UP...and up?

We saw the Pixar animation/Disney film, ‘UP’ last week. It tells the story of a love affair between the cautious Carl and his adventurous tomboy wife Ellie, whose great but unfulfilled ambition was to go to Paradise Falls in South America. Carl makes a living selling toy balloons and Ellie works in the local zoo. They grow old together in the ramshackle house where they first met. They save money for the great trip but keep on having to spend it on other financial responsibilities. Ellie dies and Carl becomes a crusty recluse, as a major house clearance and rebuilding scheme around him, leaves him marooned in his memories and unfulfilled dreams.

Then sparky young Russell arrives on the scene. He is a Wilderness Explorer. His coat is full of badges only one of which - assisting the elderly -remains to be earned. Resisting any suggestion that he needs assistance, Carl tries to get rid of his persistent visitor but eventually the two of them with the help of a great bunch of helium filled balloons, lift the whole house into the sky, and they travel hopefully towards Paradise Falls.

There follows a whole series of adventures – including more than a fair share of the inevitable chase sequences – with some wonderful panoramic scenes of great beauty. Everything comes alright of course in the end, the strange duo becoming closer, joined later by a talking dog and a mute tropical bird whom Russell names Kevin, not realising that she is a she not a he.

The film is proving a major success. It’s a bit too long but immensely imaginative and –especially in the relationship of Ellie and Carl, tender, and in the growing affection of the old man and the young boy, quite affecting. The contrast between an elderly man locked into time and then his discovery of a new world which he had thought was now beyond him, was quite a powerful parable for me. The animation is very clever. Carl really is old, getting out of bed in the morning involves unlocking his body from its sleep, before getting on to his stair lift to live another predictable day of fighting the world and capitulating to his own loneliness. A dream and a seven year old boy, save him!

A film worth seeing – and it got me thinking about where my next ‘up’ might be..

Bryan