Up (Pixar's film)

[EricJ]

Like how Jim Hill's review thought that "Always remember to count the grey cars" was supposed to be another cuddly/sentimental Pixar moral about stopping to smell the roses...

(Uh, actually, believe "I see a gray car!" was meant to be a joke about dogs being color blind?)

[Sunday]

Ah, thanks James. Yes indeed, I like my nits freshly picked with parsley and a dab of mustard on the side.

Yes, for my part I found it hard for the adventure half of the film to maintain the unparalleled excellence those first 10-20 minutes or so dished out. Not that the film wasn't extremely entertaining, very funny, and exceptionally crafted all around. It wasn't enough to top The Incredibles for me, but I have a strong notion it'll be the best thing I see all year. 9? Frog? Illusionist? The line has been drawn. Do you gots what it takes?


(Aside: interestingly enough, a new-ish ranking site (flickchart.com) popped onto my radar recently. It puts film lists together by having users choose which of two films they like better in an endless series of pairings. Deciding which of two personally adored favorites I like more is what I've been doing several hundred times in the last week or so. lol, I know what you're saying, though. Writing with any depth about the motive force behind an opinion between two 'incomparables' is a delicate task, and perhaps unnecessary at the end of the day.)

[ribbedebie]

Sooo, I just watched Up. Very amazing movie I must say. Awesome animation. Made me laugh, cry, and... yeah.

Spoilers.

Is this the spoilers tag? 'K.

Well, I found the way the characters developed very interesting. Kevin the Snipe was just plain awesome (mostly because I love birds)and the dogs were awesome too. Dug really did act like a Golden Retriever. 'Master! Master! Ball! I have just met you, and I love you already,' (he did say that, right?) And, those little Kevin-babies at the end were cute.

Interesting tidbit, my parents think Carl reminds them of that old guy from that short Pixar film with that chess game (and who made Woody's arm in Toy Story 2 ). Must be the way he walks with that walking stick and stuff.

[Jafar]

How Many Balloons Would It Take To Lift a House?

http://www.slate.com/id/2219775/

[Dacey]

Up is a superb movie, but I don't think it is as good as Ratatouille or WALL-E. Why? There is no single thing I can put a finger on.

That's kinda the way that I feel, at least to a certain extent. I thought that "Up" was very good, but I simply didn't love it the way that I love some of Pixar's other films. I can't really explain why.

[Josh]

Interesting tidbit, my parents think Carl reminds them of that old guy from that short Pixar film with that chess game (and who made Woody's arm in Toy Story 2 ). Must be the way he walks with that walking stick and stuff.

When I first heard the plot for Up, I wondered if Geri would have a cameo in the film, considering the ages of the hero and villain. I think it would have been cool if one of the photos in Carl's house featured him and Geri together, implying they were good friends.

[Rosengeist]

I'm sure some of you already saw this, but this story just makes me love Pixar all the more. I actually started crying when I read this - http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.as ... &GT1=28101

[Randall]

Oh, man. You can't read that without tearing up.

[ribbedebie]

Aw. Poor girl. Just shows how amazing Pixar is. Let's say, Dreamworks would've never done that. /Pixar fangirl

[estefan]

Yeah, that was so fantastic of Pixar. And Up is quite an appropriate film to watch as your last film.

I wonder if that employee was Pete Docter or possibly Bob Peterson.

[Wolf Tooth]

[MOD EDIT: Woolf Tooth obviously didn't see were were already talking about this and posted the entire story again elsewhere. Naturally I have moved it here and, for those who haven't seen the link above, the text is now hidden below - Ben]

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. - Colby Curtin got her final wish.

The 10-year-old girl desperately wanted to see the new Disney-Pixar movie, “Up.” But the cancer-stricken girl was too sick to go to a theater.

Thanks to a family friend who got in touch with the movie studio Pixar, an employee of the Emeryville-based company arrived at Colby’s home with a DVD copy of the movie, The Orange County Register reported Friday. The girl died later that night.

Colby’s mother, Lisa, said she had asked her daughter if she could hang on until the movie arrived.

“I’m ready (to die), but I’m going to wait for the movie,” she said her daughter replied.

“Up” is the animated tale of a grumpy old man who, after his wife’s death, tries to fulfill their joint dream of visiting South America by tying thousands of balloons to his house and floating away.

“When I watched it, I had really no idea about the content of the theme of the movie,” Colby’s mother told the Register. “I just know that word ’Up’ and all of the balloons and I swear to you, for me it meant that (Colby) was going to go up. Up to heaven.”

Colby, who was diagnosed with vascular cancer in 2005, saw previews for the film in April.

“It was from then on, she said, ’I have to see that movie. It is so cool,”’ family friend Carole Lynch said.

But the girl’s health began to deteriorate. On June 4, Curtin asked a hospice company to bring a wheelchair so that her daughter could go to a movie theater but the chair was not delivered over the weekend, Curtin said.

By June 9, Colby was too sick to go anywhere.

Another family friend, Terrell Orum, called both Pixar and Disney, which owns the animation studio. The message was received by Pixar officials, who agreed to send someone to Colby’s house the next day with a copy of “Up” for a private screening, Orum said.

The employee arrived with the DVD, stuffed animals of characters and other movie memorabilia.

Colby was unable to open her eyes to see the movie so her mother described the scenes. When her mother asked if she enjoyed it, the girl nodded, Curtin said.

The Pixar employee left after the movie, taking the DVD, which has not been released. Lynch, who was with the family during the screening, said the employee’s “eyes were just welled up.”

A call to Pixar seeking comment was not immediately returned Friday.

Colby, with her parents nearby, died later that night.

Her mother said one of the memorabilia left by the Pixar employee was an “adventure book” based on a scrapbook that, in the movie, is kept by the wife of the main character.

“I’ll have to fill those adventures in for her,” Lisa Curtin said of her daughter.
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31448115/ns ... nt-movies/

Vascular Cancer is scarry, even when just googled.

[James]

Up's Best Picture nomination chances just went way... up!

http://www.animated-news.com/2009/acade ... minations/

[eddievalient]

Oh man, I would love to see Up win Best Picture. It's certainly the best I've seen this year.

[Josh]

Overall, I'm happy with the Academy increasing the Best Picture nominations. I was very disappointed when The Dark Knight and Wall-E were overlooked in the last Best Picture race. I just hope the extra five nominations go toward films that truly deserve them.

With that said, I think Up will definitely be nominated for Best Picture next year. In fact, I think the chances of The Princess and the Frog being nominated have increased as well.

[Ben]

I find this silly. The Academy should be widening the scope of the entries, not simply the number of them.

It devalues the worthiness of the other nominated films and it makes more work for the Studios who will now have to compete with their own product in promoting some titles over others.

I know the history and I know there used to be more than five nominations, but really this is a step backwards. Just opening up the field doesn't ensure big blockbster films will get a chance or than animation will be able to break from its ghetto.

I hope some "bigger" films do get more respect, but I am worried all we will get is an extra five independent movies. Time will tell, but just watch them revert back to five titles again within a scant few years.