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Massawyrm gets high on UP and calls it the best thing shown at BNAT!
Hola all. Massawyrm here.
The first 45 minutes of UP were not just the very best pieces of footage fest shown at BNAT – it was the VERY BEST THING shown at BNAT. Period. Long ago, seemingly in a galaxy far, far away, I was the guy who just wasn’t into Pixar like everybody else around here. But they keep getting better and better. As much as I LOVED Wall-E, this had me involved and in love within the first ten minutes.
Here’s the setup (since the trailers are remarkably vague.) When Carl, a 10 year old boy obsessed with the world’s most famous adventurer, stumbles across a 10 year old girl with the same idol, there’s little doubt that they will become fast friends. Together they concoct a plan to fly down to South America and explore the same plateau as their hero – the last unexplored place on Earth – and build a house atop the grand falls to use as a base of operations. One thing leads to another and we’re treated to a montage of the friends over the years, playing, falling in love, getting married and ultimately growing old together. But sadly, the little girl (now an old woman) passes, leaving our hero Carl alone.
Now a building development is encroaching upon the house these two built together and Carl, lonely and heartbroken, has no idea what to do. And then it hits him: before he dies, he’s gonna fly his house down to South America, land it atop the falls and fulfill the promise he’d made to his wife 60 some odd years before. Thus begins one of the most touching, delightful and melodic films Pixar has yet attempted. What follows is a daring flight to South America and then a wild adventure in the jungle. Along for the ride is an accidental stowaway Russell, a cub scout looking for his final “help the elderly” badge to become a full fledged boy scout.
Throw in a trusting but insane bird, a pack of dogs modified with collars that translates their thoughts into English, and copious use of the phrase “SQUIRREL!” and you have the makings for one hell of a film. What we saw was a healthy mix of storyboards, completed scenes and the occasional partial renderings – and yet it never felt “unfinished.” The key to UP is that the story is so touching, so engrossing, that the magic came through at every point along the way. So touching was the film that the audience was literally in tears within the first 10 minutes of the film – couples were tightening their grip on one another, people were grabbing for napkins and Kleenex and even men were openly letting tears roll down their face. It was like Pixar had found away to condense The Notebook into 10 minutes and put it at the beginning of the film.
And once you’ve sat through that, there’s almost no way to fall out of love with Carl.
If there was any film I was disappointed that it didn’t finish playing BNAT, it is this. While the Watchmen footage looked great and the Terminator 4 stuff convinced me that it could rock, this was the film every single one of use desperately wanted to see the end of. I have every confidence that this film will prove to be one of the best of 2009 and continue Pixar and Disney’s constant push for excellence in this new golden age of animated filmmaking. I didn’t think Pixar could cram this much heart into one movie. But they did. And it still gets me a little misty just thinking about it.
Until next time friends, smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em.
Massawyrm
Got something for the Wyrm? Mail it here.
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And First! Pixar rocks!
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I am looking forward to this like crazy. I just watched Wall-E for the first time over the weekend (fucking amazing on Blu-Ray, even on my mom's 720p plasma), and that got me a little teary-eyed a few times. This sounds like it's going to wreck my wife. If Pixar keeps this track record going, we are all the better for it. Even though I haven't seen Cars (and don't really care), everything else they've done has been fantastic. BUT THEY JUST KEEP GETTING BETTER!
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I think they should've passed out tiny boxes of Kleenex before they played this. I'd have appreciated that a lot more than the caviar they gave us for Benjamin Button. I liked the vodka, though.
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I always wonder which Pixar movie will be the one to break the streak. I thought it would be "Cars" but when that didn't happen I was fearful it would be "Up". Thankfully I am hearing wildly positive things about "Up" so I am hoping it does well. I am game to see it. And I was never a big Pixar fan until I was dragged to "Finding Nemo" and wound up crying like a baby since it made me realize that my dad is an asshole jerk who wouldn't go looking for me if I was lost.
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Stop.
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But I wonder if halfway through the film he discovers his wife is still alive and is a god-like alien with whom he spends the second half of the movie locked in an inane and unfulfilling battle?
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The only Pixar movie I can honestly say I genuinely enjoyed is Ratatouille. I never managed to connect with Wall-E, and The Incredibles merely annoys the hell out of me. As for everything else they've ever done - I earnestly, genuinely despise it all. Cars, especially, was unadulterated shit of epic proportions... beat in it's shittiness only by the cinematic abortion that was A Bug's Life.
That said, Up sounds fan-fucking-tastic. Ratatouille worked because it was treated like a normal movie. It wasn't riding on a gimmick. Remy could have just as easily been an orphaned, filthy street kid (you might say "street rat") and the movie still would have worked. It succeeded because of the strength of the story, the quality of the characters, and the strength of the their relationships in the storytelling. I sincerely hope that has been recaptured in Up, the way your writeup suggests. Like Fawst said, I got misty just reading the description. I really hope the movie itself can match that effect. Thanks for the heads-up, Massa. -
where are the tissues?
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If you don't like PIXAR, then you have a stony, black heart and do not love movies.
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if i was gay, i would fellate every single one of them...while the rest of hollywood continues to push crap and remakes, they continue to truly create experiences that the entire family and all ages can enjoy
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They are yet to make a film I absolutely despise. If you see Cars or Incredibles and despise it your standards for film-making are very high. Because while I was not a fan of Cars (huge Incredibles fan though) it was by no means a terrible film. Not great enough for me to love but nowhere near bad enough for me to call for someone's head. They are by far the best studio working today. Even when they miss the mark it's better than about 65% of everything else made that year.
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i mean, i love pixar and all that they do, but come on... stroking it *kinda* hard w/ that review, don't ya think? and having a 'stony, black heart' has nothing to do with it... in fact, i'm sure i'll see it when it comes out.
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Avatar will shove it back in 2009 though...
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Seriously, stop sharing my air. If anything Massawyrm is understating this glorious film. He's right about this being the best thing shown at BNAT. I'll go so far it's easily in the top three best things EVER shown at BNAT. And to Massa: squirrel, my good friend. Squirrel.
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Dec 23, 2008 1:08:31 PM CST
So this is the Don Quixote version they've been promising?
by wookie1972
It really does sound like a reworking/modernizing of the Cervantes story. If so, more power to them.
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I mean really. What a flawed and unlikable film that was. I mean technically it looked great. But it was filled with shallow and even loathsome characters. The whole "cooking method" with the hair was utterly stupid. BB really dropped the ball on this one, but I suppose getting a movie dropped into your lap unexpectedly can do that. My 3 kids have watched and most of the Pixar movies. Ratatouille is the first one they left the room on after about 40min, never to return. To me that says more than any TB'r with an ego ever could.
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Their worst movie is an A-. Truly the best of the best, and the sound, image and stories are crafted with skill and love. I'll see this when it comes out.
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if it meant they would never stop making movies. Only Cars and a Bug's Life feel a little sour to me, and even they get an A- compared to the absolute shit that is Madagascar, Barnyard, The Wild, Happily N'ever After, Open Season, Hoodwinked, Igor, Delgo, Doogal, Titan A.E., The Ant Bully, Robots . . . g'damn, I could go on forever. . . not to mention 2-d shit like Titan A.E. . . . as well as the retreaded sequels like Alladin 3, Disney's Princess Party, and the Land Before Time Part Ninety that go straight to video. Compared to all of that, Pixar is fucking MAGIC. Bring on the dick.
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There's a couple movies I don't care for, like Cars, Bugs Life and Ratatouille, but everything else is pure chocolate-covered gold
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The Incredibles = A+
Finding Nemo = A+
WALL-E = A
Toy Story = A
Toy Story 2 = A
Ratatoulie = A
A Bug's Life = B
Cars = B
Monster's Inc = C+ -
The relationship between Sully and "Boo" is wonderful.
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Toy Story: A ~ A Bug's Life: A ~ Toy Story 2: A+ ~ Monsters, Inc.: A ~ Finding Nemo: A ~ The Incredibles: A ~ Cars: B+ ~ Ratatoullie: A- ~ Wall*E: A
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had Billy Crystal cheezing it up. John Goodman was great though.
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I would flip Ratatouille and Monster's Inc. Ratatouille was dense and talky like a 1960s movie with a zany plot and there were all these scenes of characters trying to explain and exposition the ludicrous plot.
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Ratatouille had heart. Lots and lots of heart, which was missing from Monsters Inc. Plus, the animation was better and the character of Remy was better than anything in Monster's Inc. Also, the little tiny details were fabulous - like Remy making himself a little omlette after he made one for the kid. I love that stuff. Plus Patton Oswalt is just flat out more enjoyable to listen to for 2 hours than Billy Crystal.
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... and the premise of this film is the weakest I've ever heard for a Pixar film, which is not a good sign.
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---yeah, pixar movies are usually pretty good, but cars (bugslife, ratatouille, etc.) weren't as good--- WAT? EPIC FAIL.
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That sounds interesting.
That bit in the trailer ("Can I come inside, please?" "No.") cracks me up. -
I've always seen it as Pixar's Charlie Kaufman film, in that it's fiercely original with a lot of heart and a main close relationship between two characters (Think Charlie and Donald in Adaptation). I'm not saying that Pixar ripped off Kaufman, but I'm just saying that's what that film reminds me of.
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Because that would be awesome.
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"Ants are nature's communists." That was a great talkback....
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one thing that can't really be denied is that Pixar is arguably the best CGI animation studio, if not simply the best animation studio, in the world. Even with the great work that Production IG and Studio 4C do, Pixar tops them - if not in quality (although for the most part they do), then in marketability.
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