Up - Whatever Happened To Pixar

I went to see Disney-Pixar's latest creation, Up, tonight. I have been excited for months, I was ready to drive over 100 miles to see it in Real-D 3D because when I first heard about it, the cinema here - Signature Theatres - did not yet have RealD. I was really impressed with RealD at Signature after seeing Monsters vs Aliens a couple months ago. On that note, if you go see it, I was disappointed that screen 8 at Signature is already damaged as new as it is - the bottom middle of the screen was all scratched up. I understand that the silver screens are very fragile, but this almost looked like someone had keyed the screen or something. If so, that's very sad :( Ruin the movies for all of us... it was somewhat distracting and I'd try to see my next 3D movie on their other screen with 3D unless they actually decide to spend the money to fix this (I don't even know if it's fixable - maybe it was just dirt but it definitely looked like scratches :( )

While I'm reviewing technical elements, the 3D was much less intense and cool than Monsters vs Aliens and it was used more to add artistic depth than to provide an in your face environment. That's Pixar's artistic choice and I respect it, though it was a hair disappointing because to me, the distractions of 3D weren't worth it for that - the glasses and the ghosting. Ghosting (double image from an image leaking into the wrong eye) was much much worse than ghosting in Monsters vs Aliens. I don't know why.

Okay, enough technical stuff about the cinema and the technical details of the 3D use. It's time for a movie review. And in one word it is: bad. I grew up on Pixar - Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, etc... all marvels. Pixar went downhill in my mind somewhat with Cars but Ratatouille was amazing. Up is even worse than Cars. It's just not enjoyable. Pixar movies are not supposed to have a funeral in the first 1/4 of the movie. That's just not fun. But then again, none of the movie is fun. It's more of a comedic tragedy than a comedy...

A wilderness scout. A grumpy man (who ends up being nice and the good guy). A rare bird. Talking dogs (with special collars). Without giving too much away, the movie is a series of disappointments. Dreams never happened. A childhood hero turned bad guy with no redemption. A mildly happy ending with sad undertones due to what's implied. A vague and disconnected plot.

Yeah, that's enough for now. Save your money, wait to go see a good movie. If you like sad stories, 3D animation (presented in 3D), and a somewhat connected plot line (I still don't totally get the point) then go enjoy. Otherwise, I can think of many better choices! Hannah Montana was amazing for example if you're looking Disney movies. But it's not still in theaters most places.

Mark