Sunday, June 7, 2009

Up

I saw Up last night.

I was struck by how unorthodox of a film it was. For one, it doesn't follow a traditional story arc, even though some sort of arc is present.

For two, it is full of the whimsical and the fantastic.

For three, it doesn't worry about logically explaining certain things. Normally this means filmmakers were sloppy, but in this case they intentionally don't bother. The ability of an old man to inflate enough helium balloons to lift his house overnight and the associated physics of those balloons just aren't important.

It's also the saddest "children's" film I've ever seen. I don't say that because there is (or isn't) a sad ending or some tragic "Bambi's mom" kind of moment, but because the film is draped in a quietly melancholic aura.

So kudos to Pixar for continuing to tell the best stories, and to be willing to venture well off the beaten path in doing so.

I also took the occasion to rank all Pixar movies. This list is objective and absolute.
  1. The Incredibles
  2. Toy Story
  3. Monsters Inc.
  4. Up
  5. Ratatouille
  6. Finding Nemo
  7. Wall-E
  8. Cars
  9. Toy Story 2
  10. A Bug's Life
Further comments available upon request.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Your next task is obvious - ranking Disney movies (including Pixar). Or will the list simply be the same?

Stefanie said...

I haven't seen monsters Inc, ratatouille, or up, but if they're truly better than finding nemo, I'll have to fix that.

-Jonathan (yes, I was too lazy to sign out of Stef's account)