Review: Up

Pixar's newest feature tells the story of an old, lonely widower, Carl Frederickson, trying to fulfill a promise to his late wife. He wants to bring their dream home to a special jungle dubbed "The Island that Time Forgot" that is the home to a number of undiscovered plants and animals. Along the way he picks up a stowaway, a young boyscout named Russell trying to get his last badge by helping the elderly. The 2 take an adventure in a dream house hanging from uncountable balloons to the amazing jungle where they meet an interesting bird, a number of talking dogs, and Carl's boyhood hero, Charles Muntz, a Doc Savage/Indiana Jones style adventurer.

The premise itself inspired thoughts of great adventure, rolling landscapes, and high energy action, but the movie itself focuses more on Carl's person, his relationship with people and this debt he had to pay. It is the movies greatest strength and greatest weakness. As an emotional center, it works perfectly. It is a great catalyst for an amazing jounrney, and a justifiable motivation for the main character. It is something that makes Carl, who is known to us almost exclusively as the grump rather than the wide-eyed young man we get a glimpse of in the beginning, an empathetic and relatable character. He becomes exponentially more likeable.

As a weakness, it weighs down Pixar's consistency. Pixar has made a great reputation on making fantastic all-ages movies, not to be confused with kids-movies, but in order to continue to do so you must not alienate either side. I think that the emotional heft would bore the children, but even if it does not, the film never lives up to the premise, which promises great adventure. I might be too hard on this movie, but WALL-E was able to what Up couldn't, balance an incredibly fun adventure movie and still bring some kind of mature elements to the plot.

The movie still boasts some great charcters. Russell as the overzealous and super-friendly boyscout is instantly likeabkle and stays that way throughout the film. He mirrors a combination of Carl's early wide-eyed innocence mixed with Carl's wife's go-getting sense for adventure. Not to mention Kevin, the bird, who shows more personality than most people could try to create just by clucking, and Dug, the talking dog, who is written so perfectly and the comedic timing is so on point that you think the filmmakers have actually been able to read the mind of a dog.

In the wake of WALL-E, Up dissapoints. Up is still very ambitious and very well-made film, it just breaks the chain of Pixar's ability to constantly one-up itself.

6/10