A Trip Down Memory Lane w/ "UP"

Hello film buffs and readers, and welcome to spring! As the world slowly opens (I feel like I’ve been on and off saying this for the last 1.5 years…) the time for adventure and travel is nigh! So what better way to get in the adventurous mood and soar to new heights, than with the ever-beloved UP by Disney Pixar. An animation film boasting a 98% Rotten Tomatoes rating, and five total nominations at the 82nd Academy Awards! A 2009 film, UP is about an old man who at the fine age of 78 decides he wants to live out his adventurous childhood dream of finding Paradise Falls.

This film if you’ve seen it before and I’m sure most of you have, is terribly heartfelt as much as it is adventurous. The very beginning pulls on your heart strings with minimal dialogue – a Pixar staple – and no one will ever recover from that scene on the hill with protagonist Carl’s wife, Ellie. Two oddballs with a sense of adventure running through their veins, who met in childhood and had been inseparable ever since.

The film takes off when Carl meets Russel, a boy scout looking to collect as many badges as possible to impress his absent father, lacking only his “assisting the elderly” badge. Carl, now 78 and a typical grumpy, non-sociable elderly man wants nothing to do with such things. Once the film and house take off, we the viewers come to know more about the personality of Carl and why he became the grumpy lump he had become, why Russell is such an over-achiever, and how these drastically different personality types and age range become the perfect formula to soften the hardened heart, and spark the fire of adventure within!

UP could honestly win the “ultimate storytelling” badge because it draws you into the story from beginning to end. Emotional with little script to start, problematic and rocky yet funny as it works towards its climax, a terrible turn of events as our plot twist climax, and a warm ending that teaches a lesson to young and old folks alike. It honestly doesn’t get any better. Except, it can! UP has one of the best scores running throughout the film, and I can say this for a fact winning “Best Original Score” at both the Academy Awards and the 67th Golden Globe Awards. The score is truly what brings tears to your eyes when you watch the deterioration of Ellie at the beginning of the film (sans script), and emanates a light-hearted, dreamy, wonderous sense that pairs perfectly with the concept and importance of living out childhood dreams. UP racked up awards at the Oscars, Golden Globes, Critic’s Choice Awards, and the British Academy Film Awards – almost all to do with best feature or animated feature, and best score. I mean, say no more!

So if the Covid-19 pandemic has got you down, your itch to travel cannot literally be scratched at the moment, or you just want to watch an amazing film for anyone of any age, then it’s time to watch UP and connect within your inner childhood-adventurer self that you can always bring out into the world, no matter how old you get!

#up #disneypixar #disney #pixar #moviereview #filmreview #filmcommentary #commentary #AcademyAwards #GoldenGlobeAwards #CriticsChoiceAwards #bestfeature #filmcritique #animation #bestanimatedfeature #bestscore #bestoriginalscore #bestsoundediting #accolades #dreams #adventure #childhood #squirrel #paradisefalls #travel