Influences: UP

Since its been the talk of the town at the moment, I felt I had to have my say about Pixar's new release, UP. I saw Up at the cinema with Alec and Dan last Friday and was literally 'blown' away by it.

Up (2009):

"By tying thousands of balloon to his home, 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen sets out to fulfill his lifelong dream to see the wilds of South America. Right after lifting off, however, he learns he isn't alone on his journey, since Russell, a wilderness explorer 70 years his junior, has inadvertently become a stowaway on the trip".

Just to irritate the team, I've uploaded all these images, enjoy!








Although having to watch the film on a ridiculously small screen and try to listen through the cackles of adolescent girls in the row in front, this didn't spoil the ride. The opening montage with the characters Carl and Ellie was very touching, and for an animation feature film that seems a rare instance, but that's what made it even more effective. I never found myself bored by the story, which is the case for many live action films I have seen. The film relies heavily on plot and character, with the visuals secondary to this, and its this method which makes Pixar good at what they do. They plunge the audience into the adventure, and make us care about the characters; however unreal their world may be, these are still supposed to be believable for the two hours you are fixed to the cinema screen. And Carl Fredricksen, a grumpy old man is a surprising but fitting choice for a major character in an animation.

As for the visuals, they are second to none. From start to finish, the film is flooded with vibrant light and a rich colour palette, and these are very pleasing to the eye - it would be interesting to see this from a child's perspective. The visual style is breathtaking, and there is so much to absorb in each and every shot, and so one viewing is simply not enough. Some scenes in the movie could almost be photorealistic - this achieved through complex, but subtle lighting and texture. It can be risky for an animation to resemble live action at this scale, but it works.

Pixar's films progress with each new release; Up may not be its best, but its definitely 'up' there among them. Every comment I have made so far has been extremely positive - of course there are flaws since no film is perfect, but these were easy to overlook. This film is a lesson to us all that getting the story to flow is more important that anything - ultimately, we wish for the audience to walk away from our own films and remember them for the right reasons. I realise we will never match the sophistication of Pixar's visuals in our projects (and why should we?) but this should be a big nudge for the team to push the standards as high as we can. So watch this space...