Up

Last night, I stopped by Blockbuster on the way home from the hospital. I'm still not exactly a big fan of the place, but it has its uses. I needed a break to recharge, and watching movies is the best way to plug my head into the wall for a while.


I got UP. I spent the entire movie kicking myself for not catching it in 3D. It's a beautiful movie, beautifully told.

I was struck by the image of our main protagonist literally dragging his past around behind him. And he's very similar to the villain, Muntz, a shadow version of himself. They're both men who have taken their flying houses to this waterfall in South America. But while Fredrickson has done this for love, an attempt to give his wife the adventure they weren't able to share while she was alive, Muntz is there for a negative purpose, to prove to the world he's not a fraud. Alone with his unquestioning servitors, his mind has curdled. He is a reflection of what Fredrickson would have become if he weren't motivated by Ellie's memory.

This is especially telling given that Muntz was a hero to our guy and his wife. But while their perception of the adventure Muntz embodied was filtered through their good souls, the reality was much more flawed, and became dangerous in time.

He's very close kin to the villain in THE INCREDIBLES.

I love Pixar movies because they aren't afraid to create entire worlds around their stories. I always give big points to a movie that gives us something we've never seen before, and a guy wandering around a jungle with a floating house tied to his back with a garden hose while being menaced by a pack of talking dogs... Well, not too many of those around.

But it's not just weird for weird's sake. The setting and narrative are organically crafted, effectively selling us on every turn. It's more of a reflection of the unusual paths the human heart takes us than anything else.

It also offers an excellent example of how to maintain a character who has very little screentime, in this case Ellie. Not only is she a consistent character throughout, she even has an arc - long after she's gone! It's a lesson in master level storytelling.

UP is a strange and wonderful movie. I would go so far as to call it a perfect movie.