Saturday, June 06, 2009

Up, Up and Away

The new Pixar movie UP lives up (ahem) to its hype. Within the framework of a deceptively simple story, it explores themes of lost opportunities and chaining yourself to the goals of the past at the expense of the present. Plus, it's visually spectacular (particularly for fans of lighter- than-air crafts), often hilarious, and features some terrific characterization, through both visuals and dialogue. It's particularly impressive near the beginning when it gives the main character's backstory over several decades -- practically a movie in itself -- in a montage without a word of dialogue.

It's nice to know that the American animated film -- better yet, the Disney animated film -- is alive and well (albeit in 3-dimensional computer animation).

I heartily recommend seeing it in 3-D. The 3-D effects don't hit you over the head (as they do in some of the trailers shown before the feature) but the accentuate the visual splendor nicely.

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