Up 3D
The buzz around 'Up' was the least ebullient I have seen since an underrated cowboy and space ranger entered our world back in the midsts of time. Toy Story was Pixar feature number one and now we have reached the lofty milestone of a tenth feature length movie from the new, contemporary arm of The House of Mouse, the magic, even in glorious technicolour 3D, is beginning to wane. Perhaps we have been spoilt. The eye candy we have been treated to in the last decade or so has been truly gobsmacking. So much so that with every new animated breakthrough we have enjoyed, subsequent expectation has swelled. At some point, this bubble of anticipation had to burst. Like the thousands of balloons that take this house into the heavens, slowly popping one by one, we are brought back down to earth. Not so much with a bump, but deflation is definitely obvious.
After WALL-E, there was an awful lot to live up to. That may have been as good as this kind of animation can get. With 'Up', the effort is there for all to see and while the attempt to make this story as enchanting as it's most recent brother is apparent, the success in it's execution is not so obvious. In our household, every Pixar release is something of an event. My children are constantly delighted by them (with the exception of Ratatouille) and a trip to the local cinema is practically commanded and expected by them for every new Pixar outing.
On this occasion, as with the aforementioned Rat film, I was feeling my age more than I ever have. It may have been the late night previous, but I was having trouble keeping my eyes open as we moved into the last half an hour. The pace of the thing was at times breakneck and at others pedestrian. I was told that if you didn't cry at the end, then you probably are dead inside, but I felt no such need or compulsion to do so. I appreciated the effort made to make these characters appealing and they almost achieved it, particularly with Doug ("can we keep him? But he's a talking dog!") who, for me, stole the show. Whilst none of the writing for these characters could hope to carry off the heights scaled by WALL-E, despite the story probably having more promise and a good deal more to work with, I did still enjoy the movie. Even an average Pixar film beats most other animated adventures out there, though lately, the competition are definitely getting better. Perhaps this fact will drive Pixar forward to even greater things as we all wait, with some anticipation, for Toy Story 3.
Aside from the obvious, the 3D was thankfully sparing, with few gimmicks to be seen. It effectively conveyed scale and perspective throughout, but it was never overused or laid on with a trowel. The voice acting for the most part was average, but as I say average is not something we have come to expect from Pixar and as an ardent Pixar fan, I hope this is nothing more than a shallow pothole on the yellow brick road.
PCS Social Media
PCS Bitesize
Site Design
About Us
All Rights Reserved - Content copyright of the respective authors. Do not distribute.
