Current mood:	rejuvenated
Entry tags:	cinema, hollywood, movie review

UP - A Movie Review
Saw this UP movie last week as a small break in my marathon of screenplay editing. Boy, it's delightful! Cranky old Ed Asner does a great job of voicing a sad, moribund 78-year-old man. But I REALLY loved the other voices. Jordan Nagai, a darling young Asian American actor (see him here uncomfortable next to the 3D costume of Russell) voiced Russell, and he was never false or even boring for one tiny second. Just precious! Wonderful energy, a wonderful obsessive POV (obsession is the greatest gift to humor, man), touching, and still with a recognizably Asian sound to his voice. I also loved Dug, the doofus dog, who was voiced by the co-director and co-screenwriter, Bob Peterson. Dug had a voice, thanks to a high-tech collar designed by his master. And what Dug said and how he said it was the same EXACT way I make up dog voices in my head.

At one point Dug looks up with round, hurt eyes and says, "I hid under the house because I love you, that's why, and I'm very sad that you might be mad at me." Another character named Kevin has no dialog, just squawking, but that's a wonderful creation of a character too. My cat Tucker has a vastly more dog-like personality (I love you all the time, hey is that food you're eating, wait a minute I'm coming too) than an aloof cat personality. I hear his voice somewhat like Dug's...

I really would love to find a place to buy the merit badges that Russell wears! Each one is a gorgeous design in embroidery, and several are clever with in-joke things. This Website on movie easter eggs tells some of the details.... I'd wear several of them on my coats and sweaters, were they marketed!

There's been some discussion on a list I'm on about how this movie just is not as charming / moving / engaging / whatever as WALL-EE. And that's true. But Wall-EE was an extremely stylized robot character who could only communicate through squeaks, beeps, a scant few "facial" gestures... when a character is so non-human, we humans watching invest a huge amount of brain magic to keep up with the story. That was the genius of the design of Wall-EE, and why they deserved their Oscars. Also, Wall-EE was a story about finding your true love and living with her forever. UP is about losing your true love and finding some small solace in other relationships until you can join her on The Other Side.

Very different underlying emotional message.