Up Blu-Ray Review
Blu-ray Review: Up
Critics and audiences alike often get flack for championing Pixar’s films every time a new one is released. While everyone does go crazy with praise, just take a look at their catalog. Cars and A Bug’s Life may not be up to the standards of Toy Story 2, WALL-E, or Finding Nemo but they’re still better than half of the animated movies that are released over the years. If anything they’re probably the best studio around as they consistently churn out projects that above all put their story and characters first. One year ago, everyone crowned WALL-E as their finest achievement and was on many “best of” lists, mine included. While Up is certainly going to be there this year, my question now is will it remain on top? While it’s dropped a place or two, there’s no denying that Pixar has crafted their finest film.
Up pretty much solidifies its greatness roughy ten minutes in with a montage that is one of the best scenes ever put to film. We’re given all we need to know about Carl and Ellie’s relationship in just four beautiful minutes. Had this been the short film following the feature, it would have easily won the Oscar. As it stands now, it’s the best sequence in a masterpiece which says nothing bad about the film it’s featured in. Ed Asner voices Carl Fredericksen, who is a man who dreams of being like his hero Charles Muntz, but never has the money to go on his adventure. His journey in life has led him to become a crabby ol’ cuss who seems to be waiting for the day he’s dead. He finally pushes himself into adventure after an altercation with some construction workers who want to take over his house. While most of the people seeing this film are nowhere near seventy, Carl is very much a character one can relate to, regardless of age. Up gets us on his side from the get go with that beautiful montage as well as showing him as a young, goofy child obsessed with his hero Charles Muntz.
Carl’s joined by eight year old Russell who’s a loud Wilderness Explorer with a heart of gold. His back story feels natural likely because Jordan Nagai handles him with the right amount of cuteness and sympathy. He could have easily been annoying but he never comes off as such. Russell’s a child who just wants to do right and discovers a surrogate father in Carl. Yes it falls back on the ‘reluctant friendship’ on Carl’s part but it feels natural and not forced. Neither does the cute character Dug that’s going to win girls and kids over alike. He too gets some good characterization as the noble yet dim-witted group of a pack of dogs led by talking Doberman Pinscher Alpha (who has the greatest villain voice ever.) Even the non-speaking bird Kevin is treated as more than just something to make the kids giggle. Like all of Pixar’s past films, writers Bob Peterson and Ronnie del Carmen get that the characters need to be essential to the story they’re telling. This is the essential reason the studio gets all of the accolades that they always do.
And what a story they have on display! Up is about finally saying the hell with it and following your dreams, at least that’s one way it could be interpreted. Another way is that our dreams happen to us when they’re meant to, and in adventure tale through and through that harkins back to the 1930s serials that inspired such films like Indiana Jones. Like the man in the hat’s first adventure, Up’s action isn’t used to keep things moving. Peter Docter has the exciting scenes happen because of the character’s actions rather than because Disney calls for it. Even the whiz-bang finale feels like it’s a result of everything that’s come beforehand. It also keeps one on the edge of their seat by building some great tension. The protagonists are always kept one step away from death and constantly in danger. It’s fun, exciting, and even on repeat viewings makes you feel something terrible is going to happen to one of the characters. The action and story are complimented well by Michael Giacchino’s score that captures the adventure, scope, and sympathy of the film perfectly.
Going into Up I wasn’t sure if Pixar could outmatch what they did with WALL-E and I came out greatly wrong. Up is undoubtedly their best work to date with it’s colorful characters, touching story, and final act that doesn’t fall apart. The entire film has a sense of scope that feels unmatched by the rest of Pixar’s (and some Disney’s) films that adds to it’s sense of charm. Peter Docter has crafted a masterful work that is the dream of pure genius and is a grand adventure for all to behold.
10 out of 10
The Video
Up comes with it’s 1.78:1 aspect ratio in tact and it’s summed up in two words: reference quality. Yes, that’s right it’s a completely flawless transfer without an ounce of problems. Colors come in vibrant and dynamic with the picture never ever showing signs of softness or fuzziness. Black levels were also stellar with shadows being clean and concise. It’s hard to imagine the film looking better than it does, nor has a film ever deserved it more.
10 out of 10
The Audio
DTS-MA HD 5.1 is what you get for Up and holy underwear does it rock and rattle the walls, especially when the action kicks up. All channels of the mix are used to their highest capacity and will have you believing you are soaring with Carl and Russell. Michael Giacchino’s beautifully classic score comes in with all kinds of amazing to guide you as the film reaches it’s exciting third act. Oh, and these scores aren’t because I love the film. This disc is just that good.
10 out of 10
The Packaging and Extras
Up comes housed in a standard Blu-ray case across four discs. Discs 3 and 4 are a DVD of the film and a Digital Copy respectively.
Disc one kicks things off with a commentary from Pete Docter and Bob Peterson. It’s a wonderful listen as the two discuss how the story, characters, and production all came together to create this piece of wonderful. They manage to keep up an entertaining conversation by offering up some good humor. Overall it’s a great track that deserves a listen.
Partly Cloudy comes up next and is the short that accompanied Up in theaters. Worth a watch at five mintues, it’s a cute take on where babies come from.
Dug’s Special Mission is a new short specific to this Blu-ray (and the two-disc DVD version of this set.) It gives insight to how Dug connects to the story and meets up with Carl and Russell. Quite honestly it’s worth a look as well and provides solid entertainment.
“Adventure Is Out There” is a twenty-two minute featurette on the crew’s trip to South America and how it influenced the film. Overall the piece tells us that the filmmakers felt in order to make this film, they had to experience adventure first-hand. They also discuss how the features in South America helped them shape the landscape and design of the movie. Again, going to have to recommend this one.
“The Many Endings of Muntz” has Docter, Peterson and the rest of the crew members discussing how they wanted to put an end to the story of Charles Muntz. Factual and interesting, the piece does show how much care the filmmakers took and why certain endings for Muntz didn’t work.
If you click left at the main menu, you’ll find an Easter egg called “The Egg” (well played Pixar) that runs under two minutes and talks about an unused idea for Muntz involving an egg that kept him younger. Once again it’s a good insight, even if it’s tricky to find.
Sneak peaks for upcoming Disney films as well as how to transfer the digital copy from your Mac or PC to your portable device is also present.
Disc two starts us off with “Documentaries” which is broken into seven subsections: “Geratric Hero”, “Canine Comparisons”, “Russell: Wilderness Explorer”, “Our Giant Flightless Friend, Kevin”, “Homemakers of Pixar”, “Balloons and Flight”, and “Composing for Characters”. All feature the crew (including composer Michael Giacchino) discussing the characters evolution or how to make things authentic, and how to compose music for the film. There’s no ‘play all’ option, but they all offer great details on how Pixar managed to not leave any stone untouched in the making of Up. No fluff here, just terrific information. On a side note, a clip of Toy Story is show and just makes the wait for that Blu that much more torturous.
“Alternate Scene: Married Life” runs around nine minutes and begins with an intro from Pete Docter, Bob Peterson and others talking about how they tried to not break our hearts by having Carl and Ellie playfully punch each other their entire lives. Then they decide to remind us why they chose to make us all cry our eyes out (which if you don’t break down, you are a robot.) We’re then treated to a storyboard take of the alternate version of Carl and Ellie’s montage through life and shows us how Carl became a balloon man. While it doesn’t stomp on your heart and is certainly entertaining, it just doesn’t work as well as punch in the face Pixar delivered in the final version. In fact, maybe the punches should have been left in there as an in-joke for what the final version does to us. Yes, you will still get choked up watching this.
“Up Promo Montage” runs at six minutes even and is a collection of entertaining tidbits that I’m not sure where they first appeared, but are worth the journey. They seem to be alternate and deleted scenes, and provide some fun laughs.
“The Global Guardian Badge” is a game that puts you in the shoes of a Wilderness Explorer earning his or her badge as the player answers quizzes on various states and continents. It’s fun for the kids, and I suspect adults might get a kick out of it too. It’s also BD-Live enabled so you can track your stats with other players across the globe.
“Worldwide Trailers” closes things out and features two trailers for the film. I’m happy to have these here as most films don’t carry their trailers nowadays.
I do want to comment and say that the DVD that comes packaged with this set also features the following special features: Partly Cloudy, Dug’s Special Mission, “Adventure is Out There”, “The Many Endings of Muntz”, the director’s commentary, and the short featurette on how to transfer your digital copy over. Aside from the last bit, Disney and Pixar did pick the best material to package on the set, and while I don’t know if this is what the single-disc release will get, it’s great to have those features present on DVD.
It’s also great that the companies knocked it out of the park when it came producing the special features on this disc. Nothing ever felt unnecessary fluff or the filmmakers congratulating themselves on a job well done. Even the “Global Guardian Badge” is a fun way to kill a couple of minutes. Once again, I stress this is not because I love the film so much, but that the discs are just that good.
10 out of 10
Overall
Up still remains in my top three for best film of the year, and it’s likely to stay in that spot as 2009 comes to a close. It never loses it’s steam and remains a wonderful piece of film for it’s entirety. After watching it next to some of Pixar’s other giants, I still stand firm that it’s the best work they’ve given to date and could very well sit there for a long time. I expected this Blu-ray set to be great, but what I was given was an out of this world set that has perfect audio and video with some tremendous bonus features present on it. I’m more than happy to give it a perfect rating, as there’s few better films that deserve it. Even if you’ve yet to go Blu, this is still worth the money, even at full price. Bottom line; it’s the best Blu-ray set I’ve seen. Well done, Pixar and Disney. Raise those glasses high.
Blu-ray Overall Rating – 10 out of 10
