September 4th 2009

Hannah Roorda writes,

Regina has already discussed Up some here, but because the film contains a lot of material worth talking about, I think I can write about it again without touching on much that’s already been covered. This post does have some spoilers (well, it gives away a fair part of the story) but if you’re deciding whether or not to see Up, I hope I can convince you. It’s not a very complete post, not by any means, but maybe we can get some good discussion going and see what comes next.
I went to Up expecting a lot from the film (as I’m sure most of you did, too) and Pixar, like always, didn’t disappoint. You’ve probably heard it over and over– breathtaking animation, compelling story, lifelike characters. It is a film accessible to all, and I do highly recommend you watch it as soon as you get the opportunity.
Everything the film presents is hard to take in during the first viewing. I went to see it four times (three of those times, I admit, someone else paid for my ticket) and I discovered new nuances at every showing. It’s a complex story, and I wanted to appreciate every little bit of it. I think I succeeded in understanding it better by the fourth time I saw it, but I anticipate its arrival on DVD– there’s more to be found.
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August 7th 2009

This is along the same lines as my last entry. It’s a little darker; James is most definitely a child. But you may consider this and the previous story a matching pair in experimental writing:

James was excited–had had his own helium balloon–he had always wanted one.
He had seen them in the shops, crowded in their cages up by the ceiling. He had always wondered who bought them– who liberated them from their fluorescent prisons, pushed up against lights, corralled together? When he had asked his mother what they were for, and why they never bought one, she had always told him that people who had more money than affection bought them to make up for the time they hadn’t spent with their families. James had just assumed that that was a fancy way of saying that she couldn’t afford to buy him one at the time. He had been right.
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