A few words about...™ Up -- in Blu-ray

Mr. Harris, I also found the missing nostrils to be a little disturbing. However I soon got used to the look and it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the film (my first viewing) or its stunning Blu-ray presentation.

 

I have to say that the vignette at the beginning of Up, the story of Carl and Ellie's life together, is one of the most poignant and touching pieces of filmmaking I've ever seen. Heartbreakingly beautiful, its genius is realized without a single word being spoken or a single live actor anywhere in the frame. The audience experiences an entire lifetime of love, friendship, and marriage between two people distilled down to its most human and touching essence, expressed with gut-wrenching tenderness. What an accomplishment! I'm not too vain to admit that the Kleenex came out here at my house.

 

Pixar has proven over and over again that it's all about character and story, dummy. For me this perfect little segment in Up represents the pinnacle of their creative storytelling talent; the art of filmmaking expressed to its fullest potential. Kudos to Pete Docter and everyone else involved. Wow.

Watched this last night and enjoyed it but didnt feel it was very kid friendly.

The montage had me in tears, too.  The 3D version got me to the theater to see this.  It worked fine, but it works just as well in 2D, especially on this pristine Blu-ray disc.

- Steve

So, this is one BluRay that won't wear the Cone of Shame? 

Another A+ Pixar film and justly given the usual universal praise (unless you're a certain grouch critic). They have a way of taking stories or plot elements that should not work, and they make it work. Half of what Carl does in the film should be impossible, but it doesn't matter. They make worlds where the elderly can pull along a floating house, rats can cook, and toys have a life of their own. They have their own reality and simply ask for you to leave your own in the parking lot.

The 3-D theatrical version looked great and never gimmicky. One problem with 3-D is the tendency to exploit the hell out of it, making sure everyone is reminded every 30 seconds that it's in 3-D. Both Up and the Toy Story double feature simply had this wonderful sense of depth.

Amazon and other retailers are offering great discounts on this and Monsters Inc. that make owning these essential. If you bought Snow White and also pre-ordered this round of Pixar films - they took $20 off your total right off.

Wait a minute.  Toys don't have a life of their own?!? 

The most important thing they do is make you care about the characters. A film will succeed or fail based on this.

Care to elaborate?

Perhaps the scenes with the thunderstorm and the introduction of the dogs perhaps. Some kids in the theater when I watched it thought those were pretty scary (in 3D). I was glad that they did, because the children were pretty annoying before that and pretty quiet after that.
The emotional scenes will probably go right over their heads, so those wouldn't really matter, I think.

I'm right there in the same minority, then. Beyond a 15 minute ride/film at Disneyland, I have no interest in 3-D. There, I said it.

-R

I'll trump your 3-D and add...beyond watching 10 minute cartoons when I was a kid, I have no interest in watching animated humans without nostrils. Finally got that off my chest.
 

Didn't notice the missing nostrils. Just not into that I guess.

Re: kid-friendly: My son, who was unfazed by either Transformers movie ("I KNOW they're not real, Mommy!") or any other Pixar film, was pretty scared during a few scenes in Up.  I also think the main storyline was way over his head (a first for Pixar).

That said, overall he did really like it.  (And yes, he shouldn't be watching Transformers at his age. . .)

re: pixar's use of 3-D is quite different than other CG movies (like ice age 3 for example). i saw Up twice in 3-D and once in 2-D, also caught toy story 1&2 in 3-D and can't wait for TS 3... in 3-D. i also can't wait til 3-D players and HDTVs/projectors come to market to experience ALL of pixar's films in 3-D >P. 2bad i have to re-buy them all.

what's different? storytelling & characterization. in Up, when Carl was living his life before his 'adventure' it was very 2-D (literally). when his life in S. America begins, the scenes of green and scenery took on a DEPTH and his adventures were full of 3-D nature. it does impact you more psychologically. but watching the same film both in 2-D and 3-D will give you that same sense of depth, but the 3-D polarized effect was much more pronounced and it made you feel 'more' toward the end end of the film like you had the actual adventure yourself.

furthermore, where many 3-D films pop OUT from the screen, Up actually manages to pop IN outside of the wall. that is: it truly was a "window" into another world, a fantasy south america and that is quite extraordinary =).

I also loved the fact that for example the newsreel footage at the beginning had no depth at all, and when the camera panned backwards to reveal the audience the 3D effect was there. Suddenly you felt you were in the audience watching the newsreel. I'm still glad Pixar didn't resort to gimmickry for 3D. That's also the only way 3D will succeed as a format, I think.

just as w/everything Pixar touches, they do so to enrich story/character, but Pixar can't single-handedly contribute to 3-D's success, everyone must follow that, the more tools we have at our hands to tell stories, the more they should be about story/character. i'm hoping that Avatar really opens that up in a big way. so far, Cameron hasn't disappointed us w/every film he has directed =).

but that aside, Up should be awesome in the eventual 3-D 'double dip' if u will. i wasn't gonna grab it initially... but i got it cause of great deals >P

I also feel that 3D is generally unnecessary. Some 3D looks pretty good, but a lot of it looks unconvincing (2.5D?). My main problem with it beyond the inflated ticket price is the glasses; they cut half the light from the screen and give the colors a slightly different tinge. When technology finds a way to compensate for this it may be a different issue. But for now one has to weigh out the disadvantages of the lost light (and increased price) vs the benefits of the added depth. To me, the latter usually doesn't win out. Pete Docter himself seemed unenthusiastic about the 3D when I asked him what he thought of it.

I was lucky enough to see an advanced screening of Up in the Pixar studio itself. Here the film was presented the way it was intended to be seen: in digital 2D. This Blu-ray gives a suprisingly close approximation of that, and is a great representation of Docter's fantastic film. Still, Pixar's state-of-the-art screening room easily beats my home set-up.
Edited by esl88 - 11/18/09 at 12:22pm

When we saw The Polar Express in IMAX 3D, the effect was horrible.  It just gave me a headache.  I don't know if it was because we were sitting off-center, or if there was something wrong with the system, but I hated it.

I haven't seen any of the more recent 3D films (at least not in 3D).

Saw this last night.  Loved it.  Restored my faith in Pixar.  As poignant as the first 10 minutes are, the scene that really got to me was this:
Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
I'm wondering about something.  I own all of the Pixar films and can't remember if there is any other film that contains:
1.  blood;
2.  a real-looking gun;
3.  death. 

1 Finding Nemo, Incredibles maybe
2 Incredibles (all sorts of guns/weapons, not sure what you mean by real-looking)
3 Finding Nemo, Coral's death layed the groundwork for UP afaic

Quote: Robert Harris is in good company: Roger Ebert has stated that he thinks the loss of vibrancy more than offsets any gains from 3D. (I think are merely technical problems, solveable with engineering)

But, with due respect, when I read such comments, I see:
The rejection out of hand of 3D, to me, feels like the rejection of surround sound, color, and even "talkies" in previous decades as mere gimmickry. But after watching Coraline and Up in 3D, I thought I was watching the next major technical step in cinematic and artistic expression.

While he may not care for it after viewing, I'd be interested in Mr. Harris's opinion after watching Up in 3D.

IMO the intensity of the violence in Up is second only to the that in The Incredibles as far as Pixar films go.  Remember, the latter had:

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

Are you talking about the 3-d blu ray or in a theater.
I watched the 3d Coraline for about 30 minutes and then had to switch to the regular-d because it was almost black and white.
It wasn't worth it.

Not technically.
Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show) I too think Up and The Incredibles are alike. Both are really adult compared to other animated movies, but the kids can still enjoy it too. Both have much adventure and comedy as well as the drama. And both have a Michael Giacchino score

Quote:
Theater. I thought the 3D version of Coraline in the theater was so marvelous, I'm uncertain of buying the normal version for home viewing.

Can't go by what you saw in the theater, this is a different process.
One that isn't very good.
The good is that the home version has both.

With what I've personally seen of RealD and Dolby3D, those "digital 3D" formats can work well if they are installed on appropriately sized movie theater screens. The short version of that is "digital3D" doesn't work well on big movie theater screens. RealD and Dolby3D have serious problems achieving proper brightness on medium to large sized screens. IMAX-3D (the film-based version, not 2K digital in name only version) is the only 3D process that works well on giant-sized screens.

I enjoyed watching Up in 3D. I think Pixar did a tasteful job in how they handled the 3D translation. The results weren't nearly as "in your face" as Monsters vs. Aliens or Beowulf. Still, I don't think I'm missing a great deal in having 2D only with the new Blu-ray version. Up is a wonderful movie whether it is seen in 2D or 3D.

The first act, "married life," was created in the best tradition of silent films. In "screenwriting 101" they tell you show don't tell. That's all the first act of Up does. I think that approach allows the emotions of the first act to resonate much more strongly. The audience fills in what sort of dialog might have taken place within their imagination. Or they just "feel" the scene. Many are moved to tears over this. Silent movies had that sort of power because they were forced to show instead of tell. The technique is a brilliant move on the part of Pete Doctor and the others at Pixar. Viewers are not going to automatically like an old curmudgeon character. When they have ridden along to see how Carl had loved and lost the audience is already on his side. We get why he is bitter and insanely devoted.