{"id":4610,"date":"2009-06-03T00:50:56","date_gmt":"2009-06-03T08:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=4610"},"modified":"2009-06-04T21:25:29","modified_gmt":"2009-06-05T05:25:29","slug":"up-pete-doctor-and-bob-peterson-2009-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=4610","title":{"rendered":"Up (Pete Doctor and Bob Peterson, 2009): USA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Byron Potau<\/a>.\u00a0 Viewed at the Arlington Theater in\u00a0Santa Barbara, CA.<\/p>\n

\"\"More than any previous Pixar film, Up<\/a><\/em> asks the viewer to suspend their belief in what is possible and plausible. \u00a0But if the viewer is willing to do so, they are in for a charming, heartwarming, funny, and all-too-cute treat.\u00a0 It is also shown in digital 3D, which I would not say it is necessary, but is also not a distraction, so it is really up to the viewer\u2019s preference.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When young Carl Frederickson meets tomboy and fellow adventurer Ellie, it is a match made in heaven.\u00a0 They both idolize adventurer Charles Muntz, and Ellie dreams of one day going to Paradise Falls in South America.\u00a0 As they grow up, the two marry, buy a house, live their lives, and grow old together, always meaning to, but never realizing Ellie\u2019s dream of going to South America.\u00a0 After Ellie passes, Carl, who is being forced to go to a retirement home, ties thousands of helium filled balloons to his house and floats away.\u00a0 A neighborhood boy scout, Russell, who has been looking to complete the task of helping an elderly person so he can get another badge, accidentally tags along.\u00a0 They float all the way to Paradise Falls in South America and come face to face with a giant, colorful bird, dogs fitted with collars that allow them to talk, and Carl and Ellie\u2019s childhood hero, Charles Muntz…though he turns out to be not as gracious as Carl expected.<\/p>\n

As usual, the animation is top notch.\u00a0 There is a rather surprising moment in which a character, after being struck in the head with a cane, is actually shown bleeding.\u00a0 I cannot recall blood ever being shown in such a fashion with human characters before in animation, and it was, to say the least, a little shocking, but also refreshing to see animation finally break this barrier.\u00a0 The film starts off with a fast pace–so fast, in fact, that Carl and Ellie go from children to married adults to elderly adults and her passing away in a matter of about fifteen minutes.\u00a0 There is so much packed into this short time that this montage of their life together is one of the highlights of the film.\u00a0 It is warm, funny, sad, and ultimately, charming, and the viewer is left wanting more than just a quick glimpse into the lives of such an interesting and likeable couple.\u00a0 The voice characterizations by Ed Asner as Carl and Bob Peterson as a couple of the speaking dogs are both excellent, and directors Pete Doctor and Bob Peterson pull especially wonderful and funny voice performances from Jordan Nagai as Russell and Elizabeth Doctor as young Ellie.\u00a0 The script is full of originality and funny little moments that keep you laughing, but it also has emotional depth and rich characters.\u00a0 The second half of the film does put a little more pressure on the viewer to look past the plausible, and the film suffers slightly for it, but this still has to be considered yet another triumph for Pixar who have shown once again they are in a class all their own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Byron Potau.\u00a0 Viewed at the Arlington Theater in\u00a0Santa Barbara, CA. More than any previous Pixar film, Up asks the viewer to suspend their belief in what is possible and plausible. \u00a0But if the viewer is willing to do so, they are in for a charming, heartwarming, funny, and all-too-cute treat.\u00a0 It is also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-animation","category-films"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4610\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}