So, another year, and another Oscar season looms close... And yet, surprise, surprise, here comes an amiated movie that has earned itself a Best Picture Nomination (not just best Animated Picture), the first movie since 1991’s Beauty and the Beast to manage such a feat.
Alas, among all the ’Avatars’ and people with ’Hurt Lockers’, not to mention a few ’Basterds’ and things that go ’Up in the Air’, I fear that Up will have to be happy taking home the statuette for Best Animated Picture only.
But for me, this is the best movie of 2009, no question about it.
Why, you may ask?
Well, I dare anyone with even a modicum of emotion in them to not feel moved at the end of the movie.
Yes, Up! shows us once again that ’Animation’ need not mean ’Cartoon’; that grown ups need not see this movie with only kids in tow.
The basic premise of Up! is this: The film centers around an elderly widower named Carl Freidriksen and a young overeager "wilderness explorer" named Russell who fly to South America in a floating house suspended from helium balloons. Now, that sounds out landing from any stretch of the imagination, but could you have imagined that Pixar’s previous effort, Wall-E, would turn out to be a heart warming tale with a romance between two robots?
No, like all fine performances, the hidden gold lies in the execution.
Up! I must dare say, is the most adult of Pixar movies till date. Touching on topics regarding our existence and whether we are going through life too fast without giving a thought, Up! does make you think, and that message lingers even after days.
That’s not to say that the movie does not have a long running sense of humour, in the best tradition of all things Pixar. It provides many laughs and the Chemistry between Carl, Russell and a dog names Dug, always keeps the fun moving. It touches on quite basic but very effective ways of making you laugh, like giving a scary character a hyperactive, squeaky voice, and a running gag on squirrels (don’t ask me to explain, it is delivered best when watched).
And it has got more, action, drama, raw emotion, sadness and jubilation. And of course, in the end, everybody’s happy.
The animation can’t be faulted. Indeed, I feel that the illustrators in Pixar can churn out world-class animation in their sleep. The background score scores another 10, indeed it has also got an Oscar Nomination in that category as well.
Is Up! a better movie than Wall-E (2008), was? Well, some may say yes, but I feel that they are both Pixar’s finest works, and a couple of notches above Ratatouille (2007).
But that debate is a bit irrelevant. Up! manages to be one of those rare movies worth watching more than once, worth renting more than once. Indeed, if you have a collection of DVD’s in your house, I would definitely recommend adding Up! to this list. It is, by all accounts, a modern Classic.