Up

[Drunk Monk]

Poster = lame
Trailer = also lame
Film = astonishing

Perhaps my lowered expectations made this the surprise summer hit for me. It's total Pixar. The opening sequence, like Wall-E, is without words; it's eloquent and brilliant storytelling. I was even getting misty. The middle is a bit silly, but the image of the flying house with all the colorful balloons was spectacular.

You must see this in 3-D because the effects are outright astounding.

The story falls into some predictable arcs, but they are pulled off in an unobtrusive way for the most part. The best part is the talking dogs. Up totally nails that. If you've ever owned a dog, or just imagined owning one because dogs are super predictable, the talking dogs is flat out hilarious. There's even a sword fight using an 1126B Claymore (that's just for PPFY - he'll get it). It was a total winner and I'm rather delighted at how much I enjoyed this film.

Word to the wise - if you get popcorn butter on your $3.00 3-D glasses, it's really hard to get them clean again.

Also the Pixar short was ok, but certainly no Bounding...

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

What DM said. I went because it was a Pixar film but didn't expect it to be any good. And for the beginning of the film, I thought it would be okay. It had a very poignant beginning. But it really kicks into high gear once the adventure starts. It's still very poignant and surprising.

I need a Kevin and a Doug.

[The Queen]

SQUIRREL!

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

A beautiful and ultimately sad movie.

Go, Fentons!

[El Dingo]

Both Dee Dee and I found the violence and animal abuse very disturbing.

I found no concrete reason the villain needed to be in the film at all and the incessant bitterness and anger was somewhat off-putting. Especially since so much of the action was both realistic and far-fetched st the same time.

But I guess if one needs non-stop struggle and angst - this is your Pixar film!

Me, I'll take "The Incredibles",

[Drunk Monk]

It's the way of DVDs. They release the DVD with a special short, something you just gotta see, and you gotta buy the DVD to see it. Who doesn't want to see Doug's Special Mission? I bit. I had too. T needed another B-day present besides the MindFlex (which is totally bitchin' I must say).

Well, Doug's Special Mission is way too short, less than 5 minutes. It's more like a deleted scene. Kung Fu Panda's Secrets of the Furious Five and Wall E's Burn E were longer, like 15-20 mins or so. And the freakin squirrel joke is done to death. DSM takes place a few minutes before Doug's intro to the film and it's funny, it almost works, it's just too damn short. We want our shorts longer, dammit.

That being said, Up holds up really well when not in 3D. In contrast, I predict that Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs will be horribly stupid without 3D. It was actually horribly stupid with 3D, but the 3D was so cool, you didn't really care.

[The Queen]

We watched the Netflix-delivered Up DVD yesterday. Fortunately, it did not give us any problems while watching the movie. Unfortunately, it would not let us access a menu or watch the Doug short, damn it! 50 billion previews, no problem; but no Doug.

Will be watching it again with Mom during the Thanksgiving break, no doubt - hope to catch the short then!

[Drunk Monk]

And it's freaking new! It just came out. Typical netflix.

I've watched the short several times already, just because it's so damn short. My kid loves it. It really pales in comparison to the other shorts however. That was very disappointing.