From the greatest animation studio Pixar, Finding Nemo's screenwriter Bob Peterson together with Monster Inc's director Pete Docter brought us one of the best movie this year - UP!
A simple enough and even childish plot of adventurous journey brings two seemingly different people together with unexpected chemistry, life lessons and ending.
Carl is a 78-year-old widower living lonely in his house that is the only house in the neighbourhood hindering the local urbanisation construction work. He is therefore forced to move or otherwise would be sent to the Elderly Home. With his whole harmonious life with his wife Ellie spent and many sweet memories shared in the house, stubborn as he may seem, there's no way he could give up the house so easily --- and he resorts to flying the house UP into the sky by attaching thousands of balloons to it, going onto an expedition searching for the dream destination "Paradise Falls" in South America, a trip that Carl and Ellie both so desperately wished for but never materialised before.
Russell is an 8-year-old Wilderness explorer scout, who gets neglected constantly by his divorced parents, by random chance he meets Carl due to his obsessive urge to help an elderly so as to collect the last one merit badge that he lacks - "Helping the Elderly" badge!
As a result, Russell is accidentally brought along for Carl's eventful trip on the flying house.
Alright, it follows the constant "buddy" formula of Pixar, and predictably it also has a villain and a talking dog in it too to inject suitable tension and comic relief. Cliche as it may sound, UP is exceptional in its poignant and touching delivery, subtle symbolism and life lessons underneath the superficial plot and entertainment.
While the youngsters would be happy to see the funny dogs and various visual gags, grown-ups will surely be enchanted by the 4-minute non-verbal montage showing Carl and Ellie's married life together till death set them apart. It's full of ups-and-downs, with sweetness, romance, unpredictable events, and overwhelming sentiment. Backed by superb music of Michael Giacchino's original composition, it gives the audience such an emotional roller-coaster ride and also a decent back story for Carl's character. We could understand fully his deliberate isolation and grumpy personality there after.
Another important thing revealed in this marvelous montage is that the couple cannot have their own baby. As a result, they turned their dream, energy and money into planning a trip to visit the Paradise Falls, which however was made impossible due to a series of unfortunate life events and later Ellie's ill health. So, unlikely as Russell may seem, he is in fact a perfect companion to old Carl for the adventure. Subconsciously, through the journey, Carl becomes the father figure to the boy, and as a result Russell in a way compensate for the child Carl has never had.
Though Russell maybe a bit energetic, noisy, and even mischievous at times, he reminds Carl of the young Ellie, and he makes him chuckle and lights up his life once again. In fact, on closer look, Carl and Russell do share many similarities : They are both stubborn, determined, adventurous and obsessive but in the wrong way. While Russell is obsessed with collecting all the scout's merit badges so to draw his parents' attention and love, Carl is obsessed with the objects and memories in the house which reminds him of a great life he once had with his wife, and so he is determined to fulfill Ellie's unfinished dream by taking the house to the destination. Miserably enough, they both know deeply that even their respective goals are attained, nothing would actually be changed.
Speaking of which, there comes the major lesson in the movie - To let go. The flying house itself is symbolic enough in the middle of the movie, with the "precious" objects in the house thrown out by Carl in order to let the house soar again. As Ellie wrote in her adventure book, it's really time for Carl to have his own adventure after the one they shared together before.
Another thing that touches me dearly is about the "Little moments" in our lives. Like the little things that Carl and Ellie did together and being captured as photo in the adventure book. Nothing like that real expedition that they had planned, however is not less memorable or adventurous. Similarly, the little scout told Carl about how he missed the time he spent with his father by just sitting together on the curb eating ice-cream and guessing the colour of cars passing in front. Nothing fancy or extravagant at all.
I hope we all can cherish every little moments that we have in life, instead of chasing and getting lost in the "big dreams" that we so much desire and obsessed with..........and strange enough in life, sometimes those big dreams are accomplished in their own mysterious way which is out of our control, just like the last shot in the movie - with the house being blown off and finally seated exactly beside the Paradise Falls!
