Wednesday, August 12, 2009

UP is 'Thumbs Down'

I am suspecting that the development of the character Carl Fredricksen's look in Disney/ Pixar's summer blockbuster "Up" is inspired by Mr Warren Buffett. Take a look:



And the similarity extends beyond appearance. Both Carl Fredricksen and Warren Buffet stayed in the same house for decades; Both married their teenage/childhood sweethearts.

The observation keep me excited for a while when watching the animation but that is pretty much it. Aside from one other instance in which I was laughing out loud, I am pretty much underwhelmed by the latest Pixar effort (the laughing segment involves Fredricksen telling a story between a squirrel and his acorn).

I think a much better film is the short animation, "Partly Cloudy", that precede the feature. Though both have a common theme (Wild Life) and convey similar messages (biodiversity and preservation), the shorter of the two tell the story in a much more engaging and lively fashion. Much like the first 30 minutes of Wall-E, not a single line of dialogue was employed yet I enjoy every frame of the 6-minute short.

Nor are the animation and the 3-D effect spectacular to the extent one would expect from Pixar. A disappointment overall.

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