch of determination about him. He makes a fine fit for the part of an old gentleman and doesn't resort too much to grouchiness which prevents him from being an archetype. He is a protagonist that viewers can easily find themselves caring about, and Carl Fredricksen ensures that the Spencer Tracy type charm is established in the part with his intricate line delivery. He does a great job and shares a friendly voice chemistry with Jordan Nagai as their friendship develops over the course of the story. The pair of voice actors make a strong duo, even if the character Russell gets annoying at times.

Bob Peterson delivers a really strong efort in the role of Dug because his subtle charm in the role of Dug the Golden Retriever is perfectly on par. And as always, the cameo of John Ratzenberger is a great touch.

So Up has some nice elements of sentimentality to it as well as excellent animation, a wonderful musical score and some good humour which is enough to make up for the loosely written story.