It doesn’t happen often enough, certainly not as much as it once did, but every now and again, up on the magic screen that expresses the best and worst of Hollywood, something special happens – a moment of perfection that allows you to ease back and relax in the knowledge that you’re in the very best of storytelling hands. Pixar’s tenth and best film, “Up,” opens in just this way, with a montage bearing witness to the childhood friendship, courtship, marriage and old age of Carl and Ellie Fredricksen (Ed Asner and Elie Doctor).
There’s nothing terribly special about the life of the Mr. and Mrs. Fredricksen. They shared no slow motion runs on the beach or proposals of marriage atop the Eiffel Tower. There’s was an ordinary existence built on abiding love and the moments of the everyday. But it’s from the familiar that the power of this unforgettable sequence comes from. We relate to the decades that pass between them, recognizing them as our own. And when Ellie dies, leaving Carl without his soul mate, we also recognize that they pass much too quickly.
Carl and Ellie had dreamed of an extraordinary life. One filled with travel and adventure. But reality always intruded, eating their savings and worst of all, the years. Today, at 78, Carl seems content to bide his time alone until he can rejoin Ellie, but reality intrudes once again when Carl’s faced with life in a nursing home. His decision to inflate thousands of helium balloons and float his house to South America has little to do with a desire for adventure. He’s hanging on to Ellie in the last way he knows how – by finally living out their dream.
Along for the ride is Russell (Jordan Nagai), an 8-year-old Junior Wilderness Explorer and accidental stowaway. Filled with hyper-enthusiasm and a fearlessness borne of his ability to see the “cool!” in every situation – no matter how dangerous, he drives poor, grumpy Carl — who wants only to peacefully and in solitude live out his days on a cliff next to a waterfall — nuts.
Through years of delivering top-notch entertainment, Pixar stands in an enviable situation no one else in the picture-making business enjoys anymore. Once upon a time audiences went to see movie stars. Movie stars were enough. But with few exceptions that era’s come to an end and today audiences can only be lured to the box office with the promise of a retread, sequel, franchise or some high concept that allows you to see the movie in a single sentence (three men hunt a shark and discover the shark’s bigger than the boat). This severely limits what stories can and cannot be told, hurts the quality of the storytelling and the art form in general. “Up” makes you wonder what else we’re not seeing.
An old widower riding a floating house is not high concept, but it does make for one the five best films I’ve seen in as many years. The story is a complete original, and every twist and turn of its simple plot a delightful one loaded with creative surprise, unique characters, a ton of laughs and just as much heart.
The performances are impeccable. As Carl, Ed Asner gives the finest voice performance I’ve ever seen in an animated film. Director Pete Doctor says he was going for the type of gruff, lovable old men Walter Matthau and Spencer Tracy played so memorably. That may be, but directors will now say they’re going for an Asner type. He’s that good. Every emotion that courses through Carl, the grief of losing his Ellie and finally being brought back to life by Russell, is never once mawkish or played for sentiment. Depth is found in a rich understatement worthy of Academy recognition. Jordan Nagan’s work as Russell is just as impressive. Gone is the precocious, too-cutesy Disney kid. Russell is very real and very, very funny.
“Up” ingeniously contains its story both in scope and with the number supporting players, but you don’t ever feel anything’s missing because the imagination at work here is larger than any frantic, over-stuffed assault on your senses desperate to distract you from the truth of its own hollowness. To go into more detail would be to take away from the delightful surprises that await, but the characters Carl and Russell run into are unforgettable, the adventure exciting, and the laughs bigger than any I can remember in a long, long time.
The 3D effects are superb, never gimmicky, only contributing to the richness of the story and animation. Michael Giacchino’s score is absolutely gorgeous, lush when it should be, subtle when it needs to be, and as an important to the story as Carl and Russell. The pacing’s perfect and the script (written by the director) even more so.
“Up” is what people mean when they say, “You know, they just don’t make ’em like they used to.” That lament isn’t about a particular genre or even nostalgia for a simpler time. It’s about when a visit to the local theatre came with the promise of a sense of wonder and satisfying emotional journey; about being transported to exotic places with characters you feel something for, be it love or hate; about not having the spell broken by ham-handed filmmakers adding things that don’t belong.
Pixar’s finest is perfect for the whole family and deserves to finally transcend the animated category and compete for a Best Picture Oscar.
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