Up was a film that hit me hard in the gut.By far their most mature & emotional film. The highlight was the film’s “mini movie” in the beginning known as the Married Life montage. In it we follow young Carl growing old with his wife Ellie. There are no words. Just the beautiful score & a moving montage.
You see how close they are & how strong their love is. You follow them from when they move into their house…….
To them enjoying a simple life together and basking in their love….
To their devastating miscarriage & eventually to the couple in the senior years…
These short five minutes chronicles an entire life span & ends in the heartbreaking death of Ellie. This montage is Pixar at their most beautiful,most mature & their most genius. Again dealing with the theme of letting go,Pixar takes us on an incredible journey both visual & emotional. The end of the film is sheer perfection. This type of masterful story telling is the reason why Up was the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture since 1991’s Beauty & The Beast. After something as powerful as Up,it would seem like going back to the well for their next film could be a mistake. But no,Toy Story 3 was not the case. I warn you,I reviewed TS3 before so in this case,I will not avoid spoilers.I wondered if Toy Story 3 would be a return to a more simplistic storytelling without the tears Pixar became notorious for. In the end Toy Story 3 was the most emotional of the 3 films. One scene that will stay with me forever is where the toys face certain death by incineration. Instead of trying to escape,they accept their fate & as symbol of everything their friendship has endured,they hold each others hands. They have been through so much,if death awaits them,then they will die together. This is a movie about toys. TOYS! And yet,we feel like we’ve known them as people & to see them prepare for death like that is shocking,bold & overall touching. In the end,Pixar managed to do what very few have done. Make a second sequel that was even better than the first two.So this little studio has gone from a simple story of toys to dealing with themes much more adult than it’s supposed target audience. And their future holds Monsters Inc 2 & Cars 2? Will Pixar become like all the other studios churning out mindless sequels? Well,if they do,they bloody well deserve it. But no,they won’t. After all these films,doubting Pixar’s abilities in story telling is like doubting the sun will come up. And the reason they are so good is very,very simple. They care about the story. They care about their characters. So as long as they do that,I’m there. To infinity &….well,you know the rest.
