Have you seen “Up” yet?  I just came back from my second viewing and just in case you are wondering if all the glowing reviews you’ve been hearing are true, well, the answer is an unequivocal yes.  This film works is enjoyable on so many levels, it is sure to become a Disney/Pixar classic.  

 

What struck be watching this movie the second time around are the many layers present in this movie.  It’s an adventure movie that (mini spoiler alert ahead) touches on themes of life, death, loneliness, companionship, abandonment, greed, friendship, perspective, and priorities.  Not bad for a film that features talking dogs!

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Craig Detweiler: Summer 2009 Movies from CJ Casciotta on Vimeo.

And so we have the first grand film of 2009. I use the word “grand” because the reviewer’s usual fallback, “great,” is tossed around so carelessly these days as to lose all meaning. Up is no masterpiece, but it provides what most moviegoers secretly want: an unabashedly emotional experience. The high point hits early and lasts about five minutes. It comes in the form of a flowing montage of moments in the marriage of a pixie-ish redheaded girl named Ellie and a diffident, square-faced balloon seller named Carl Fredrickson, who will become the hero of the story. Set to a shamelessly heart-tugging Michael Giacchino score, it lands an emotional blow akin to an Acme-sized anvil drop. Movies are in a unique position to do this sort of thing, to compress and distill, “turning the accomplishment of many years into an hourglass,” to quote an obscure English playwright. It’s refreshing to see a mainstream movie—a family movie—step back and consider the long view of life.    

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