My husband and I watched Pixar’s Up last weekend. I had no
idea the kinds of feelings watching it would evoke and the teary mess the montage
in the first half of the film would leave me in. That’s what I love most about movies. You sit down to watch a film without
expectation and the experience of watching it is more overwhelming than you ever
imagined it would be because it made you feel so deeply. Up was like for me. Well, at
least the first quarter of the movie was anyway. The second half of the movie changed tone and
direction and became a little silly, but I suppose the writers wanted to
lighten the tone for the youngsters after a very tear-jerking opening section.
Up is storytelling at its best. What the filmmakers are able to achieve in the first 20 minutes of the movie is remarkable. We meet Carl Frederickson as a young boy who dreams of becoming an explorer. Carl’s a shy, quiet kid who befriends his complete opposite – a sassy, outgoing young girl named Ellie. They grow up as friends through adolescence and adulthood and eventually marry and share their lives together, all the while dreaming of one day living at a place called Paradise Falls.
Through an absolutely beautiful and moving montage sequence,
we see their lives unfold and witness every moment of joy – when they purchase
a new home, and sorrow – when they learn that they cannot have children. Sadly, Carl becomes a widower before he and
Ellie can take the trip they’ve always dreamed of taking and Carl is left with
only his lovely little house full of memories.
While witnessing their experiences through youth and old age, I smiled,
was deeply touched and felt moved, and then I had a lump in my throat and tears
in my eyes. The filmmakers tell us the
story of Carl and Ellie in a wordless 20 minutes of film and that small bit
of narrative is about as powerful an exposition as any I’ve ever seen in film.
Carl and Ellie dream together, face tragedy and happily grow old
side by side, and though they never make it
to Paradise Falls during Ellie’s lifetime, we see in one scene towards the end as
Carl looks through the photo’s of their married life in Ellie’s scrapbook, that
the true adventure had been their lives together. In a final note at the back of her scrapbook,
Ellie thanks Carl for the “adventure.”
And I lost it all over again.
Up made me laugh; it
made me cry, and it made me thankful; thankful for my husband, Andrew, and for our
wonderful adventure thus far!
Definitely in my top 10 movies of 2010. This is the only movie I can think of that made me cry in the first 15 minutes...how does an animated movie how the power to do that!? Still haven't seen anything quite as powerful. Glad you liked it!
ReplyDeleteI didn't expect it to be as powerful or as moving as it was when I sat down to watch it. I was a blubbering mess!
DeleteI really enjoyed the first quarter, then the middle kind of lost me with the dogs, etc, but then it grabbed me again at the end when Carl became like a surrogate grandfather to Russell.
That early scene truly is in my books one of the best cinematic moments in history. Just hearing that score "Married Life" touches me. I'm glad you mentioned that final scene too (thanks for the adventure, now go have a new one!), people tend to forget that compared to that early scene.
ReplyDeleteIt's a real cinematic treasure and so beautifully executed. The animation, the story, the music - it's all so affecting. For me, that scene at the end where Carl finds Ellie's scrapbook and sees her note ties everything all together.
DeleteGlad you appeared to like it but I can't believe you didn't even mention Russell or Muntz in this review
ReplyDeleteRussell and Muntz weren't the standouts for me in this film. For me, it was all about Carl and Ellie's story. That's what I wanted to focus on here. It was about how impactful their story was for me.
DeleteI still cry at that montage. It's truly one of the great moments that Pixar has ever created.
ReplyDeleteI agree wholeheartedly. In fact, I'm hard-pressed to think of a live action montage that's as powerful as the one in Up.
DeleteOh my God, I was a complete wreck after watching that opening montage.
ReplyDeleteSame here - I had tissues piled high next to me and the tears just kept on a-flowing.
Deleteand the scenes when he throws away everything including the furniture and when the house floats away :')..best animated movie ever.
ReplyDelete