Usually I am a huge fan of Pixar movies. However, I have to say that I was disappointed with Up. Well, not with the story, although I have some problems with it too, but primarily with the experience.
Why did this movie have to be in 3-D? What did we gain by having to wear polarized glasses in order to view the movie? In my opinion, nothing. In fact it made the movie nearly un-watchable. I wear trifocal glasses as a result of LASIK eye surgery 3 years ago. One of my eyes sees things up close and the other far away. I was unable to see the screen through my glasses and then the polarized oversized glasses needed to put the images in focus. I ended up taking my glasses off, which allowed the 3-D focus to work, but resulting in a nasty headache by the end of the movie.
Adding insult to this injury was the significant up-charge on the admission price. Instead of $9 per person we paid $11.75 each. The additional charge was for “the 3-D technology.” Right.
Finally the movie had obviously been “Disney-fied.” The portion of the story that outlined Carl and Ellie’s life was beautiful and poignant. No words, no dialog, no talking dogs, much less dogs flying biplanes. Wall-E suffered from the same duality, the first half of the movie was stunning, creative, and incredible. The last half had clearly defined good guys, bad guys, a moral, and some growth. I am looking forward to the day when Pixar gets to make a whole movie that is theirs, and not one that has been fed through Disney’s “It’s A Small World After All” think tank.
It will be a long time before I ever consent to watch a 3-D movie again.
Great story, lousy presentation.