Okay guys, let’s kick this off now. I’m probably going to use this blog to get my opinions out on the internet about anime, manga or movies in general. Never done this before so I’m pretty amateur with it. So I guess I’m going to get it up and going with this baby. Up. (Pun intended)
Premise:
From Disney•Pixar comes "Up," a comedy adventure about 78-year-old balloon salesman Carl Fredricksen, who finally fulfills his lifelong dream of a great adventure when he ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies away to the wilds of South America. But he discovers all too late that his biggest nightmare has stowed away on the trip: an overly optimistic 9-year-old Wilderness Explorer named Russell.
The Review:
Well I guess I need to explain this image (And the fact I can’t draw either or the fact it isn't funny). The movie had a great premise. I mean it was meant to be serious and for kids at the same time. But did it end up working? Fuck no. This is just a big pile of stinking plot and fake characters shoved together with little or no connection between the serious side and kid side.
Story & Characters:
Well let me tell you this. If you are mature thinking, or if you are 10 or younger, you are fucking screwed with this story.
Why?
Because you only get half of the story.
So already before I started analysing the movie, this section is down to 5/ 10.
Now, considering my age, I watched the movie from the adult point of view. The first 10 minutes or so was one of the most touching scenes I think I have seen from the movies for a while. The story of Carl and his love of his life and their struggles was amazing. And you understood the heartbreak of Ellie after going to the doctors and what Carl’s feelings are as he loses everything, except his house. That is why it was so important to him.
Then the other characters get introduce and you really start to understand WHY you only get one part.
You meet Russell. Russell is a boy scout. Russell wants a badge. Russell happens to be an idiot. Russell is annoying.
Oh wait! WAIT! I think I have seen this before. Oh yes, I have. How many side characters HAPPEN to be small idiotic boys that are meant to be comedic?
Here are few characters:
A bird named Kevin
A talking dog named Dug
A villain named Charles F. Muntz with his pack of dogs
Kevin is a rare bird that they HAPPENED to stumble across that links them with Muntz. Kevin also happens to be a girl bird that has babies. No, no …wait for it! They end up feeling sorry for her because she has children and save her life because of it. Ha! Bet you didn’t see that one coming. And there is even the whole “Kevin is a girl?!” line in it too!
Now to the stupid thing (other than the flying house), talking dogs. Okay, it isn’t like that it isn’t seen everywhere else but … please. Please could you tell me why should I care for this dog? Throughout the entire movie, Dug (The dog) is only really there to randomly save the main characters later on and to give dog related jokes once in the while. While I didn’t like this character, he isn’t totally useless giving one of the best lines in the movie, “I hid under your porch because I love you.”
Now here is where you can tell if there is a little bit of life left in the movie. How was the main bad guy? Not only should he be dead if time was being followed properly in the movie, he actually is dead in the movie. There is barely any working time developing him and in the rush of the ending, I actually wanted him to get rid of everyone besides Carl, even though I didn’t know him much.
Now I’m going to get back to Russell, not only did he do everything in the book:
eg.
Carl: *Walks past sleeping Russell* I hope he doesn’t realise that Kevin is gone …
Russell: *Suddenly wakes up* Where’s Kevin?!
*Gets gun ready*
But towards the end they suddenly realise that Russell had no character to him and then they pathetically cramped a sap story about his father. Of course we wouldn’t have seen in any other films … right. Seriously, they are walking along then he starts randomly going into his father for no reason. There is no hints, no tricks, and no sentimental moments to TELL us he had a shit life, but heck yeah, lets throw it in anyway. What happened to the script?!
Which now brings me back to the story.
I felt so much for the main character, and through out the movie I was only seeing it from his point of view. I didn’t not give one crap about anyone else OTHER than him. Then the ending happened. What could have been a wonderful movie, flopped in my face with the way they handled it.
Get this. After Russell being a fucking idiot, he leaves everything behind and goes out after him with NOTHING at all to remind himself of his wife (except one book that gets destroyed with pictures of Russell later on).
Wait … wasn’t the story about moving on from those horrible times and starting a new life? Then why the fuck did he leave everything? Last time I checked, if I was going to die, I would like at least to be remembered. So he took one book, big deal! This is NOT the way you are meant to move on. Moving on is growing up, remembering the past but living in the future. I know some people in the world think that to move on, you need to forget. WRONG! Moving on is picking up the pieces of the puzzle, putting it back together and moving onto another one. This one clearly did not do it and afterward I was sick to my stomach.
*Grrr* Incompetence …
So Carl story was so brilliant but ended so horribly. Russell, Kevin and Dug I didn’t give a shit about. And who the fuck was Muntz?
And the pacing was horrible. Getting to South America only took like 15 minutes in the movie. Then inserted all these characters to try and make you feel like there is something there, and then in the last section of the film, it suddenly decides it wants to have an ending and crams everything into the last 30 minutes or so.
Also it switches horribly between the serious and the funny. There would be a magically sad moment then Russell the dumbass suddenly appears to tell a joke. And who seriously cares about that kid anyway. I have seen better side kicks in the Benny Hill show
The dialogue itself wasn’t too bad. And some of the jokes managed to make me laugh. But there were some that made me cringe. So not the best, but not the worst.
Okay, okay, I’m being rather harsh. I mean, it would be enjoyable for the kids right? I mean they get the other half of the story right? Sure, they would get Russell and the Bird … and the talking Doug (Or course they would love him). So why, in the movie theatre, was there so many kids asking their parents “What is going on?”
Oh right. Since the main character happens to need a mature mind to understand his heartbreak, the kids can’t understand what is going on. So while the talking dogs and the fucking dog bi-planes (seriously, when I was watching the movie, when that came on I said “Screw this shit.”) is really nice for the little children, no one wants to watch a movie they can’t understand. I doubt those kids understand what Ellie was so upset about, I doubt they knew what sex was. Would they understand why Carl was so willing to adopt Russell into his life later on? No.
So with that rant I give this:
Story:
So since I got only HALF a story I think I need to give it AT MOST a 5 but considering how much I hated the pacing and the ending of Carl’s view:
2/10 (How Pathetic)
Characters:
Oh shit man. I have to give a score right? … Damn. I mean I really DID like Carl but that was it. One character doesn’t count for an endless cast.
4/ 10 (Saved by my liking for Carl)
Animation:
I only saw the 2D version and I must admit, I liked what I saw. The style was rather hard to get use to but I still liked the 3D animation.
Also the colouring was rather bright and it was rather weird when mixing with the caricature style.
8/10 (Some of the colour techniques used was a little questioning and the character design might not be appealing)
Sound:
Considering the music I wasn’t paying much attention to in the movie (Woops, banging my head too hard, my bad). So I went a re-listened to the music and it was great!
10/10 (You know it probably isn’t this mark but screw it)
Overall:
This movie was a disappointment. Please save your time, and take your kid to a movie they would understand. Or treat yourself and see a good movie that will appeal to you. This falls flat on its face.
Final mark: 4/10
Unless you fix up the pace, and make me like the other characters, this is the best you are going to get.
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