Up

This post will discuss Pixar’s latest act of brilliance, Up. There will more than likely be plot points mentioned that would be spoilers if you haven’t seen it. So if you don’t want it spoiled for you, don’t read the rest until after you’ve seen it. (And if you haven’t seen it yet, what in the world are you waiting for??)

You have been warned.

🙂

What an absolutely brilliant movie!! I am a HUGE Pixar fan, constantly blown away by not just their story lines, but what they can do with a computer (yes, I’m a geek). But this one took the cake. As we left the theater I mentioned to Brett that I was going to have to reorder my list of the best of Pixar now because this one is on the top. He said he’d have to do the same, but we didn’t agree on what it replaced.42D

We saw it in all of it’s 3D glory. Which was amazing. But the movie doesn’t depend on that. That’s just an added side of it. It wasn’t great because of special effects like that. They just added to the greatness that was already there.

The Dogs (and frog)

I have never heard Brett laugh as hard as he did at those dogs. The voice changing problems Alpha had were almost too much for him. Every time Alpha’s spoke in that ridiculous high voice he laughed. It never got old.

Those dogs really made the movie. Their pack mentality, those crazy voices, their obsession with squirrels, playing poker, and the bird “up on the ‘roof.'” It was great.

When Brett started laughing the next night I wasn’t sure what it was about. And then he hit a frog I have that ribbits. That poor frog in the movie had no idea he was going to be an alarm clock that morning. And I had no idea that that joke was still going to be funny 24 hours later.

The Merit Badges

Did anyone else pay attention to the merit badges scrolling past during the credits? What do you have to do to get a merit badge that looks like a nuclear warning sign? Or better yet, a mushroom cloud? I can’t remember exactly the ones that were handed out at the end to the other kids, but I do remember thinking they were very strange too. And some of the ones Russell had were odd. The ranger explorer call cracked me up too.

The Deeper Stuff

The movie was hilarious. That’s a given. It was beautiful. Stunningly beautiful. Full of color and life and depth (and that’s not just because I was watching it in 3D).

But it was the life that was a part of the movie that really stood out to me. Within the first few minutes of the movie you see Carl and Ellie meet and have their life together. You see the highs and lows. You watch their love grow. And then you watch them have to say good-bye to each other. Carl doesn’t quite know what to do with his life after that. When pushed, he decides to finally fulfil Ellie’s wish to see Paradise Falls. He just has to take his old life with him.

He’s never looked beyond that page of “Stuff I’m going to do” in her adventure book. When he finally does though, he realizes she already had her great adventure. She had fully lived her life. She hadn’t waited for a “some day” to do something special.

I think there’s several things we can all take from that. I know I have a dress in my closet that I’m waiting for a special reason to wear it. Why? Why isn’t the fact that the sun came up and I’m alive special enough?

As I look at my life, am I living the adventure I can or am I dreaming about the adventure I can’t? I did laundry and cleaned my closet today. I don’t think I’m quite ready to call that an adventure. But I loved watching the different hummingbirds during my scripture reading this morning (scripture reading is part scripture part staring in awe at birds, I think it still leans more on the scripture side though, so I’m good).

Everyone I know who has seen it has absolutely raved about the movie. But I did see one comment (from a friend of a friend) who said it wasn’t appropriate for children because it was too sad.

Sad?

That’s part of the story arc. We had to watch Carl, and Russell, grow and get past the sad in their life. If they hadn’t been sad it wouldn’t have been so great when they found happiness. There were sad points, and if you walked out half way through you would’ve still laughed at the dogs, but it would have been a sad movie.

But Carl and Russell didn’t stop half way through. And in the end they had found their adventure, they were happy. And I think that is a perfect message for children. Life is going to have its hard parts where you want to turn your back on everyone and give up. The trick is to keep going, to take what you’ve got and tie a few balloons on, and see where you end up and who you meet.