Brown Blog Films

On an unusually sunny Sunday for Ireland I found myself at the cinema …but I didn’t mind at all as it was for the premiere of Pixar’s new film, Up.

Click image to see trailer in HD

Though I was initially very annoyed when I first heard that Up wasn’t going to be released in Ireland until October 9th – over 4 months after its US release - I still couldn’t wait to see it.

Luckily for me, 3 weeks before its general release, I got to see Up at the Irish premiere which was presented in stunning Disney Digital 3-D. There was also a Q&A afterwards with writer/director Pete Docter and producer Jonas Rivera.

The film is a comedy adventure story about 78-year-old balloon salesman Carl Fredricksen, who finally fulfils his lifelong dream of a great adventure when he ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies away to the wilds of South America. But he discovers all too late that his biggest nightmare has stowed away on the trip: an overly optimistic 9-year-old Wilderness Explorer named Russell.

From the very beginning we are sent into an emotional journey of laughter and tears. It’s truly another home run for Pixar and up there with the best of them.

Some people had trepidations about this film when hearing the main protagonist was a 78-year-old man before even seeing it.

Could kids relate to this?

Or as the non-creative, business inclined mind would think, how will it sell toys and make money?!

This obviously doesn’t make sense as Pixar have never been a company that thinks about merchandise and profit first. It has always been story, story, story.

This negativity was very confusing and irritating to me as the negative people were the same ones who were proved wrong before with a robot, fishes and monsters!

As Pete said himself he was very confused since “this time it was a man, how can kids relate to this less then to a rat or car?!”

At the end of the day you could have a human looking child as the main protagonist and the child could still not relate to the character if the story wasn’t told effectively.

I have mentioned previously in a blog about how actions and visuals speak louder then words and the opening fifteen or so minutes tells you all you need to know about how to do this. Chuck Jones had said he used to only ever watch animation films with the sound off first then if the story still seemed interesting and he was able to understand what was going on he would then listen to it.

This makes perfect sense in the visual medium of film and if he were alive today I’m sure he would have really enjoyed the start of the film at the very least. I can certainly promise you there was not a person with a beating heart in the cinema that didn’t have a tear in their eye after the first act.

Pete Docter says, “When the story guys came on, we had movies they had to see before they started. There was one called Going in Style, with George Burns, about these three pensioners who decide to rob a bank. That was very influential, even in the way we shot things. They shot on location in this New York apartment, and it was claustrophobic enough that the only way they could get shots was to back the camera through a doorway so you’d have things framed. We tried to mimic that for Carl at the start, where he’s always boxed in, he’s enclosed in frame, and then, of course, he’s set free from that.

“The Station Agent was another one. Carl’s story is pretty similar: he’s a loner character who initially rejects but eventually connects with these other characters. In fact, I hooked up with (The Station Agent’s writer/director) Tom McCarthy when Bob Peterson (Up’s co-director/writer) was taken off Up to help out with Ratatouille, and he did two drafts of the script. If you need something, go to the experts, right?

It also has to be mentioned that this is Pixar’s first polarized 3D movie and boy does it look good!

It’s by far the best looking 3D film I’ve seen so far and this was also helped from not having any gimmicks in the film like pointing the finger to the audience etc. When this is done you are immediately reminded you are wearing these silly glasses and in a cinema rather then staying in this imaginary world and lose yourself for the few hours.

I highly recommend this to everyone, old and young, as there is something for everyone to relate to.

Here is a link to former Pixar production designer, Lou Romano’s blog where he has posted a massive post on his blog, chock-full of production artwork and tests from his work on Pixar’s newest film. Warning: there could be some spoilers, so don’t indulge yourself if you haven’t seen the film yet and want to be surprised!

Also you can hear 2 great interviews with the Up directors Pete Docter and Bob Peterson and Character and Production Designer Ricky Nierva – (podcast + interview) These are also available for free on the iTunes Store under Spline Cast.