#37 - Up (2009)

A quick word: at the start of this blog, I did say that I would allow myself to count movies that I've never seen before.  (#38 will also fit into this category.)  A couple reasons for this: I didn't want to have to preclude myself from viewings of movies (especially with friends) that I've seen before; and, there are some movies that I watch about once a year.  Frankly, my goal is lofty enough as it is without adding in a whole lot of stipulations.  (Though all 365 movies will, at least, be different).  I'm planning a trip out to Kalamazoo in a few weeks' time, and one of the things we're going to do is have an awesomely-bad movie viewing party with lots of cheese and other goodies.  Troll 2 was one of those, but the next one will be a movie I have actually seen a few times before, and it is horrendous and awesome all at the same time.

This leads me to my newest selection: Up.  To know me is to know my deep, abiding love of all things PIXAR.  I have seen all 11 movies, anywhere between once (A Bug's Life) and at least 25 times (Toy Story), and they're all marvelous.  That being said, Up was a rare blip in the PIXAR discography to me.  I didn't enjoy it as much as the previous feature (Wall-E), or the succeeding (Toy Story 3), and thought it, somehow, despite how much everyone loved it, just a tad above mediocre.

Visually, it's gorgeous, of course, the animation among the very best the industry has to offer, and the story is cute, but it rather stops there.  The visual gags and witticisms so prevalent in many of the earlier features are less present here.  Take out Dug (Doug?) and you have almost none at all.  There is the underlying, heartwarming story, and yes, the six-minute-or-so montage of the Fredericks is nice, but I didn't tear up the way every one else seemed to.  (And I'm certainly not devoid of emotion.)  Russell is a capable-- but not extraordinary-- sidekick, Ed Asner as the curmudgeonly octogenarian is rather limited (fully admitting he is a round character nonetheless), Christopher Plummer as Charles Muntz, the villain, is... was he in it at all? Half the movie had gone by before that conflict kicked in at all.

I'm being overly critical here, I'm sure, and nitpicking a bit, but guys, this is out of love.  PIXAR stirs my emotions like few films are ever capable of doing, and the fact that I only moderately enjoyed this movie is a testament to how, in at least my eyes, it's not that special.  I watched it again to give it another chance (and I will do so again in the future, I'm quite sure), and came away with the same feeling: that was nice, but I guess I don't get why it makes people pee their pants in excitement.  Maybe one day I'll grow a heart and figure it out.

Score: 8/10