Fridae

Moviemaker used to say: “You can’t predict whether a movie you make will be a box-office success or not. If you could, you’d be Steven Spielberg”. Well, that statement needs an update. Instead of “Spielberg”, it should now be “Pixar”.

Pixar hasn’t made a box-office dud ever since it debuted with Toy Story in 1995. Its animations have only gone from strength to strength. From Monsters Inc to Finding Nemo to The Incredibles to Ratatouille to WALL-E, Pixar seems to have found the right formula of heartfelt drama and hearty humor, injected into its all-too-human universe of rats, fish, monsters and robots.

   

Pixar’s new movie Up begins the way most of its cartoons do, with a devastating tragedy. A cranky 80-year-old codger (Ed Asner) has just lost his beloved wife of 60 years, the only friend he ever had. In loving memory of her, he decides to visit South America, something they had always planned to do but never got round to.

 

Instead of taking a plane, Ed ties 20,000 helium-filled balloons to his house and off it floats into the sky. What a hoot! The only problem is that a little Asian-American boyscout (Jordan Nagai) was on the porch when the house lifted off. So poor Ed now has to deal with the unintended company. 

But as you might expect, the two slowly become friends as they experience the adventure of their lives…    

Directed by Pete Doctor and Bob Peterson, Up is a feat of heart, humour and imagination. What begins as a completely strange story (old man ties balloons to house and flies off!) transforms into a sweet and unforgettable one about hope, friendship and love.

 

Those 20,000 balloons lifted Ed’s house up into the sky, and with it, our regard for Pixar.