Wednesday, June 10, 2009

No Matter What Mr. Townshend Says, Love is Coming…Up


I saw Up yesterday with my 81 year-old friend Wills Biegel. We had an excellent lunch at the Border Grill (fish, chicken, roast potatoes, guacamole, pomegranate lemonade) and talked about the negative effects of monotheism on society and how French and South American literature are, in Wills's opinion, superior to several other fields. Typical conversation…for us, anyway.

Then we walked over to 3rd Street in Santa Monica and the AMC. It was a gloomy day…

And then sunshine came out.

Up is not as good as Ratatouille and WALL-E, but that's the same as saying Bringing It All Back Home is not as good as Blonde on Blonde and Blood on the Tracks. It's still amazingly superior to 99.99% of what is out there.

But what struck me the MOST about Up when I'd had a little time to digest it was the love story…one of the best love stories of the past few years…and one where the girl dies less than ten minutes into the picture.

The opening scene where the very young Carl meets the equally young Ellie in her house of adventure, and the proceeding montage, represent just how high Pixar's artistry has become in the past decade, and how there are now no filmmakers in Hollywood who can touch them. Up is mostly a return to their roots making beautiful children's movies, but here, with silent storytelling and gently glorious underscoring courtesy of Michael Giacchino (WHEN is he going to get an Oscar?), they give adults something more triumphant and devastating in turn then can be found in so many adult movies.

The theatre had a mix of generations, including many children, brought by their moms and dads or their moms alone. When this opening sequence was over and I was choking back the saltwater, a thought struck me. I took a covert glance around the other seats, and every mother in that audience had watery eyes.

From this point on, Up becomes a fanciful modern-day fairy tale, where technology advances to the level of pure magic and a man can pull his house across uncharted territory to the most breathtaking vista you could ever imagine…after that house flew there powered only by balloons. The film gets laugh-out-loud funny, especially through the character of Dug…wait until he tells the joke about the squirrel. And the climax is suitably breathtaking, even after all that has gone before.

But this children's story is ultimately a major working out of the love theme. Carl Frederickson embarks on this adventure above all because it's the best way he knows to fulfill a promise to the only person he ever loved. Her spirit hovers over him, guides him, and gives him the final bit of power he needs to make the story's most crucial decision…one she would definitely approve of. That power, by the way, comes from yet another sequence which would shake even the stoniest ventricle, when Carl opens up Ellie's book one last time.

In church, Father Paul talks about how instead of worshiping Jesus, we best love Him and God by following Their example, by doing what is right and showing love to all. Up, in its own way, is about the same thing…to love someone the most by turning your love into action. Is there any more message so appropriate and inspiring for a time when we're finally believing that our efforts can change our lives and the lives of others? And could it have been wrapped up in a more entertaining package?

The year is only half-over, but so far Up is ruling the 2009 roost.

P.S. it meant a LOT to me to take Wills to see Up, a story about a boy and an old man launched into amazement. He had a good time, but did not really know what to think about it all…and he didn't cry. Then again, he's had so much experience…and he prefers the stage for drama. I'm the sentimentalist who revels in film.

P.P.S. Pixar has not been about voices for quite a while, but I feel compelled to say that Ed Asner (as Carl) and Christopher Plummer (as Charles Muntz) are both great, hitting every nuance in their characters, including more hilarity in the fight in the trophy room. J

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