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2009: Up
My last pick for 2009 was The Hangover, but while I still like that movie, Up is a more rewarding experience. It was between this and Inglourious Basterds, Tarantino's best film since Pulp Fiction. Inglourious Basterds has some excellent performances and writing, but Up is one of the finest animated films you'll ever see. The other films of 2009 I enjoyed are Avatar (Not James Cameron's best work, but worth a watch), The Blind Side, It's Complicated (Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin's performances make it great) & Sherlock Holmes. I don't like this year for film as much, but it did produce a few good films and even a couple of great ones.
The noughties seemed to be the best decade for Pixar films. Starting with a film about monsters and ending with the emotional final chapter of a beloved trilogy in 2010, Pixar made consistently entertaining and engrossing features. And most of Pixar's films are also sharp at the emotions, and no other Pixar feature was as sharp at the emotions as this.
Carl Fredricksen was always adventurous, and now in his old age, decides to visit Paradise Falls, by tying thousands of helium balloons to his home. He sets off on his adventure, with an accidental stowaway, an 8 year old Wilderness Explorer named Russell, a young naive boy.
What sets apart Up from it's Pixar counterparts is it's more adult aspects. During the opening montage, which shows how Carl met his future wife, the subject of infertility is subtly addressed, and feels much different from any other animated films. Other mature themes, like death, parental seperation and lost feelings, are also alluded to, some of them more obviously than others. At times, the film can seem a little off-putting, but Russell and Dug, a dog with a collar that allows him to speak, are always there to balance it out with crowd-pleasing humour.
The visuals are stunning, which is to be expected, but the realistic features of the characters are truly brilliant. Carl especially really looks like an elderly person you may see walking around the streets. The voice performances are wonderful, especially newcomer Jordan Nagai as Russell, which is truly one of the funniest, memorable and saddest voice performances in cinema. The innocence conveyed in Nagai's performance makes the scenes where he talks about his deadbeat dad all the more moving.
Toy Story 2 may be my favourite of the Pixar bunch, but Up remains one of the more poignant members of the group. A little more adult than the others, but equally fun and well made.
+
My last pick for 2009 was The Hangover, but while I still like that movie, Up is a more rewarding experience. It was between this and Inglourious Basterds, Tarantino's best film since Pulp Fiction. Inglourious Basterds has some excellent performances and writing, but Up is one of the finest animated films you'll ever see. The other films of 2009 I enjoyed are Avatar (Not James Cameron's best work, but worth a watch), The Blind Side, It's Complicated (Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin's performances make it great) & Sherlock Holmes. I don't like this year for film as much, but it did produce a few good films and even a couple of great ones.
The noughties seemed to be the best decade for Pixar films. Starting with a film about monsters and ending with the emotional final chapter of a beloved trilogy in 2010, Pixar made consistently entertaining and engrossing features. And most of Pixar's films are also sharp at the emotions, and no other Pixar feature was as sharp at the emotions as this.
Carl Fredricksen was always adventurous, and now in his old age, decides to visit Paradise Falls, by tying thousands of helium balloons to his home. He sets off on his adventure, with an accidental stowaway, an 8 year old Wilderness Explorer named Russell, a young naive boy.
What sets apart Up from it's Pixar counterparts is it's more adult aspects. During the opening montage, which shows how Carl met his future wife, the subject of infertility is subtly addressed, and feels much different from any other animated films. Other mature themes, like death, parental seperation and lost feelings, are also alluded to, some of them more obviously than others. At times, the film can seem a little off-putting, but Russell and Dug, a dog with a collar that allows him to speak, are always there to balance it out with crowd-pleasing humour.
The visuals are stunning, which is to be expected, but the realistic features of the characters are truly brilliant. Carl especially really looks like an elderly person you may see walking around the streets. The voice performances are wonderful, especially newcomer Jordan Nagai as Russell, which is truly one of the funniest, memorable and saddest voice performances in cinema. The innocence conveyed in Nagai's performance makes the scenes where he talks about his deadbeat dad all the more moving.
Toy Story 2 may be my favourite of the Pixar bunch, but Up remains one of the more poignant members of the group. A little more adult than the others, but equally fun and well made.
+