Film Revisitations: Up (2009)

Up is a film which has since been regarded as one of the greatest animated films of all time, with a Best Picture nomination to its name alongside the numerous Best Animated Feature wins across multiple award shows and even a number of wins for its score – despite it being a film revolving around a mourning pensioner who decides to take his house with him to South America via thousands of balloons. Back in 2009, Up was considering Pixar's biggest gamble to date, and its critical and financial success was nothing short of a huge surprise, and a sign that the studio could do no wrong. Years later, one dip in quality and possibly the beginning of a new Pixar reconnaissance via director Pete Docter's recent smash hit Inside Out, we look back at the feature which made him an animation-based household name. 

When Carl Fredricksen was a young boy who aspired to follow in the footsteps of his idol Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer) - an explorer who had been ridiculed for his find of a new kind of bird and vowed to find an alive one – he meets a young girl his age called Ellie (Elizabeth Docter, daughter of the director) who shares the same dream, and from their interesting meeting blooms a beautiful relationship spanning across multiple decades, with the shared dream of going to Paradise Falls; "a land lost in time". But when Ellie dies, the house they lived in at risk of being demolished and being forced by court to move into a retirement home, an older and world-weary Carl (Ed Asner) decides to fulfil his and Ellie's dream by moving the house there via balloon. But when that move leads him to being stuck with an annoying Wilderness Explorer called Russell (Jordan Nagai), and in turn a giant bird and a talking dog (voiced by Bob Peterson) hunting for said bird, what was planned as a simple journey becomes rather challenging for the pensioner.

Yep, on paper Up sounds incredibly bizarre and near-impossible to get right – but luckily it works and it works strongly. From its emotional opening montage to the moment of the first flight and the plot's transition into an action adventure via the return of Muntz (now incredibly old and decrepit, although not given a specific age so it's hard to tell whether it would be possible that he'd still be alive), each twist and turn thrown at the audience just fits in well – like mixing multiple jigsaws together and still managing to complete it quickly. The film never slows down and is often hilarious (mostly through the antics of Dug and Kevin), and because of that you have a film which works, and that's all thanks to the strong quality of the story and screenplay. 

Our lead octogenarian (presumably) Carl Fredricksen is a curious choice for a lead for a children's film filled with heart and colour, but his tendencies to be a jerk and still caring about both his wife and – as the film progresses – his loveable band of misfits accompanying him on his self-fulfilling quest add some great personality to what could have been an easy one-note joke about old age, and both the visual similarity to the late Spencer Tracy and the vocal work by Ed Asner blend together to create a strong leading role, and possibly one of the best elderly characters ever seen on screen. By his side is the young Asian-American (and thankfully his race isn't signposted like it could have been) Russell, voiced admirably by Jordan Nagai. As a character otherwise destined to be annoying and dislikeable, the charm of Russell and his actions lend themselves to various heart-warming moments whilst growing a good rapport to elder figure Carl. Meanwhile the two animal sidekicks, voiced by Pixar alum Peterson and archive bird noises, suit the basic roles as comedy characters easily, and the villainous Muntz and his cronies are never too menacing but never played to the degree of being a pantomime. 

The thing about Pixar is that, in terms of quality of their animation, they never seem to fail. There's never a bad frame digitally created by them, and under the guide of director Docter pushes the beauty of this film to new heights – and that's what seals the deal with Up. Not only with the great combination of story, screenplay, characters and score (by Michael Giacchino, and is superb in its own right), but the animation quality and aesthetic cements it as a wonderful film. It is a wonderful film, and remains one of Pixar's best films to date, despite severe competition from films past and present, alongside one of the crowning achievements of the animation industry. 10/10.