Up
At a time when too many animated films consist of anthropomorphized animals
cracking sitcom one-liners and flatulence jokes, the warmth, originality, humor,
and unflagging imagination of Up feel as welcome as rain in a desert.
Carl Fredericksen (voice by Ed Asner) ranks among the most unlikely heroes in
recent animation history. A 78- year-old curmudgeon, he enjoyed his modest life
as a balloon seller because he shared it with his adventurous wife Ellie (Ellie
Docter). But she died, leaving him with memories and the awareness that they
never made their dream journey to Paradise Falls in South America. When
well-meaning officials consign Carl to Shady Oaks Retirement Home, he rigs
thousands of helium balloons to his house and floats to South America.
The
journey's scarcely begun when he discovers a stowaway: Russell (Jordan Nagai), a
chubby, maladroit Wilderness Explorer Scout who's out to earn his Elderly
Assistance Badge. In the tropical jungle, Carl and Russell find more than they
bargained for: Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer), a crazed explorer whose
newsreels once inspired Carl and Ellie; Kevin, an exotic bird with a weakness
for chocolate; and Dug (Bob Peterson), an endearingly dim golden retriever
fitted with a voice box. More importantly, the travelers discover they need each
other: Russell needs a (grand)father figure; Carl needs someone to enliven his
life without Ellie. Together, they learn that sharing ice-cream cones and
counting the passing cars can be more meaningful than feats of daring-do and
distant horizons. Pete Docter (Monsters, Inc. ) and Bob Peterson direct
the film with consummate skill and taste, allowing the poignant moments to
unfold without dialogue to Michael Giacchnio's vibrant score. Building on their
work in The Incredibles and Ratatouille, the Pixar crew offers
nuanced animation of the stylized characters.
Even
by Pixar's elevated standards, Up
is an exceptional film that will appeal of audiences of all ages. Rated PG for
some peril and action. --Charles Solomon
5.0 out of 5
stars
An outstanding Blu...4 Steve
Kuehl "SLV Video"
(Ben Lomond, CA) by discs filled with
more than a day's watch, November 5, 2009
I had no expectations of being disappointed with a Disney/Pixar BD, and being
that it took me a whole dedicated day to get through everything, I now feel it
was worth every penny. The film was enjoyable, funny, sad, and scary filled with
some nice messages about life and loss. I can understand why the majority of my
customers loved it.
The Blu clarity is outstanding, and the amount of reference points are
extensive, but one that stands out the most for contrast lines would have to be
when the house is entering the lair (balloons against the dark cavern). The
sound is selectable between 5.1 DTS, 2.0 DTS and Descriptive English. The 5.1
was beautiful with tons of reference points, sometimes excruciating (that bird
screeching) but thorough nonetheless. Now for the supplements (all times in
minutes):
DISC 1: (BD)
* 5:46 Partly Cloudy short film. Was hilarious. A great depth test for your
display with the clouds. Nice little message of tolerance no matter how
difficult someone might be.
* 4:40 Dug's Mission. An almost lo-def looking short take on our main dog
dealing with the main three baddies on a chase.
* 22:17 Adventure Out There. A must see documentary about the crew taking the
actual trip to the Tepui location in South America. A beautiful travel
infomercial in itself. Loved how their guide only wore sandles for the ascent
and hikes.
* 4:56 Alternate Scenes Ending of Muntz. Sketches and interviews regarding
different endings for that bad guy that they had come up with.
* 1:00 How-to on using the Digital Copy.
* Cine Explore option while watching the film. The two directors give their
commentary with multiple pop-up screens showing art, ideas, etc.
* Screen Saver. Allows you to set a time period for your screen saver to
activate.
* Maximize Your Home Theater. The standard Pixar multi-step process for setting
all of your theater capabilities.
DISC 2: (BD)
Documentaries
* 6:24 Geriatric Hero. History behind the creation of our old guy. All of these
documentaries are interview oriented with sketches and film clips to supplement.
* 8:26 Canine Companions. In depth analysis on the breed choices, training and
dog behavior studied to get the dogs in the film to be more - dog like.
* 9:00 Russel Wild Explorer. Covers the reasons for his character to have the
loss and why he was "egg" shaped as opposed to other sketch ideas.
* 5:04 Kevin (bird). Nice reference to the Swiss Family Robinson ostrich;
covered the hardest part of any of these animation films - the feathers.
* 4:38 Homemakers Pixar. Enjoyed the work that went into them studying
sub-floors and lighting options in making this look so real in the house.
* 6:25 Balloons and Flight. Tells the now famous number of balloons used; some
interesting dirigible history; shows the Pixar group using that local Bay Area
air service I keep seeing fly around here (research stuff).
* 7:37 Composing for Characters. Have to be into the musical/scoring stuff for
this one.
Extras
* Global Guardian Badge Game. After the initial setup of name, difficulty levels
and tutorial material, the game has an extensive amount of country/geography
material. Customers grouped around and we did fine for the United States
section, but we randomly tried Africa and we bombed (some of the countries they
were asking for I hadn't heard of in years) - good learning tool though.
* 9:15 Alternate Scene - Married Life. Another sketch/interview piece about more
material being removed/added into that section of the film. The scene itself
would have been only a minute longer.
* 6:00 montage. A mix of characters doing funny things - will make the kids
laugh.
* Screen Saver option.
DISC 3 (DVD)
* Film, plus special features from disc 1. WITH THE EXCEPTION of no Spanish
subtitles/language; English only.
DISC 4 (Digital Copy).
* Code both unlocks the copy and gets you the usual points at the Disney site.
Overall, an excellent product no matter how you look at it. The case has that
new single hinge, multi-page off center chassis that has proven to be less than
durable, but it should suffice for low usage storage. Enjoy.
On Today's show, Sophia age 6, and Bella age almost
4, talk about Pixar's 3D movie UP. Even though Bella has not seen it :) Follow
Mugglesam on twitter for latest news! http://twitter.com/mugglesam
Up
