An ‘Up’-lifting adventure on the big screen
The trend in feature-length cartoons has long been to throw in
some pop-culture references and jokes for the adults who are likely
to be dragged along to the theater by the under-10 set. But the
recent Disney Pixar release
”
Up
”
has a lot more lessons for adults than for the children
– and it is likely to draw tears out of most grown-ups, though
younger children will probably not get what all the crying is
about.
An ‘Up’-lifting adventure on the big screen
The trend in feature-length cartoons has long been to throw in some pop-culture references and jokes for the adults who are likely to be dragged along to the theater by the under-10 set. But the recent Disney Pixar release “Up” has a lot more lessons for adults than for the children – and it is likely to draw tears out of most grown-ups, though younger children will probably not get what all the crying is about.
The previews for “Up” don’t reveal much about the movie. It shows a house with thousands of balloons tied to it, floating in the air, a grumpy old man and a pudgy Boy Scout-type kid clinging for dear life to the front porch railing. There was something about the preview that reminded me of Hayao Miyazaki’s “Howl’s Moving Castle,” a story about a woman cursed by a witch whose only hope of restoring her youthful look is a young wizard who travels around in a castle with legs. Maybe it was just the whimsy of homes that can carry us anywhere that reminded me of the anime.
Though a house carried by balloons to the far reaches of South America may be whimsical, “Up” starts out firmly planted on the ground.
Like most children, Carl (voiced by Jeremy Leary) and Ellie (voiced by Elie Docter) know with all their hearts just what they will be when they grow up. They will be explores like Charles Muntz (voiced by Christopher Plummer), who Carl watches on a newsreel at the movie theater. In fact, Carl stumbles into Ellie’s playhouse one day, and they are drawn together by their mutual adornment in goggles and a pilot’s cap.
Ellie shares with Carl her adventure book, a scrapbook that has articles about Muntz, maps, and a drawing of her playhouse at the edge of Paradise Falls in South America. The mostly empty album has a page that says “Things I’ll do when I get there,” for after she arrives.
The next 15 minutes or so of the movie are the moments that will get the adults bawling. Screenwriter Bob Peterson skips us ahead enough years that red-headed Ellie and Carl are getting married. In a sequence of scenes that have little dialogue and are just told with music and animation, Peterson packs in a lifetime for the couple.
The adventure book becomes an afterthought as they fix up their old playhouse into a real house and work together at a local zoo, where Ellie cares for the animals of South America, and Carl sells balloons. They are ecstatic when Ellie gets pregnant, but when she loses the baby, Carl decides to bring out the adventure book and revive their old dream.
They start a savings jar for the trip, but as often happens in real life, every time they have it full, something goes wrong that requires them to dip into the savings – a flat tire, a broken leg, roof repairs. Finally Carl buys the plane tickets, but it is too late. The last scene in the montage is of Ellie’s funeral.
And this is where the real plot of the movie finally begins. At 78, Carl (voiced by Ed Asner) has become a curmudgeonly old man. His tiny house that he shared with Ellie is the last vestige of an old community that has been taken over by high-rise developments and sushi bars. He refuses to sell his house and avoids contact with most people, even wilderness explorer Russell (voiced by Jordan Nagai), who shows up at his doorstep in hopes of earning his last patch for assisting the elderly. Carl sends the little boy off in search of a non-existent animal.
As pressure from developers increases, Carl is forced to make a decision about leaving his home or setting out to take the adventure he and Ellie always wanted to take. With the help of thousands of helium balloons, his little house takes flight, and he has rigged it with a compass and a steering column. Things are going perfectly until there is a knock on the door – a seeming impossibility.
Russell, the young wilderness explorer, was on the porch when the house took flight. For better or for worse, Carl is stuck with the boy. Russell turns out to be a help and a burden at different moments, but the odd couple grow on each other as they struggle to get the house to Paradise Falls while followed by a pack of dogs and a rare bird. When Carl again opens Ellie’s adventure book, which has been put aside for ages, he discovers that life is really more about the journey than the destination and it’s okay to get sidetracked along the way.
Movies Under the Stars
June 11: Shrek, PG
A grumpy ogre (voiced by Mike Meyers) finds himself on a quest to save a princess with a mouthy Donkey (voiced by Eddie Murphy), all in the hopes of keeping his solitude in a swamp. But Shrek doesn’t realize the beautiful Princess Fiona (voiced by Cameron Diaz) has a secret that will draw them together in this animated film.
June 18: Bee Movie, PG
Barry B. Benson (voiced by Jerry Seinfeld) wants more from life than collecting honey and pollinating flowers so he escapes from the hive for a visit to Manhattan. There he makes friends with a florist named Vanessa (Renee Zellweger.)
June 25: No showing due to Saddle Horse Parade
July 2: Nacho Libre, PG
Nacho (Jack Black) grew up in an orphanage and now works as a cook there. But all his life he has dreamed of being a masked wrestler in the lucha libre tradition. He enters a tournament to win the respect of others and to help the children at the orphanage. Starring Ana de la Reguera as Sister Enarnacion and Darius Rose as Chancho.
Movies are Thursdays half an hour after dusk at the corner of Fourth and San Benito streets.
Volunteers are needed to help with upcoming Thursday night ‘Movies Under the Stars.’ For more information, or to volunteer, call Jeana Arnold at 636-8406.
