Alright, enough PSA. Let's get into this...
1. Lack of Imagination: So Up is about widower Carl Frederickson who is forced to leave his home. Instead, he ties a bunch of balloons to his house and sets flight to the mystical and mysterious land of Paradise Falls. Early in the movie this is supposed to be the land from another time, almost like stepping into Jurassic Park if you will. But when Carl gets there the “beast” he encounters is an overgrown emu with the features of Toucan Sam.
I mean seriously? I bet if we went to the home of director Pete Docter we’d see this lackluster beast on his fridge.It’s probably some KinderCare color-by-number concoction of his kid. I can’t believe this is the best they could come up with. Even in movies like Bee Movie or A Bug’s Life there is a since of greater imagination and creativity; the viewer is presented with much a more interesting world…and those movies aren’t even that good! 2. One Trick Pony: I’ve said on our podcast before that there is nothing wrong with a one trick pony as long as that pony does the trick very well. Up is a pony that needs to be put down. Ugh, this movie – which is supposed to be comedic, especially for children – isn’t very funny. Sure there are the classic physical humor spots where the character gets whacked in the face or flung across the jungle, but isn’t that what bad movies like Deck the Halls and Christmas with the Kranks are for? Comedically speaking this film falls flat. And it’s not unfunny because it’s overly dramatic; it is unfunny because the writing team decided to put their eggs in one basket. And that basket was this punch line by the talking dogs: Squirrel! Ok, 1st time = funny. 2nd time = a little forced. 3rd time on = what the hell are we doing here?
3. Best Animated of the Year: Since Up is the only animated movie nominated the first question you naturally ask yourself is “is up the best animated movie of the year?” If you saw The Fantastic Mr. Fox or even the somewhat confusing, mildly disturbing Coraline then you would expect Up to be sensational. It isn’t. You know how rollercosters make you wait 60seconds while they trudge you up the track and then you get that 3minutes of awesome? Yeah, this movie is the exact opposite. The first 5minutes are amazing, beautiful, uplifting, and heartbreaking. The rest of the movie is a slow crawl to the city of Boredomstanzia. But I’m glad that the Academy is deciding to recognize animation among the year’s best movies, however that recognition should have gone to “Mr. Fox”…now if we could only convince them that comedies and Superhero/villain movies need to be considered as well.
4. Dug: First, I don’t know why his name is listed and spelled like this, but whatever. Second, I can’t stand this dog. Dug is the….well….let’s just say that he makes Jessica Simpson look like Einstein (are Jessica Simpson jokes still funny?). You know how Ashton Kutcher as Kelso on “That 70’s Show” on can be stupid and it’s somewhat funny.
But then Tommy Chong came on as the exceptionally dumb stoner and got more and more airtime and it was just unfunny and sad? Yeah, that’s Dug. He’s too dumb and annoying to be funny...and his voice! He’s the pits.5. Seriously?!: Did anyone in the Academy see Away We Go???!! I know I’ve talked about that movie way too much (and it won my 2009 Really Reels for favorite movie of the year), but I will defend it as one of the best movies of the year until someone can convincingly prove otherwise. Watch it. Even if you think I give it too much credit you’ll agree that it could take down Up 9 days a week.
I know people may say I am judging this movie too harshly because it’s a children’s movie. Ok, I get that. But if there is a guy who loves these “children’s” movies it’s me. I see most of them and in the last few years some of my favorite MOVIES include: The Incredibles, Wall-E, Over the Hedge, and pretty much any Wallace & Gromit out there. C'mon, I think we can all agree Up is overrated and does not deserve to be be nominated for Best Picture...even on a list of 10 nominees.
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