Up: MSN Review

When Pixar’s 10th ‘toon debuted at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival – the toughest crowd on the planet – it took roughly that amount of time for the world’s most hardened film critics to start sobbing like babies. Why? Because Up tiptoes into deeper, more adult emotional territory than Pixar have ever ventured before.

 

Unlike Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and WALL-E – which all teased with daring moments of tragedy and romance – Up doesn’t smuggle its message inside a fish, a robot or a superman. It’s a film about a little boy. He’s dorky, he dreams of adventure and he meets a little girl who’s just like him. Then it happens: the most heartbreaking passing-of-time montage you’ll ever see speeds us through the next six decades of their lives together. Until we find Carl again, 78-year-old, a widower, childless, sitting alone on his porch. Life has just flown by.

 

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Sounds a little heavy for a Pixar flick? Take another look at that title. Realising that time has nearly run out, Carl Fredricksen (voiced by Edward Asner) does something he should have done decades ago. He takes off for the wilds of South America – by tying thousands of balloons to his house and lifting off into the clouds.

 

And up, up, up we go into a flight of outlandish fantasy as Carl sets off on the adventure of a lifetime. This is Pixar’s most outlandish film yet: an eight-year-old stowaway explorer, talking attack-dogs and a villainous mad-genius adventurer are all looped into the story. But however funny (very) and smart (very) Up becomes, Pixar keeps everything anchored to very real human emotion. One second you’re laughing at a giant rainbow-coloured bird (called Kevin). The next second you’re welling up at the regret etched into an old man’s face (the animation is flat-out lovely).

 

Sure, you can’t quite shake the feeling that Up never feels as fully formed as Finding Nemo. Like WALL-E, it’s first half is its most perfect. Up gradually pulls from back from its beautiful, bittersweet adult emotions in favour of madcap set-pieces and a dab of sentimentality.

 

But whatever. It’s still probably the most moving ‘toon ever made. Watch it in 3D to see how Pixar use their extra dimension to gently pull you in deeper. Watch it again for the subtle cinematic nods, everything from The Wizard Of Oz to About Schmidt. Just watch it.

Groundbreaking: you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll probably go out and buy a lot of helium balloons.

 

 

Blockbuster Death Tournament 2009!

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Up is released in the UK in October 2009