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| Homer Yen... |
 Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 2:18 pm |
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Thumbs "Up"
by Homer Yen
(c) 2009
When I see pictures of Tiger Woods, I've always grown accustomed to
one thing. When he's competing on the golf course, he always wears a
sports cap with his sponsor's logo or his own TW company's logo
prominently emblazoned on it. Check out any photo of him (I just did
with Google images) and you'll see this to be true. Now, if I were to
see him without this piece of apparel in competition, I would probably
think that this would be a strange image. It's not that Tiger won't
perform up to his usual excellent standards. I'm just saying that it
might look/seem/feel odd.
"Up" is Pixar's newest and most fanciful offering to date. Indeed,
with each new Pixar film, it seems that the texture and the color
palettes and the inventiveness take an evolutionary step forward with
each new release. Lots of impressive imagery will be seen in the
peripherals of the film. "Up" (I saw the 2-d version) takes place in
the golden age of the early 1930's when life was simpler and the
imagination could be fueled by undiscovered places in the world. One
of the nicest renderings was a zeppelin whose interior looked as grand
and as exquisite as the first-class levels of the Titanic.
The most touching part of the film comes in the first act. Two young
kids meet, they share an unbridled interest in exploration, grow up,
get married, and begin their journey through life. It is an
incredibly tender 10 minutes of film that you'll ever see.
The story is about two men who start their lives looking for purpose.
One is the famous explorer Charles Muntz (voiced by Christopher
Plummer) who resembles Kirk Douglas in his sunset years and who goes
off to faraway lands in his aforementioned zeppelin. His various
discoveries, especially that of a never-before-seen type of flightless
bird, are met with tremendous skepticism back home. He vows to
capture it and to bring it back home. The other is the less
resourceful but equally ambitious Carl (voiced by Edward Asner). At a
younger age, he vowed to take his wife on an adventure of a lifetime
in South America. But life got in the way and time took its toll.
Although he doesn't have a zeppelin, his understanding of helium
balloons allows him to go where others only dream of. Both of these
men, now in their sunset years, are still looking to fulfill their
destiny. In this tale, Charles's dreams are mutually exclusive of
Carl's. Charles uses technology and science to forward his ambitions.
Carl uses good ol-fashioned imagination and compassion to forward
his.
You know, as I re-read what I just wrote, it certainly sounds like a
well-constructed story. And, it is. My personal reservation is that
it leaned heavily on the whimsical side, which is something that I
have not come to expect. I've seen every Pixar film that has ever
been released and will always make it a point to see all of their
future releases. But this film didn't seem as compelling or as much
fun as the others. Yes, it was amusing and touching and sentimental.
Yet, I enjoyed this film less so than "Wall*E" and "Ratatouille". I
even was unmoved with the opening animation short, which I've come to
look forward to with each Pixar release. Perhaps, like Charles and
Carl, the curmudgeonly side of me is starting to creep in.
Grade: B
S: 0 out of 0
L: 0 out of 0
V: 0 out of 0 |
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