I Really HATE People Who Talk at the Cinema...

and I could quite happily shoot them all. Well. Maybe. With a water gun I suppose. Actually what I should do is follow them home and when they're watching something they really like on TV play Knock Knock Ginger, slowly driving them insane until they're unfit for work and lose their house and everything in it and they have to watch TV in the window of Curry's instead. Then I'd heckle them from across the street so they couldn't even enjoy that sorry form of entertainment. Maybe then they'd learn a lesson. Dicks. As you can probably guess I had a couple of people talking in front of me when I went to see Up. Repeating the jokes every 5 seconds and talking in not at all quiet voices about things they knew were gonna happen later in the film that I DIDN'T KNOW. Grrrrrr. Come to think of it this is supposed to be a review of Up isn't it? Suppose I should get on with it really...


Oh, Up, you curious little film you. Who would have thought we'd get an animated childrens film about the story of a 78 year old man who isn't Santa Clause? Carl Fredricksen is an ex-balloon salesman who promised his wife they would one day live her dream and travel to South America. Whilst always very serious about making their trip Carl and Ellie never quite make it and, unfortunately for Ellie, it is left too late. Spurred on by Ellie's death and the threat of demolition to his house due to building work, Carl sets sail to Paradise Falls, South America in that very same house, using his history with balloons to make it all possible. It's an astounding sight:

What Carl doesn't realise however is that Russel, a 'Wilderness Explorer' (or Cub Scout) is on his porch when the house takes off, presenting both annoyance and companionship to Carl on his journey. In fact, Carl's adventure soon becomes a little too crowded for his liking with a rare, exotic bird (whom Russel names Kevin!) and a talking dog named Dug joining the pair once they reach South America. I don't really want to spoil the story from this point on but I will tease that Kevin's rarity and a childhood hero of Carl's come into play during the second half of the film.

I can't stress enough how touching and emotional this story can be, especially for what is supposedly a 'kids' film. It's surprising how sad it can be at times. The opening montage of the film, showing Carl and Ellie growing old together whilst continuously having to put their plans to travel to South America on the back burner, is sad because you KNOW they're not going to make it in time; if they did then it wouldn't really be much of a film. But seeing some of the reasons why Ellie doesn't ever get to live her dream is even more heart-wrenching. Your only 10 minutes into the film and your already close to tears! There are a couple more moments later on too which really highlight the love and devotion the couple had for eachother and make you fully empathise with Carl about his lost love. It's sadder than any other animated film I've seen, more so even than Bambi or The Lion King (damn Disney parent-killers!) but, to be fair, it's questionable whether many of the kids watching the film really have the ability to empathise with Carl and fully comprehend how he is feeling during these moments. Maybe they're not such strong moments for the younger viewers but I know I was very surprised at some of material on show here. Girls (and probably some boys) may want to take some tissues!

Whilst being a bit of a teary affair though, Up combats this by also being very, very funny. The classic 'odd coupling' of Carl and Russel works really well. They play off eachother superbly with Russel's humorous over-excitement and awe being counteracted wonderfully by Carl's world-weary attitude, dry wit and forced tolerance of the young boy with whom he is stranded. Add Dug's doggy behaviours and thoughts being translated into English and Kevin's hilarious squawking and mannerisms into the mixture and you realise you have a great set of characters here. None of them really outstay their welcome and the funny lines just keep coming. Another high point is seeing their relationships with eachother grow to the point were they enjoy being together on their fantastic adventure. This makes the film both more heartwarming and funny, as Carl begins to become a father figure for Russel and their camaraderie leads to even more amusing lines. The final scenes of the film really show how important the two become to eachother.

I saw Up in 3D and I must say I was a little disappointed by that aspect of the film. This surprised me as I was thoroughly impressed by the last 3D film I saw (Toy Story 3D). I think I've narrowed this down to 2 main reasons though. Firstly, I'd had 15 years to get used to seeing Toy Story in plain old 2D so the sequences and images from the film were all stored in my head in this way. Knowing how the film looked without 3D seemed to make more of an impact on me as you could literally see the differences in front of your eyes. With Up I have nothing to compare it to. Whilst I can imagine what it all looked like in 2D, I can't directly compare it to this format unless I go to see the film again but in 2D instead. And whilst I'd be tempted with a film as special as Up, I'd say balls to that if I have to see every 3D film in 2D as well just to be impressed. So what am I saying? If you want to release a film in 3D you should release it normally first and then do a 3D version 15 years later? Hmmmm. No. But something didn't quite work.

Maybe it's due to my second reason - you simply get used to the 3D after a while. Toy Story 3D was the first 3D film I saw. Maybe I enjoyed the 3D so much because it was new and a novelty for me. With Up it wasn't really a new experience anymore and the 3D suddenly just becomes expected and shockingly normal. If I've become so blasé with 3D after only 2 films I hate to think what it would be like if I'd gone to see all the tens of 3D films released this year. 3D should be kept as a rare thing, for films that can truly benefit from the technology. Whilst having 3D in Up was nice, I can't really justify it being an extra £2.

So, I think you can tell I quite enjoyed Up. Whilst I question the overall necessity of the 3D and am slightly concerned about some of the cutting real-life issues the film deals with (but don't get me wrong, they didn't spoil it AT ALL), I was thoroughly entertained for the full 96 minutes and would encourage everyone to see it. It may look like a cute kids film but Up could appeal to anybody. There was even an old man sat alone in the audience at the showing I went to. Maybe he could relate to Carl and will now be inspired to follow his dreams despite being in his twilight years. Or maybe he was just lost. I'm not sure.

9/10