Up

Category: Film
Genre: Animation / Adventure / Comedy
Directed By: Pete Docter / Bob Peterson
Running Time: 96 min.

Up is one of the best told original stories I have encountered in recent moviemaking.  It truly is an original tale with characters you care for and a unique protagonist perspective to boot.

On the technical front this is a Pixar 3D animated film, and maintains the studio’s reputation for high quality.  There are some beautiful lighting effects, and the animation itself is executed in such a way as to be transparent to the viewing experience.  I viewed it both in the 2D and 3D presentations, and both stand up well.  As with the rest of the effects, the 3D adds to the experience without being gimmicky.

Up is a great example of why Pixar really makes the better films in this genre.  There are deep character themes to be explored and the story is well told through the film medium.

Structurally, this tale is about a journey.  As with most good tales there are parallel journeys taking place, one physical, and others emotional within the characters.  Our protagonist is Carl Frederickson, whom we are introduced to as a young boy in what looks to be the late 1940’s or early 1950’s.  He is enamored with exploration, living vicarious adventures via his newsreel hero, Charles Muntz who embarked to Paradise Falls, in the mysterious depths of South America.  Muntz has fallen from public opinion, accused of presenting fraudulent discoveries, and sets off to Paradise Falls to clear his name.  None of this dampens Carl’s enthusiasm, and in the midst of his fantasy adventuring in the neighborhood, he meets Ellie, a dynamic girl who shares his love of adventure and hero worship of Muntz.  Ellie shares her adventure book, complete with a section reserve for future adventures once she reaches South America.  They become fast friends, cross your heart swearing to go to Paradise Falls someday.

In one of the most artful sequences of the film we see a montage as Carl and Ellie marry and buy and renovate the house that was their childhood hideaway.  We see them receive the news that Ellie cannot bear children, and in response Carl makes a savings jar for their trip to Paradise Falls.  Real life intervenes and they use the saving for life’s little rainy day occasions.  As they reach their golden years, Carl arranges a trip to South America, and just when he’s about to surprise Ellie, she falls ill.  Just before she dies she gives him her adventure book, and we see the first half is already filed with their shared childhood adventures.

This entire sequence is done without a single spoken word, yet it speaks volumes.

Flash forward and Carl is alone, a man seemingly passed by by the world.  He has settled into a grumpy old man persona, having no friends or family, and feeling he’s somehow missed out on life.  His house is the last obstacle to a construction project, and in defending it, he is consigned to a rest home.

Carl gets the last laugh, tethering hundreds upon hundreds of balloons out his chimney and setting off for Paradise Falls.  Through various misadventures he gets mixed up with Russell, a wilderness Explore scout after his last merit badge, “Assisting the Elderly”.  They do finally arrive at Paradise Falls, with various obstacles in their path, including a now reputation-obsessed Muntz.

The core themes of the story are those of belonging, and to a lesser extent, coping with loss and fatherhood.  Early on, Ellie provided Carl’s sense of belonging, extending all through the rest of her years.  When she was gone, all Carl had left were his memories and his dreams, some of which he felt he’d betrayed.  At the outset of his balloon adventure, Carl is looking for vindication, finally taking the trip to Paradise Falls.  In having to care for Russell’s well being Carl is forced out of his myopia, and his perspective begins to change.

On encountering Muntz, we see a great counterpoint to Carl, illustrating the difference between dreams and obsessions.  Carl is forced to choose between getting all the way to Paradise Falls, or keeping his promise to Russell, and his choices are held up to the mirror that is Russell’s innocent nature.

Upon finally exploring the second half of Ellie’s adventure book, Carl discovers she has filled it with memories of their adult life, complete with her final inscription thanking him for the adventure, and telling him to go find his very own new adventure.  As he makes his choices to save the day, Carl realizes that the house in simply a house, Paradise Falls is just a place, and what really matters is belonging, be it to a club, a pack, or a family.  Carl fills the hole left by Russell’s absent father, and Russell helps fulfill Carl’s need to be a father and care for someone.

In the final analysis, Up tells an original story with heart, humor and intelligence that can be enjoyed by children and adults alike.  A great story, well told by creative folks who take evident pride in their craft, UP is possibly my personal favorite from Pixar to date.

Rating: 9/10

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Category: Film
Genre: Action / Adventure / Period
Directed By: Steven Spielberg
Running Time: 124 min.

This delayed sequel (quadquel?) left me feeling very conflicted. I dusted off my Indian Jones trilogy box set the weekend prior to seeing the new installment, to make sure I was going into Crystal Skull with more than just old memories and inflated expectations. Walking out of the theater, I was left with the impression that I had seen a good, enjoyable movie, but somehow, it wasn’t Indy.

Much of the altered vibe comes from breaking formula and adopting more modern (but certainly not necessarily better) conventions of cinematic story telling. The new film is set in 1957, and the key plot device involves aliens and their technology. Both of these are a problem. The spirit and vibe of the 1950’s is on the other side of a fundamental shift in the American consciousness: World War II. The world of the 1930’s Indy was largely open for the exploration, wild and surprising, with more than enough room for adventure. The world of the 1950’s has become one in which the lines on the map have been clearly marked, and mankind now has the sobering ability to exterminate himself from that very map. As for the alien elements, this seems simply too fantastic for the scope of the film. The plot devices of the earlier films, while fantastic in nature, were rooted in the human mythology of history, be it biblical or otherwise. Bringing prior alien involvement into a film almost always requires the payoff of their return or resurrection, and this felt too big, it simply overpowered the story.

Secondly, the fine balance of camp vs cheese in the earlier three films (possibly excluding Temple) falls far into the cheese side in Skull. The banter feels grafted over the story, to the point where it interferes with the pacing to an extent. There are several plot decisions that I disagreed with in this treatment, primary Mutt turning out to be Indy’s son by Marian Ravenwood (from Raiders), and second thier eventual marriage at the end of the picture. For a writer I’m sure its satisfying to bring closure and happy ending to characters you’ve created after such a long hiatus (and post trilogy sequels are often a one shot proposition); however, audiences want to see thier heroes back in the thick of things, which often runs counter to efforts towards the Ward and June Cleaver treatment.

Another poison dart in the fedora was adopting the convention of gaining characters throughout the story like luggage. By the beggining of the third act of the film the traveling core of protagonist characters was at least 5 or 6 strong, as opposed to the weaving in and out of characters and plotlines of the previous films prior to the climactic assembly. This lends a Lord of the Rings feel to things, with the mojo spread too thinly amongst the characters, so to speak.

On the technical front, the graphic treatment was simply odd in places, as if there were some intentional play at a certain “look” to the CGI background elements (take a look a the monkey sequence specifically) that simply didn’t work. Instead of looking like, say perhaps an old style matte painting, it looks like bad compositing; and I just simply can’t imagine ILM doing something that blatant by accident.

To his credit Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones) does his best to bring Indy back to us, though some Jack Ryan and Dr. Richard Kimble leak through as well (but it works). Shia LaBeouf (Mutt Williams), who showed us what he could do in Transformers, seems to be restricted by the character of Mutt who doesn’t seem to have been fleshed out quite enough. Cate Blanchett (Irina Spalko) seemed to be phoning in the role, but that may have simple been the Russian accent obliterating any subtle nuances she brought to the role.

Were it not Indiana Jones, and all the history and baggage that brings to the table, this would be a fun romp of a modern movie, something of a low impact cross between The Mummy and National Treasure (two films I very much enjoy by the way). Spielberg has done masterful work in the past and so has Lucas; I think this may be just another movie falling under the fourth film curse (much like odd-numbered Star Treks).

Rating:5/10

Tin Man

Category: Television Miniseries (on DVD)
Genre: Fantasy / Adventure / Reboot
Directed By: Nick Willing
Presented By: Sci-Fi Channel
Running Time: 264 min. (3 episodes)

Tin Man, is essentially a modern steampunk-influenced retelling of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”. Originally aired on Sci-fi in three parts, I recently watched the mini-series on dvd in one sitting.

The plot and story were pleasantly unexpected treatments of the original Oz, which is only loosely alluded to in the course of the new telling. Through the first two acts, the pacing was reasonably maintained, but did start to get bouncy in the third act.

I was surprised and impressed with the production values and casting choices in this production. Neal McDonough (Minority Report, First Contact) as Cain (ie. the Tin Man) took a more subtle approach to his character than is usually seen, and avoids becoming “that sci-fi guy”. Alan Cummings (X2’s Nightcrawler) as Glitch/Ambrose (ie. the Scarecrow), presents a wonderful character, and brings a great deal of accesibility and heart to the role. Zooey Deschanel (Eulogy) as DG (ie. Dorthy Gale) is refreshingly real and off kilter as she interacts with the world of th O.Z.; in grappling with her past and emotional repercussions however, something is left to be desired. The writers dumbed down Raoul Trujillo’s/Raw’s (ie. Cowardly Lion) lines to the extent that he really never gets a chance to shine and that’s really a shame as so much could be done in context of his character’s treatment. Kathleen Robertson as Azkadellia delivers what we’ve come to expect in an attractive conflicted villianness character. Surprisingly, though he provides an interesting performance, Richard Dreyfuss as the Miracle Man (ie. the Wizard) makes a rather early exit from the story.

Unfortunately even Tin Man didn’t dodge the bullet of end sequence difficulties; after developing what is largely a character driven story, the ending sequence became mechanical and failed to capitalize or maintain the viewers investment in the characters. This was the appropriate place to recover from the stumbles of the third act, but goes for an almost canned ending (happily someone does melt; sadly no houses are dropped), and neglects to wrap up many of the characters we’ve come to care about.

All in all, for a Sci-fi mini-sereis, this far exceeded any expectations I had coming to it, and as a work of creative fiction I enjoyed this treatment of the original Oz story. There are some great gems in here, so I recommend checking it out, warts and all.

Rating: 6/10

The Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian

Category: Film
Genre: Fantasy / Adventure / Family / Novel Adaptation
Directed By: Andrew Adamson
Running Time: 140 minutes

Much of my impression of this movie no doubt has to do with the fact that I’m not solidly in the target audience demographic group. As I hadn’t read the Narnia books since sometime in the third grade, I had no detailed preconceptions regarding plot points, just a general understanding of the scope of the tale. With thatin mind I was hoping I would enjoy this second installment more so that the first, particulary hoping for a bit darker tone.

The gloves do come off a bit in Prince Caspian, though I find myself witht the same problem I have encountered with other relatively recent fantasy epics; I can suspend disbelief with no difficulty, howerever, I can’t seem to sustain interest, to buy into the characters and feel a need to care about them. Much of this I think comes from the increasingly mechanical treatment of these novel origin properties.

In Caspian, there were some rather sever problems wiht pacing the story agaisnt the action, and many scenes dis not have the neccessary gravitas to fill the experience. Coincidentally, on a more technical note, the animorph CGI characters (obviously painstakingly crafted, and one of my favorite thematic elements form these films) seemed to suffer from a lack of wieght in their movement, much like 2003’s the “Hulk”.

In the final analysis, I enjoyed the movie, but was not especially engaged by it; visually, the scope and scale of the film does deserve to be seen in a theater.

Rating: 3.5/10