I’m sure I’m not the first person to
say this, and surely won’t be the last, but it ought to be universally
understood that Pixar movies are a work of art. After watching one of my
favorite Pixar productions, Up, I can
only come to that conclusion. For those of you who haven’t seen it, Up is a story about Carl, an elderly
widower, who finally travels to Paradise Falls, his wife’s lifelong ambition,
by tying balloons to the roof of his house and floating there. Along the way,
Carl grudgingly picks up other travelers, such as Russell, Pixar’s perfect boy
scout, Dug, a dog who speaks with the help of a high-tech collar, and Kevin, a
colorful bird sought out by the main villain of the story, failed explorer
Charles Muntz. From a writer’s standpoint, I was jealous of the rich, fun to
watch characters that were created by writers Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, and
Thomas McCarthy. For me, the strongest part of the movie was the individuality
that screamed from the pores of each animated creature. Again, if you haven’t
seen this film, I hope that you make it a top priority on your to do list and see for yourself. By all
means, do NOT rely on my brief description.
When reading the screenplay, I
noticed that the descriptions were fairly short and concise, or in other words,
not too descriptive. This showed me that Up
left a lot of the story up to it’s animators, and therefore relies on the
crisp, extraordinary images that Pixar always delivers. For example, in the
very beginning of the movie there is a ten-minute montage of Carl growing old
with his wife, in which the only sound we hear is the music in the background
(which, of course, was beautifully composed and set the mood perfectly). These
dialogue-mute ten minutes were arguably my favorite ten minutes in the entire
movie. Through the use of cutting-edge animation, Up keeps my devout attention when most other movies would have lost
me a lot sooner. The animators on this project created a world that I so badly
wanted to step into and pinch Russell’s chubby cheeks, or button Carl’s grape
soda pin onto his lapel for him. If Pixar could bottle up whatever makes their
movies so special and sell it on Ebay, they would have even more money than I’m
sure they already do.
As Blake Snyder tells us in his
book, Save the Cat!, every movie must have a target audience. However, Up is able to able to hit two
interdependent audiences at the same time: the children that want to go to the
movie and the parents that have to take them. While the content of this movie
is perfectly appropriate for children, the humor seen throughout Up had me laughing, and I’m a teenager
(who, if the stereotype stands, isn’t supposed to enjoy anything). When Carl
first meets Russell, the writers immediately establish a strong, back-and-forth
relationship between the two, which primarily consists of Russell asking
questions and Carl saying “no”. Although it was simple, their dynamic had me
laughing more than anything else in the movie. In this film, Pete Docter, Bob Peterson,
and Thomas McCarthy set the bar high when it comes to writing strong, leading
characters.
In the portion of Blake Snyder’s
book that I just read, Snyder argues that any movie can fit into one of his ten
universal genres. He stressed that the importance of fitting a movie into a
genre was to fully understand all of the movies that potentially influenced the
one you’re focused on. This understanding helps writers avoid clichés that may
appear in the genre, and come up with something original that still has the
target audience that comes with the territory. As I watched Carl Fredrickson’s
adventure unfold, I tried to complete one of Snyder’s many exercises and place
it into a category.
Before I even started the film, I
immediately thought that Up was in
his “Golden Fleece” genre, where all of the movies center around an epic
journey. Piece of cake, Snyder. Carl Fredrickson travels from his stateside
neighborhood to the exotic Paradise Falls hidden away in South America. In this
genre, our “leading lady” must go through a personal change over the course of his
Homeric voyage. Up accomplishes this
when Carl realizes that making new adventures and doing the right thing is more
important than clinging to the past that takes the form of a multi-colored house.
He even warms up to the boy, and attends Russell’s Wilderness Senior Explorer
ceremony in the final scene of the movie. This change of heart fits nicely with
the other movies in this category, such as Little
Miss Sunshine and The Wizard of Oz.
However, Snyder also claims that the external events are irrelevant in a true
‘Golden Fleece’ film. I don’t know if I can say that this is true for Up. While a major chunk of the movie is
devoted to Carl’s transformation, the physical plot meant a lot to me as well.
Without scenes like the discovery of Kevin, their exotic new friend, or the
tense dinner at Charles Muntz’s home, I don’t think the movie would have been
as strong. Therefore, I simply can’t argue that these external events were
inconsequential.
Snyder’s “Buddy Love” movies, or
“love stories in disguise”, consist of two main characters that go on an
adventure together and discover how much they truly need each other. In a good
“Buddy Love” movie, Snyder insists that there is always a scene where the two
fight, angry at being co-dependent, but then must let go of their egos to come
together in the end. While Up seemed
like a “Golden Fleece” movie at first, after getting into it I quickly realized
how wrong I was. Yes, there was a journey and a change in the main character,
but the standard outline of a “Buddy Love” movie fits more like a glove than a
mitten. Let me explain. Despite its “Golden Fleece” mirage, Up focuses on the relationship between
Carl and Russell, and how they change each other’s lives for the better. Like
Snyder predicts, initially the buddies hate each other. Or rather, Carl thinks
of Russell as a terrible nuisance, obvious from their constant arguing in the
beginning of the film. However, when Carl decides to walk to the edge of Paradise
Falls, he discovers that he needs Russell to help him keep his house from
floating away. As they walk, Russell becomes more than just another sandbag for
Carl’s “hot air balloon”. But when Carl does not agree to help Russell save
Kevin from the evil Charles Muntz, the two make-shift friends split up in a
dramatic scene where Russell throws his Wilderness Explorer sash onto the
ground and stomps off. As Carl sits in his home alone, he is unsettled.
Finally, he gets up from his couch and changes his mind, now willing to save
Kevin. His companionship with Russell forces Carl to do the right thing, making
him a better person for it.
Even when the credits are rolling at the
very end, Pixar producers are still able to remind us that this is, in fact, a
“Buddy Love” movie. With a series of Polaroid snapshots of the two pals
accompanying the names of the many brilliant people on this project, I come to
the conclusion that Snyder is right. All movies easily fit into a category.
However, what intrigued me the most was that despite this, Up was still able to maintain and individuality that made it worthy
of a genre entirely of its own.
MOVIES WATCHED: 4
SCREENPLAY PAGES WRITTEN: 12
NOVEL PAGES WRITTEN: 60
PAGES LEFT IN MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR
PECULIAR
CHILDREN: 260
PAGES LEFT IN THE HOURS: 198
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