#2: Up
Good god, I love this movie.
Truth be told, I was a little skeptical at first, I wasn't sure if a Pixar movie with human characters that weren't superheroes would work, but by the time those old-timey "Spotlight on Adventure" reels started to roll and the announcer remarked, "And Jiminy Cricket, do the locals consider Muntz the bee's knees!" and little Carl pulled down his goggles and returned Muntz's on screen thumbs up, I was hooked.
Up is a lot of different things. It is wildly funny and charming and cute, yet it also explores some very difficult emotions. We begin with a wonderful intro, almost a short film on its own, in which young Carl and Ellie meet each other, and then go on through their married life. But then, as is usually the case in real life, one dies before the other. It's pretty sad*, but it's also authentic. That happens. There aren't a whole lot of movies made about an old grumpy man whose wife has died even though it inevitably occurs all the time. To call that subject matter "daring" is a bit of an overstatement, but it certainly wasn't a safe choice. And so Carl is left to answer the daunting question, now what?
* I've had people complain to me that this scene wasn't sad enough and others complain it was too sad. Can't please everyone I guess. I thought it was appropriate and tastefully done.
Ellie was Carl's life. They met when they were just kids and, from what the montage seems to imply, Carl has never really lived without her in any significant way. I think it's important to remember this when analyzing Carl's transformation. Carl isn't an inherently mean or selfish person, but simply someone who, understandably, finds life without as much to offer once his favorite thing has been removed from it. It's not that Russell and Dug change Carl so much as they reawaken him.
Up poignantly explores the notion of unfulfillment*. First, Carl, mostly as an extension of his wife's death, looks back on their life and is dissatisfied that they never went on the specific adventures they had planned on. Tying in more to the extra weight given to Carl as an older man, he is out of chances to make these wishes come true. And, as such, he is driven to make their pilgrimage to South America, even if it is more of a symbolic than literal completion. However, what makes this element redemptive rather than futile, is the beautiful scene when Carl finds he and Ellie's old adventure book and realizes that she has been filling it in all these years with their actual life. This scene is both necessary to inspire Carl within the context of the plot, but also to eliminate the feeling of guilt that burdens his character for feeling that he let his wife down.** Regret is a powerful thing, one that plagues nearly everyone to some degree, and this entire narrative serves to alleviate Carl's own regret in a way he never thought possible. Good stuff.
* Can someone explain to me why "fulfillment" is a word and so is "unfulfilled," "unfulfillable," and "unfulfilling" but not "unfulfillment"? English doesn't make sense sometimes.
** Had Carl listened to a little more of Dave Matthews Band's "The Best of What's Around" perhaps he would have already know that it, "turns out not where but who you're with that really matters."
As for that, "way he never thought possible," as classic as the pairing of Carl and Russell ends up being, I simply love Russell and adore their dynamic. The almost-final scene in which Carl surprises Russell and pins the Ellie badge bottle cap at Russell's ceremony...wow. Not only is the reemergence of the bottle cap one of the many great symmetric threads of the story, but it's the perfect expression of Carl's full acceptance that Russell is the continuation of the spirit that defined Carl and Ellie. While there is obviously a father/son & grandfather/grandson overtone, I think it's more of a discipular lineage than a blood lineage--though it is hard to ignore the fact that Carl and Ellie never had any kids. Either way, not only does Carl come to realize that he really shouldn't regret the things he didn't get to do with Ellie, he finds someone that can get tom more or less, have these adventures.
Even aside from this grand themes, Up is a movie that just grabbed me right away and never let go. The dialogue is so precise and carefully crafted, consistently hilarious and always maintaining this clever, imaginative tone. The characters are heartwarming, but not in a sappy or excessive way. The film is great to look at, colorful and detailed. It's really got it all.
Sometimes it just comes down to what makes you feel good, and Up made me feel great. There wasn't a movie I saw this year where I walked out of the theater feeling so unequivocally satisfied. While it was a close second on this list, it's still, by-far, the film I would recommend the most highly. No movie this year made me happier than Up, and sometimes that's all that counts.
"I was hiding under your porch because I love you." - Dug
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