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Steve Kuehl |
Date: 2009-11-06

I had no expectations of being disappointed with a Disney/Pixar BD, and being that it took me a whole dedicated day to get through everything, I now feel it was worth every penny. The film was enjoyable, funny, sad, and scary filled with some nice messages about life and loss. I can understand why the majority of my customers loved it.

The Blu clarity is outstanding, and the amount of reference points are extensive, but one that stands out the most for contrast lines would have to be when the house is entering the lair (balloons against the dark cavern). The sound is selectable between 5.1 DTS, 2.0 DTS and Descriptive English. The 5.1 was beautiful with tons of reference points, sometimes excruciating (that bird screeching) but thorough nonetheless. Now for the supplements (all times in minutes):

DISC 1: (BD)
* 5:46 Partly Cloudy short film. Was hilarious. A great depth test for your display with the clouds. Nice little message of tolerance no matter how difficult someone might be.
* 4:40 Dug's Mission. An almost lo-def looking short take on our main dog dealing with the main three baddies on a chase.
* 22:17 Adventure Out There. A must see documentary about the crew taking the actual trip to the Tepui location in South America. A beautiful travel infomercial in itself. Loved how their guide only wore sandles for the ascent and hikes.
* 4:56 Alternate Scenes Ending of Muntz. Sketches and interviews regarding different endings for that bad guy that they had come up with.
* 1:00 How-to on using the Digital Copy.
* Cine Explore option while watching the film. The two directors give their commentary with multiple pop-up screens showing art, ideas, etc.
* Screen Saver. Allows you to set a time period for your screen saver to activate.
* Maximize Your Home Theater. The standard Pixar multi-step process for setting all of your theater capabilities.

DISC 2: (BD)
Documentaries
* 6:24 Geriatric Hero. History behind the creation of our old guy. All of these documentaries are interview oriented with sketches and film clips to supplement.
* 8:26 Canine Companions. In depth analysis on the breed choices, training and dog behavior studied to get the dogs in the film to be more - dog like.
* 9:00 Russel Wild Explorer. Covers the reasons for his character to have the loss and why he was "egg" shaped as opposed to other sketch ideas.
* 5:04 Kevin (bird). Nice reference to the Swiss Family Robinson ostrich; covered the hardest part of any of these animation films - the feathers.
* 4:38 Homemakers Pixar. Enjoyed the work that went into them studying sub-floors and lighting options in making this look so real in the house.
* 6:25 Balloons and Flight. Tells the now famous number of balloons used; some interesting dirigible history; shows the Pixar group using that local Bay Area air service I keep seeing fly around here (research stuff).
* 7:37 Composing for Characters. Have to be into the musical/scoring stuff for this one.

Extras
* Global Guardian Badge Game. After the initial setup of name, difficulty levels and tutorial material, the game has an extensive amount of country/geography material. Customers grouped around and we did fine for the United States section, but we randomly tried Africa and we bombed (some of the countries they were asking for I hadn't heard of in years) - good learning tool though.
* 9:15 Alternate Scene - Married Life. Another sketch/interview piece about more material being removed/added into that section of the film. The scene itself would have been only a minute longer.
* 6:00 montage. A mix of characters doing funny things - will make the kids laugh.
* Screen Saver option.

DISC 3 (DVD)
* Film, plus special features from disc 1. WITH THE EXCEPTION of no Spanish subtitles/language; English only.

DISC 4 (Digital Copy).
* Code both unlocks the copy and gets you the usual points at the Disney site.

Overall, an excellent product no matter how you look at it. The case has that new single hinge, multi-page off center chassis that has proven to be less than durable, but it should suffice for low usage storage. Enjoy.

Julie Neal |
Date: 2009-06-02

Here's a movie for dog lovers, the elderly, children of divorce, FOBs (Friends of Birds), former Boy Scouts, people yearning for adventure, and anyone who has ever loved... and lost. Up is for everyone. It made me laugh out loud, and it made me cry.

I thought it would be tough for Up to match the emotional power of Wall-E. The two Pixar films are similar in their lack of dialogue in the first act, which helps deepen the emotional impact. Up begins with Carl, a shy young boy star-struck by a famous explorer; and kookie Ellie, who has a similar obsession. The two kids become fast friends, and vow to one day travel to Venezuela. After getting married, they buy their dream home and fix it up, hoping to fill it with children. Carl and Ellie's life together from childhood through old age is depicted, silently, with delicacy and subtlety. These first 15 minutes is like a celebration of a happy marriage, and you truly feel Carl's pain when he is left alone. He sits slumped in his chair, talking to the house as if it is the missing Ellie.

When developers close in on Carl's beloved home, he decides to fulfill his promise to Ellie and travel to Paradise Falls. A former balloon vendor, Carl lifts his home with hundreds of colorful balloons. Stowing away on the porch is Russell, a plump, plucky kid trying to earn a scouting badge.

Later, man and boy are joined by a golden retriever who can talk with his collar, and a huge, colorful bird. Dug the dog is priceless: spot-on for every dog that ever lived, including his obsession with squirrels. Through a series of close calls and adventures, the quartet vanquishes a villain and saves the day. And Russell earns his scouting badge.

In the process, Carl learns to let go of his mourning for Ellie, and live life again. When this happens, a magical thing happens. Before, Carl's craggy face is gray and monochromatic. At the moment of his transformation, Carl's face is awash in color, and he is surrounded by beautiful hues. It reminded me of The Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy steps out of her gray world and into a candy-colored Munchkinland. Carl, too, enters a whole new world.

Up is an emotional movie, full of truth. It's one of the year's best films. Score another triumph for Pixar.

-- By Julie Neal, author of The Complete Walt Disney World 2010.

E. A Solinas |
Date: 2009-08-22

Someday, Pixar is going to do it -- they're going to create an emotionally uninspiring, lackluster animated movie. But in the meantime, they're still putting out delightful animated movies like "Up," which defies the usual kid-movie conventions by starring a crotchety old man. It's a charming, fun little adventure story with flying dogs and balloon-powered houses, but underlying it is a bittersweet little story about loss and love.

As a child, the shy Carl Fredricksen bonded with the oddball Ellie over their shared love of adventure, the explorer Charles Muntz, and Paradise Falls. They later married, move into their "clubhouse" together, and lived a long, sadly childless life together. When Ellie died, she had never fulfilled her dream of going to Paradise Falls.

Now crotchety, alone and harassed by a real estate developer, Carl (Ed Asner) is finally ordered to a retirement home. But he isn't going quietly -- instead he attaches thousands of balloons to his house and floats it away toward South America. But he accidentally takes an enthusiastic, naive Wilderness Explorer (a thinly-veiled Boy Scout) named Russell (Jordan Nagai) along for the ride. Poor kid was just trying to earn an "assisting the elderly" badge.

And the jungle trek to Paradise Falls turns out to have some surprising obstacles: a big emulike bird that Russell names Kevin, a talking dog named Dug ("I am jumping on you, bird!"), and a mysterious old man who lives deep in the heart of the jungle. Turns out the old guy is very familiar to Carl -- and to capture Kevin, he's willing to sacrifice Carl and Russell.

Industry experts were babbling about how "Up" wouldn't be as popular as the previous Pixar movies, because the protagonist is basically a crusty old coot. Well, shows what they know. It ended up becoming one of those classic movies that somehow appeals to all ages -- while the humor and action appeal to children, adults can appreciate Carl's love for his lost wife, and his slow realization that he's clinging to the past.

In fact, the first ten minutes are some of the most heart-tugging, quietly bittersweet scenes I've seen in a long time. Without a word, they show all the ups and downs of a realistic marriage -- joys, sorrows (Ellie's inability to have children), growing old together, and finally loss.

But it's not a depressing movie by any stretch -- in fact, it's like a childhood fantasy come to life, complete with a floating house suspended on hundreds of balloons, and biplanes piloted by a talking dog army.. Plenty of great dialogue ("Do you want to play a game? It's called See Who Can Go the Longest Without Saying Anything." "Cool! My mom loves that game!") and an action-packed climax in an aged airship.

Ed Asner is absolutely perfect as ubergrouch Carl -- crotchety, grumpy, and determined to fulfill his wife's lifelong dream, but gradually realizing he's clinging to the past. Nagai is equally perfect as Carl's polar opposite: a naive, chattery Scout who is determined to reunite Kevin with her baby chicks. And the utterly adorable Dug and the other dogs deserve special notice. These creatures are utterly hilarious -- they talk ("I hid under your porch because I love you") and act the way dogs would if they talked. Three words: cone of shame.

The two-disc edition is going to have some very nice extras, but once again people with regular-def DVDs are going to get shafted because the Blu-ray edition will have a bunch of exclusive stuff. Grr. As for this one, there's a digital copy, the director's audio commentary, kinda-alternate-ending "The Many Endings of Muntz," and the documentary "Adventure Is Out There" about the research for this movie.

There are also a pair of adorable animated shorts. "Partly Cloudy" has a much-abused stork having to deliver potentially harmful baby creatures from a kind but clueless cloud. And "Dug's Special Mission" is a sort of backstory for the adorable Dug, explaining what the heck he was doing before he met up with Carl and Russell.

"Up" continues Pixar's running tally of gloriously animated, emotionally layered movies that the entire family can enjoy. With that, I have only one more thing to say... SQUIRREL!

lighten_up_already2 |
Date: 2009-06-06

No, I'm not talking about the quality of the animation or the effects. This movie is a huge fantasy that begins at the end of a life that just didn't turn out the way someone wanted it to. He wanted adventure, he got a home and a job. He wanted kids, and his wife couldn't have them. And now, just as he's crossed the line and it about to get hauled off to the rest home to run out the clock, the adventure begins! And, what adventure!

Without giving away the detail, I belive this picure will be an enduring classic right up there with Toy Story. I even like it better than the brilliant Wall-E, because it's more real. The envirnomental message resonates with some, but I think many more can relate to life just not working out the way it was planned, of hopes and dreams being crushed, at the looming end of everything. But still, adventure is out there!

And, actually getting to meet one's hero can turn out in a way you don't expect, and not necessarily good.

This is an animated movie with a mind and a soul, when so many seem to have neither. And dogs are always funny, right? Woof!

Armando N. Roman |
Date: 2010-06-08

Like a lot of people, I was skeptical when I first heard about the story for Up. An old guy taking his house to South America, via balloons, because his wife wanted to go there before she died? It didn't sound dumb by any means, just kinda weird. Then I realized how weird the stories for WALL-E, Monsters Inc., Ratatouille and a few others sounded, and I knew I'd be seeing it no matter what. I may not like everything Pixar's done, but they have a good track record, and just like with WALL-E, they knocked another one outta the park with Up. If you ask me, I think this movie has the most heart of all Pixar's films, and that's pretty hard to do given the amount of heart that most of them have.

Up is the story of Carl Fredricksen, a balloon salesman who lives alone in an old fashioned house now in the middle of a construction site. He runs into a little trouble one day when he's encouraged to sell his house, and takes off with thousands of balloons tied to it. He wants to go to Paradise Falls, a beautiful location in South America that he and his now deceased wife were going to go, but things keep preventing them from taking the trip when they were younger. Everything seems to be going to plan at first, but Carl soon discovers that he's not alone. Russell, a boyscout, was on the porch when the house took off, and is now along for the ride. The two make it to South America, and try to make it to Paradise Falls, but discover a rare bird, 'talking' dogs, and someone that Carl used to admire when he was younger. What's in store for these guys is the definition of adventure.

Personally, eventhough kids obviously loved this film, I think Up is a little more for adults than children, kind of like how The Incredibles was. The theme of an old man trying to fulfill a promise made to his dead wife is pretty emotional, and seeing the couple grow old in a montage is sure to tug at anyone's heart strings. The cast of characters here is great, and since the cast is fairly small, everyone gets their share of time. Russell and Dug steal every scene they're in, and the humor is typical Pixar, with a lot of little jokes that anyone can enjoy. Having a boyscout out in the middle of a South American jungle is pretty hilarious on its own when you think about it. I can honestly say that this is one of the few movies in the last couple of years that I enjoyed every minute of. I was never bored, and didn't want the movie to end. The final scene did bring a tear to my eye, not because I found it sad, but because of how beautiful it was. Up deserved every bit of that Best Picture award nomination it got, and it's a shame that it didn't win it.

Simply put, the picture and audio quality for the blu-ray are perfect. There's NOTHING bad I can say about either, though it might've been even better if there were a 7.1 track in addition to the 5.1 DTS-HD Master. Either way, if you're looking for an animated movie, or any movie at all, to show off your home theater system, Up is sure to impress.

And just like the audio/visual quality, the extras are great too. First you get the dvd and digital copy, and both are good to have since you can have one in the car and the other on your computer or portable media player, then keep the blu-ray for home. Disc one, the blu-ray disc, has a good number of extras. Partly Cloudy is the short that played before the movie in theaters, and Dug's Special Mission is a brand new short where we get to see what Dug was doing before Carl and Russell meet him. There are also two featurettes about the animators going to South America for ideas for the scenery, and one involving the movie's antagonist and a kind of alternate ending with them. There's also an extensive commentary track that'll cover everything not given its own feature on either disc. Very informative, and I liked that they'd point out extra jokes that you might've missed. Disc 2 has even more, with featurettes for the four main characters (Carl, Russell, Dug and Kevin), an extended montage scene of Carl and Ellie when they were younger and growing up (get ready to cry during this one), and more extras covering music, promos, trailers and much more. Basically, the only possible thing missing from this set is the 3D version of the movie, which I'm sure will come out on its own when 3D tvs start to sell better.

If you like Pixar, you'll get Up regardless of the reviews. It's definitely a worthy follow-up to WALL-E, which is to me, Pixar's best movie to date. This is definitely one for the whole family, or anyone who just wants to watch a great movie with an excellent story and memorable characters. For the movie itself, or the blu-ray, there's nothing bad I can say at all. This is one of those rare perfect sets.