THE CRITIC-AL LIST
Reviews by Alan Jones
5 STAR FAB - 1 STAR RUBBISH

The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Inception
Predators
The Twilight Saga:Eclipse
Toy Story 3
Hot Tub Time Machine
Iron Man 2
Repo Men
The Collector
Clash of the Titans
Shelter
How To Train Your Dragon
Kick-Ass
Shutter Island
Alice In Wonderland
The Crazies
Case 39
The Wolfman
Legion
The Lovely Bones
Black Death
Daybreakers
Avatar
Ninja Assassin
The Descent: Part 2
Amer
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
The Box
2012
Disney's A Christmas Carol
The Horseman
Solomon Kane
Pandorum
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs
District 9
An Education
G.I. Joe: The Rise Of The Cobra
Orphan
A Perfect Getaway
The Imaginarium Of
Doctor Parnassus
Up
Harry Potter
And The Half-Blood Prince
The Taking of Pelham 123
Transformers
The Revenge Of The Fallen
Antichrist
Terminator Salvation
Last House On The Left
Inglorious Basterds
Angels & Demons
Adventureland
Star Trek
Crank: High Voltage
Coraline
Dragonball Evolution
Let The Right One In
Drag Me To Hell
Race to Witch Mountain
Knowing
Monsters Vs. Aliens
Not Quite Hollywood
Lesbian Vampire Killers
Martyrs
The Children
Surveillance
Watchmen
The Unborn
The International
Friday The 13th
Franklyn
Push
Punisher:War Zone
The Good The Bad And
The Weird
Hush
Underworld
The Rise OF The Lycans
My Bloody Valentine
Bolt
Slumdog Millionaire

Directed by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson. Starring Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer, John Ratzenberger, Jordan Nagai. Animation, Comedy/Adventure, USA, 2009, 96 min.

In an era when the description ‘animation movie’ usually signals simplistic stories, noisy hyperactive characters and blunt moral messages, larded with scattershot pop culture references, the work of Pixar Animated Studios is a miracle. And this superlative ODD COUPLE magical fantasy is their tenth one in a row. How do they do it?

For Pixar’s output hums with real life concerns expertly shuffled through vivid worlds of wonder with a rare and precious fertile imagination. Pete Docter (MONSTERS, INC.) and Bob Peterson’s co-directed marvel continues the Pixar tradition of terrific characters, superb storytelling, unmatched visuals and a poignant after-glow that’s hard to shake. Every new Pixar seems better than the last, even though the previous one was the magnificent WALL:E and the last before that the fabulous RATATOUILLE.  Walt Disney Pictures must bless the day they grabbed the Pixar brand of quality that in so many amazing ways is extending the Mouse House reach and family audience value. UP is up, up and away the best film of the year (along with Philip Ridley’s HEARTLESS, which it strangely enough shares many fairytale quotes with). Grumpy old widower Carl Fredricksen (effectively growled by Ed Asner) balloon floats his house to a South American mesa lost world to fulfil a lifelong dream of great adventure he once wanted to share with his late wife Ellie. There, with stowaway boy scout Russell (Jordan Nagai), he saves a flightless rare bird of paradise nicknamed Kevin from the crazed clutches of eccentric explorer Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer) and his pack of electronically talking dogs. Funny, thrilling, startling and moving, UP is pure entertainment enchantment that creates a seamless world filled with fantastic sights and all-too-human sadness. For at the disarming heart of this high-flying escapism lies the affecting truism that everyday adventures are as potent as storybook ones. Not many cartoons could get away with alluding to CITIZEN KANE (in the opening Movietone newsreel positioning Muntz as Charles’ hero) or Werner Herzog/BURDEN OF DREAMS (Charles dragging his houseful of shackling memories along the mesa) and make them resonate with delicious irony. Although the 3D gimmick is somewhat extraneous in this instance it does have the effect of expanding the vertiginous vistas and perception depths even if dimming the colour palette. That’s more of a lure for the kids I suspect and they will also love the deliberately caricatured creatures, especially the zeppelin finale with canine bi-plane action. Yet UP couldn’t be more adult orientated if it tried.

The fact that it’s about elderly concerns  – the near-silent prelude charting the passing of married life is poignant Pixar perfection – with the fight between Carl and Charles a geriatric hoot, is a major plus rather than a juvenile minus.  Breathtaking in imaginative detail and astonishing in emotional range, UP is another stunning Pixar class act.

Alan Jones

© London FrightFest Ltd. 2000-2009
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