Blu-ray Review HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: Up (1 Viewer)

[Stephen_J_H]

Giacchino's score really is the icing on the cake with this film. I doubt the Carl & Ellie montage would pack the emotional wallop it does without the deceptively simplistic leitmotif playing underneath. It is definitely a film that rewards with repeat viewings. I agree that the ADD-mimicking "Squirrel!" moment was overused, but the ridiculous dialogue fits the dogs perfectly.

 

[Jesse Blacklow]

Regardless of how you feel about the film, here's a story about the film and Pixar that really shows how phenomenal the company is:

Colby Curtin got her final wish.

The 10-year-old girl desperately wanted to see the new Disney-Pixar movie, "Up." But the cancer-stricken girl was too sick to go to a theater.

Thanks to a family friend who got in touch with the movie studio Pixar, an employee of the Emeryville-based company arrived at Colby's home with a DVD copy of the movie, The Orange County Register reported Friday. The girl died later that night.

Colby's mother, Lisa, said she had asked her daughter if she could hang on until the movie arrived.

"I'm ready (to die), but I'm going to wait for the movie," she said her daughter replied.

"Up" is the animated tale of a grumpy old man who, after his wife's death, tries to fulfill their joint dream of visiting South America by tying thousands of balloons to his house and floating away.

"When I watched it, I had really no idea about the content of the theme of the movie," Colby's mother told the Register. "I just know that word 'Up' and all of the balloons and I swear to you, for me it meant that (Colby) was going to go up. Up to heaven."

Colby, who was diagnosed with vascular cancer in 2005, saw previews for the film in April.

"It was from then on, she said, 'I have to see that movie. It is so cool,"' family friend Carole Lynch said.

But the girl's health began to deteriorate. On June 4, Curtin asked a hospice company to bring a wheelchair so that her daughter could go to a movie theater but the chair was not delivered over the weekend, Curtin said.

By June 9, Colby was too sick to go anywhere.

Another family friend, Terrell Orum, called both Pixar and Disney, which owns the animation studio. The message was received by Pixar officials, who agreed to send someone to Colby's house the next day with a copy of "Up" for a private screening, Orum said.

The employee arrived with the DVD, stuffed animals of characters and other movie memorabilia.

Colby was unable to open her eyes to see the movie so her mother described the scenes. When her mother asked if she enjoyed it, the girl nodded, Curtin said.

The Pixar employee left after the movie, taking the DVD, which has not been released. Lynch, who was with the family during the screening, said the employee's "eyes were just welled up."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/06/19/national/main5098924.shtml

When I first started hearing this, I thought it was an urban legend, because cynical bastard that I am I figured this is the kind of thing any other company would be blaring from the rooftops. But when I found out that not only was it true, but that Pixar had done it with zero fanfare, that floored me. That's the kind of subtle dedication to your audience that shows that they're one of the few studios not in it to puke out franchises--*cough*Shrek*cough*--to keep kids and parents buying tchotckes. In fact, I've read interviews with Pixar employees that said they will go out of their way to create product-unfriendly films (such as Ratatouille) because they'd rather make a good movie than sell a billion Happy Meals. Maybe Disney still makes Happy Meal tie-ins happen, but that being far distant to the quality of the film itself puts Pixar at the very top of my studio preferences.

FWIW, I thought Up was great, but not their best. As a fan of dogs, I loved any scene with them, and the opening sequences in particular were brilliant. The kid and bird storylines were a little schmaltzy (especially compared to the opening), and the Muntz character had no real time to develop, but pretty much everything else was extremely well-done. If I was pressed, I'd say it tied for my 3rd favorite Pixar film (with Ratatouille), after Wall-E and The Incredibles. I don't know what it is about Brad Bird, but he's really helped kick Pixar's films into high gear even when he's not involved. Here's to hoping that a Blu-ray of The Iron Giant isn't too far away.

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by Jesse Blacklow

As a fan of dogs, I loved any scene with them...

Maybe I just like dumb jokes but I could watch an entire movie of dogs flying biplanes. Also, the shot of them playing poker amuses me to no end.

 

[Carlo_M]

Watched this with my girlfriend and another couple (age range 25-35) and we all enjoyed the movie. Had no problems with the dogs whatsoever. Actually parts of the film were so heavy and emotional, everyone remarked how heavy it was (and especially so for kids) that the comic relief was not only welcome, but necessary.

As for the disc quality: another reference disc by Pixar in terms of A/V excellence as well as extras. Couple that with the $33 deal for this and Monsters Inc from Amazon (with some able to get it for $10 less than that) and I think this is the Blu-Ray bargain of 2010!

 

[RonR]

Watching this tonight. I may be in the minority but I did not like wall-e AT ALL. I still don't own it and have no plans. Hoping this is 5 steps better...

 

[CraigF]

Did anybody else find the pop-up menu thing (whenever you pause or RW/FF) kind of annoying, in that it's unnecessarily large (when you want to view a nice scene for a moment) and very slow to go away? I watched Monsters, Inc. the next day and its menu is much more responsive and less annoying.

An OK movie, about an average story for Pixar IMO. Couldn't decide whether to be a kids' movie, or an adult one. The initial story and metaphors are only understandable by adults, the older you are probably the better for that. The dogs I thought were quite good, I bet dogs don't think too much differently than the way they were portrayed. The kid was annoying, but necessary to one "moral" of the story. In the end I think it's an adult movie. I found the doc pretty interesting, had never even heard of tepuis before.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Yes, that popup timeline is extremely annoying. It's on several Disney discs and I hope they lose it going forward.

 

[JediFonger]

is it just me or did the reviewer miss the video calibration component of Up BD?

reason i bring that up is, i've already done my calibrations from AVIA&S&V DVDs. so i thought brightness/contrast were allset. when i ran THESE calibrations, it made the video a bit overblown.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

I used the calibration from the UP BD, as I haven't gotten around to getting AVIA. Not overblown on my 32" Sony LCD.

 

[Bryan^H]

I liked Wall-E quite well, and Up was on sale a couple weeks ago at Amazon for $14.99. I watched it a few nights ago.....WOW!


Not only is this my favorite Pixar film, but goes on my list for favorite films of all time. I loved it. What a sweet, charming movie. I thank everyone on this thread for speaking so positively about it, as this was another reason I decided to buy it.

 

[jplepage]

I skiped this one on its theatrical run, my family didn`t like Wall-e too much so I decided to wait until the video release.