Down with UP?

February 4th, 2010 at 02:26pm Will Pfeifer

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Though I liked UP, I don’t think it ranked with the best Pixar films (THE INCREDIBLES, FINDING NEMO and TOY STORY 2, in case you’re interrested). And as for animated movies released in 2009, I thought it ranked behind CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS (which looks better every time I see it) and FANTASTIC MR. FOX (one of the best movies of the year). But my misgivings are nothing compared to another writer out in the blogoverse…

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Over at his Cinema Styles blog, Greg makes the impassioned case that Pixar’s UP (and, for that matter, Pixar in general) is way overrated. Inspired by the fact that UP was nominated for both Best Picture and Best Animated Feature, Greg has this to say….

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“I consistently find myself less enamored than everyone else of Pixar’s insufferable whimsy. I find most of their films good to very good as children’s films but not very good as films overall whereas I would rank something like Carol Ballard’s BLACK STALLION as an excellent children’s film and an excellent film overall. And of course I do like several Pixar efforts, from TOY STORY to FINDING NEMO. Around that point, after the release of FINDING NEMO, they started to believe their own press and started injecting their childhood fantasies with adult sentiments, producing for me an uneasy mix. And now, against my better judgment, I will let loose.”

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And let loose he does. I’m not sure I agree with him, but Greg does make a few excellent points, especially regarding (a) who the real villain of the movie is, and (b) why is Carl so upset about the bird being captured (live, remember) when he spend decades working in …. a zoo?

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Read the whole thing here.
 

Entry Filed under: Animation