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Wasting no time in riding the coattails of Wall-E's success, the site for Pixar's next film has gone live. Pete Docter is the writer/director of Monster's Inc., and concept for this film sounds charming in the way that Pixar has now become known. As the site announces, the film will be in 3D (though I imagine it will also open conventionally as well).

For a second there I thought this would be a remake of the Russ Meyer movie.

I assumed it would have something to do with Michael Apted's Up series.

And, aheh, there's a play titled "Up!" And I thought a film, but I can't find it on IMDB.

Here's the teaser poster.

Super Bowl spot.

First look at the villain.

Is this the character that Christopher Plummer is voicing? After my first glance of the figurine, I had to do a quick check to see if Kirk Douglas was attached to the project! It's awesome that the villain is also a crotchety old man.

I wonder how they're going to shoe horn the villain in? From what I've heard the first thirty minutes or so play like a family drama. Any one hear how long this will be.

Full trailer.

This will be opening film at Cannes.

An interview with Peter Cohn who has directed Partly Cloudy, the short that will precede the film.

Went to see a double-feature of this film, followed by Drag Me to Hell - what a charmed week this is!

Up is the most affecting, emotional animated film I've ever seen. Without giving anything away, the first 10 minutes of this film are absolutely, positively perfect - and they make the rest of the picture seem rather odd and deceptively unspectacular in comparison. Note, in comparison only means what it's meant to mean - it's hard for any film to open the way Up does (the little lady and I were sobbing and sniffling within the first 3 minutes of the film) and then throw you into absurd comedy. It definitely will reward a second viewing.

But what I liked so much about this film, beyond the fact that it's almost overwhelmingly touching, is that the plot does the impossible - it takes what looks on paper to be absolutely too much and minimalizes its concept to the point that we never once sit in the audience saying "how the fuck are we to believe that this guy's house is flying?" By the time we get to that point, we care more for the main character (voiced masterfully by Edward Asner) than we typically do for a protagonist by the end of a film. There is so much care and love put into bringing him to the screen that we can't help but sympathize with him immediately, and after a mini-Gran Torino plays out, we're completely ready to take the absurd journey that the writers and directors have planned for us.

Once Russell, the rotund young boy shows up, the comedy comes fast and furious. There are lines in this film delivered with such masterful comedic timing that you'd think a 50-year voice acting veteran was just miming a child's voice, and when I checked IMDB and realized that a little boy was actually responsible for voicing the character, I was astonished. Unlike the last few ambitious Pixar efforts, this film moves along quickly and doesn't stop to take a breath, which benefits it greatly. There is no large story that is being told here, it is very personal and very heartfelt and doesn't require a whole heap of sappy downtime. The adventure elements of the story deliver on what's promised in the trailer, but never feel slathered on too thick (despite my love for The Incredibles, that film was absolutely exhausting by the time it reached its conclusion. There's such a thing as too much action in any film, particularly in an animated film such as this.)

I'm sure some people will complain that it's just too straightforward, too stripped-down, but that's what I admired so much about Up. I guess I can explain my heartfelt affinity for Up this way: One of my favorite directors working today is Paul Thomas Anderson. He made two big, sprawling, ambitious films in a row, and followed them up with Punch-Drunk Love And despite the fact that one can sit back and admire the scale of his other films, my favorite has always been Punch-Drunk Love, because it's tiny, personal, and focused. It doesn't try to be everything to everyone. I feel like after a few hugely successful pictures in a row, Pixar has just released its Punch-Drunk Love, and I couldn't be more thrilled with the result. In my eyes, it's the best film from the best production company in the history of animation. And that's really saying something.

(Disclaimer: If this review reads like it was written by a drunken middle school student, my apologies. I probably shouldn't have waited until 3 AM to share my thoughts. But I couldn't go to sleep without doing it!)

I wasn't planning on seeing this, but I've heard back from a lot of people about how good the opening is and it sounds like Pixar is finally back in Toy Story (Original) territory, so I'm far more interested than I was even earlier today

Just don't see it in 3D. I'm sure it looks very beautiful, but I can't think of a film that it'd be a less welcome addition to.

If I can go the rest of my life without seeing another 3D film, that'd be swell

The comparison to Punch-Drunk Love, by far the best film of Anderson, is extremely heartening.

That said...

mfunk9786 wrote:the best production company in the history of animation

I don't think mutual admirers John Lasseter and Hayao Miyazaki consider themselves to be in competition - and I think it makes more sense to compare Pixar and Ghibli to other US/Japanese animation producers rather than each other. There's certainly little argument that each is at the top of their respective tree - and I can't wait to see Up.

Oh, and just to lower the tone, a Facebook friend of mine recently posted a status update reading:

...is delighted that Pixar have remade a Russ Meyer film, and is looking forward to a CGI Hitler being sodomised and eaten by piranha in 3D.

To which someone else responded:

All of Russ Meyers films were in 3D though, right? Right?

mfunk9786 wrote:But what I liked so much about this film, beyond the fact that it's almost overwhelmingly touching, is that the plot does the impossible - it takes what looks on paper to be absolutely too much and minimalizes its concept to the point that we never once sit in the audience saying "how the fuck are we to believe that this guy's house is flying?"

I like how you said "how the fuck" in your review of a children's film. Also, good to see you are in on the international pop culture conspiracy...

swo17 wrote:I like how you said "how the fuck" in your review of a children's film. Also, good to see you are in on the international pop culture conspiracy...

I often say "what the fuck" when watching children's films. And especially children's telly. Though admittedly I try to keep it out of earshot of the people primarily watching it.

I think most agree that those first 10 minutes are quite something, and what follows is quite nice, but sometimes after they arrived to destination I lost a lot of my interest. But the ending kinda brought it back.

Spoiler

Maybe it's because I don't like dogs, but they're annoying. I don't think they bring much, other than some jokes and action, something the antagonist can't do obviously. And how old is that guy anyway? 110?

The climax felt something like Nausicaa or Castle in the sky, maybe the comparaison with Ghibli isn't a bad thing in this case.

And the short is forgettable. I somehow liked the two characters, but it's nothing next to Presto.

It did make me a little sad that so many of the best comedic moments in the pre-flight part of the film I had already seen in the trailers. I don't usually care about such things, but for some reason it bothered me a little this time.

I don't think this film compares so well to Ratatouille in terms of its inventive storytelling or Wall-E and Monsters Inc. in terms of sheer imaginativeness. Despite the fact that it's an immersive, imaginative film, it does seem almost somewhat conventional compared to a lot of the other Pixar films. Archetypal egomaniacal bad guy, running jokes with talking dogs, uninspiringly predictable action sequences (it is a children's film, after all, so these are pretty easy to forgive). That said, the portrayal of Fredericksen is so human that it goes beyond anything else Pixar has ever done and I can only really compare it to Miyazaki. The other characters aren't more than paper-thin (although really, other than Russell, the only other main characters are a talking dog and a large bird, and they provide little more than plot movement and comic relief).

As others have said, the opening was pretty much perfect. It wasn't too quick, and it was almost entirely dialogueless, but it opened with a childhood scene that was just enough backstory to prevent the whole thing from seeming much too maudlin. Has any film gotten so many people to cry so quickly?

And Fenton's is probably the biggest props to Emeryville (well, Oakland) that Pixar has given since The Incredibles. Pretty awesome.

I guess for me there's no one great Pixar film. There are those with remarkable storytelling (Ratatouille, The Incredibles), those that are truly imaginative depictions of an alternate world (Monsters, Inc., Wall-E, Toy Story, A Bug's Life, and even Cars), those with memorable characters and relationships (Monsters, Inc.), those with something to say about the world (Wall-E, The Incredibles), etc. In combination these films represent a truly remarkable output, and the fact that many consider Cars to be their worst film illustrates the incredibly high standard they've set for themselves (I would take Cars over all but the finest of Disney films). But somehow I feel they never quite reach the profound level filmmaking that Miyazaki's better films represent. Up represents something of a new direction (a little less focus on imaginativeness and fantastic visualization), and despite what I perceive to be its flaws, it does give me hope that their films will continue to be as fresh as ever for some time to come.

Animation studio discussion moved to the New Animated Features and Shorts thread.

mfunk9786 wrote:Went to see a double-feature of this film, followed by Drag Me to Hell - what a charmed week this is!

I saw this same double feature last night!

Up is the most affecting, emotional animated film I've ever seen. Without giving anything away, the first 10 minutes of this film are absolutely, positively perfect - and they make the rest of the picture seem rather odd and deceptively unspectacular in comparison. Note, in comparison only means what it's meant to mean - it's hard for any film to open the way Up does (the little lady and I were sobbing and sniffling within the first 3 minutes of the film) and then throw you into absurd comedy. It definitely will reward a second viewing.

I had the same thoughts about the opening sequence. Not unlike Wall-E, Up manages to do what has recently been unusual in children's features (though this really will work for anyone) and that is to shut up. Beautifully animated, appropriately expository, and emotionally poignant. I'm not sure that children would understand some pieces...

Spoiler

The infertility bit would probably go over their heads, but really is not necessary for the film to work.

...but they would certainly thoroughly enjoy everything after. I didn't think my 4 year old would enjoy the first part of Wall-E either, but he understood what was going on the whole time, he ran down the plot to me and he was surprisingly close. I can't wait to show him this, if only he weren't afraid of the dark in theaters...