Review of Upside Down (2012) by Alex Bonafide A — 07 Sep 2013

Admittedly, I have been infatuated with seeing this movie when I first heard about it-- part of the reason I am rating this so high probably stems from my preconceived bias.

Upside Down tells a different version of a Romeo/Juliet story, in which the worlds are truly, "gravitationally", opposite. The plot runs pretty straight forward with not a lot of room for deviation: two people fall in love and the citizens from separate worlds try to stop the mingling-- pretty expected. Unfortunately, the lagging scenes without dialogue, the laughable (in my opinion) voice of Jim Sturgess' narration, miscellaneous unaddressed complexities in the film's universe, and the overall length of the film do little to make this movie an amazing release for this year. Jim Sturgess and Kirsten Dunst literally carry the majority of the acting.

So why do I rate this movie so high, and why do I recommend seeing it at least once? Again, bias, but also three things: concept, visuals, and charm. The concept is pretty original-- two worlds that coexist upside down to each other?! One's possessions and self maintain a specific gravity opposite to the other worlds, which makes it very interesting seeing how people/the world functions. The visuals capture the concept pretty well, with dual-layered scenes of people from different worlds interacting with each other; the film's universe itself is also shown in a form of futuristic etherealness that is quite inviting to the imagination. And the charm comes from the timeless tale of love itself-- there is a simple innocence that is portrayed in the love between Adam (Sturgess) and Eden (Dunst) that I believe makes the lack of other substance really work. The passion is so simplistic that it seems it would connect pretty easily with virtually everyone's experienced feelings.

Ignore the majority of critics (like I did) and give it a try, at least past the opening narration; then see if my logic is right side up or upside down.