Review - Up

So yesterday I went with the Hunk to see Up, the newest Pixar film. In 3D, no less! ooooo.

We went to the theater downtown. Between tickets, parking, and snacks (two sodas, popcorn, Twizzlers), it set us back $40! Yikes. (I told myself to think of it as a non-tax-deductible donation to the arts.)

Up is the story of a man who's had a "dream deferred" and finally pursues it. It is clever and funny and sweet and heartwarming - really, pretty much what you'd expect from Pixar.

HOWEVER.

If you are the LEAST bit of a romantic, and/or "sensitive," you may want to skip this movie.

Spoilers behind the link.

Okay, I absolutely BAWLED. What the previews don't show you is that Carl is grumpy because his wife died and they never went on their adventure together. It is so, so sad. I wasn't boo-hooing out loud (cuz it's a THEATER and SHHH!) but my glasses sit pretty high on my nose and they got all wet from being brushed by my sopping eyelashes.

It didn't help that Carl reminded me SO much of my grandfather in tiny ways. His seat cushion was squnched at the front. The wallpaper was patterned like his. Even the style of the picture frames on the walls and the lamps and the thin, heavy covers on the beds... it was very much like Grandpa's house.

There's a significant internal conflict when Carl has to choose between continuing with the quest to get to Paradise Falls (fulfilling a promise made to Elly, his wife) and rescuing a bird that's been following them (fulfilling a promise made to Russell, the kid who's with him). The Hunk said that he kind of resented this; you're made to feel like Carl OUGHT to save the bird.

I kind of disagreed. I think you definitely feel bad because Carl breaks his promise to Russell, but I think the audience would've lost ALL sympathy for Carl if he'd chosen to break the promise to Elly instead. I think the writers did a good job of capturing the feel of that tension - I should do this, but I also should do this, and the two are mutually exclusive. It parallels real life much more poignantly than it does in the story of Cuchulainn!

And of course, that narrative tension also illustrates the thematic tension Carl's going through internally - his wife is gone, and if he can't let go of her, he'll continue to drive others away, further isolating himself.

:(

So, so sad.

Image thanks to http://www.worldculturepictorial.com/