Being the Pixar whore I am, I just got back from a midnight showing in 3D and…it’s okay. I enjoyed it and thought the first 10-15 minutes were brilliant. But then it kind of goes off rails a bit with waves of goofiness (dog fighter pilots–seriously?) that undermine the movie’s message.
I also felt the introduction of a ridiculous villain 1/2 through was unnecessary, and wished Pixar has found something a bit more organic to help its character development, instead of depending on a mostly random character as a crutch.
At any rate, I enjoyed myself, but it’s certainly not one of Pixar’s best, but it’s a good step or two above Cars.
Just got back. I woulda seen it at midnight if the local theater had offered it.
I agree about the first ten minutes. That alone made the movie worth while; everything else was gravy. The dog pilots was a bit much but I liked the translators (Squirrel!) – I noticed a dog day care center in the credits at the end so they must have studied dogs a lot.
Of course you’ve got a villain. Where would the conflict come from otherwise? Carl and Russell struggling to get the house emplaced against . . . the weather? How crushing it must have been for Carl to meet his life-long hero and he turns out to be a half-mad jerk.
Finding Nemo managed it. I thought the movie was doing fine up to the point they introduced the villain–had they kept it up (heh), I think it would have been a better film.
ETA: I agree the “squirrel” was really funny, though I wasn’t too keen on the whole ‘talking dog thing’ either, even if I did like the main pooch. I also thought they played the joke of the big bad dog’s translator being broken for far too long, then they reintroduced it at the end!
Am I getting the wrong impression from the commericals, or is the old man really the main character? If so, how is that supposed to appeal to kids? I suppose they can hope that an adult audience will embrace it, but I wouldn’t be terribly surprised if for every adult fan there was someone like me who has never really enjoyed any of Pixar’s offerings.
My daughter leaned over and said, “Dad! You’re laughing so loud!”
I loved it. Just barely a notch below Nemo, and better than the second half of Wall-E.
Definiely one of their most comedic effort, but it did surprise me with some weighty issues (like Carl’s outburst that drew blood with the construction worker). Also had a ton of heart, and awesome characters. My kids absolutely adored it, especially Carl.
Red, why did you think the villain was random? Not only was he Carl’s and his wife’s inspiration, but they set it up in the first 5 minutes that he was after that bird, and obsessively indignant about it. I thought him integral to the whole story.
Sure, he was introduced before, but that didn’t make his appearance any less jarring or unnecessary. I mean, they were on an adventure, in South America, and just happened to crash near the very same cave where this old guy has conveniently been living for the last several decades? And has somehow developed the technology to allow dogs to speak?
It started getting just a tad too ridiculous at this point, as if they couldn’t think of any better way to evolve the story and needed a character suddenly injected into the second half to provide the necessary resolution.
ETA: They could have, and should have, left him as being a mere “inspiration” to Carl–he didn’t need to fulfill any other purpose but that.
It’s not like they were randomly flying around South America. The kid used his GPS to steer them specifically to the area the old guy wanted to go, which was the place where the scientist specifically said he was going back to. It would have been odd for them not to run into him.
It’s a cartoon lol. That bothered you but a flying house didn’t?
I loved the movie. Pixar is going to get the Oscar again this year. It was refreshing to see a movie that took the time to show characters and a story during a ‘blockbuster’ season full of explodey CGI flicks.
The 3D in Monsters and Aliens was much better, but it did enhance the sense of vertigo in this one.
So what? Being a cartoon shouldn’t give it carte blanche to do whatever it wants, particularly when it comes to Pixar, which generally tries to create their movies for all-ages, and not just children.
I’m willing to accept anything a movie introduces early on–flying house in Up, cloned Dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, time-traveling robots in Terminator. They’re all ridiculous concepts, but it’s where they go from there that really matters. In this case, I thought they took it too far to the “cartoonish” side of the spectrum and felt it undermined what could have been far more poignant messages/moments.
I just got back from Up and thought it was fabulous. A completely novel premise, no stupid songs like all the Disney pictures, characters that seemed real, the dog jokes and images were terrific—dogs playing poker, dogfights in WW1 vintage planes with dog pilots, dogs hanging their heads out of windows. But one of the things I really, really loved was centering the movie around an old person and the relationships he had/has with the world. How refreshing, how brave, how touching and how funny. I loved this movie and plan to go back again.
Saw it today. I thought it was fabulous. Not as good as Monsters, Inc., which remains my favorite Pixar movie, but better than Cars, which was pretty bleh.
Saw it last night, loved it. Sure, it was more of a straight comedy than most of Pixar’s fare, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. I can see if you were going in expecting more drama that it might have jarred you, but they had the talking dog in the ads, so I wasn’t expecting anything else. Plus, the first ten minutes tugged more of my heartstrings than most entire movies, so it’s not like there wasn’t any meat there.
The first few minutes made me cry! Out loud and everything! Ellie in the hospital just sucked. Ditto for when Carl went past the “Things I’m Gonna Do” page in Ellie’s book and saw her real adventures- a wonderful life with Carl. That bit had my very sensitive 9 year old boy in tears as well.
Quite good- I’ll probably see it again during the theatrical run.
I thought it was fantastic, as did my wife. I think it was my favorite Pixar since The Incredibles. I bought into its world completely, talking dogs and all.
(And the short was, as they almost always are, utterly brilliant.)
I actually purposefully avoided all ads, excepting the very first trailer. Now I wish I hadn’t, as I think the introduction of the talking dogs would have been a lot less jarring, and I would at least have been prepared for them.