Movie Review: Up

I have seen the preview trailer of Up for the past few months, it looked like a cute film and since everyone who saw it seems to really like it and even the critics seems to fall all over it, the boyfriend and I want to go see it too. Especially since it's a 3D film and the boyfriend loves 3D films.

I don't really know if 3D is the latest craze or not. I remember watching the last installment of The Nightmare on Elm Street and didn't think much of it. But I was surprised to be greeted by half a dozen of #D trailer of some upcoming movies. One that is called Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs looks particularly good, given it's a stupid premise but it looks cute and it's food related.

Feeling abandoned by his own society and after suffering a lost, 78 years old Carl decided to take on his lifelong dream of experiencing an adventure in South America where the legend of Paradise Fall lies. Along the way he picks up an Asian boy scout named Russell who is one "assisting a senior" badge away to becoming a senior wilderness explorer, a dog who can speak and a strange exotic bird. At the end, the old man discovered that life's biggest adventure is not necessarily far away from home but it's in the friendship one forms and its day-to-day life.

The first 5 to 10 minutes of the movie consists of a recount of the old man's life and it was most beautiful and touching. Even though the rest of the movie was good, somehow it didn't reach the same emotional height again. The movie repeatedly asks the question of what does one do after reaching ones dream and concludes that it's life's little boring things that matters and most memorable. I keep being distracted about having a 78 year old man battling a near centenarian, who are both unusually nimble. Carl's ability to haul a floating house and a kid through the forest is also a bit baffling, he's 78! But then there are a lot of pleasing visual elements like his house that's floating in the air with the support of thousands of helium balloons.

The 3D effect is not too show-y and distracting, the music score is also nice. I cracked up when a little girl cried loudly when things got a little too scary for her age. That kind of naivete is priceless. I think general audiences will find it hard to relate to an old man or an somewhat unreasonable Asian kid. The life lesson where you can find adventures in the small things might be lost as well. Though I don't find the movie extremely memorable in its plot or characters, I left the theater with a good feeling. B