Up

Since when did animated films become so emotionally engaging?! I got bored one afternoon and decided that because the weather was rubbish I might as well find something to watch. I had heard an awful lot about Up but never seen it, and most of the reports I had said that it was very good. I decided to give it a go and found myself in the middle of an emotional rollercoaster for the first ten minutes.

The film tells of Carl Fredriksen, an old man who flies his house to South America to fulfil a dream he and his late wife had of exploring when they were children. He does this by using thousands of helium balloons. However he inadvertently picks up a small child, Russell, on the way. Russell is an eager-to-help boy scout who wants to help Mr Fredriksen in whatever way he possibly can. When they arrive in South America they come across a weird bird and a talking dog. They also find Charles Muntz who was an explorer famous in Carl’s youth and uncover a plot against the bird, named Kevin.

I usually find it quite difficult to review animated films because there is relatively little to say beyond that the story and animation was good. Up is really no exception, and so I think this review will be much shorter than usual. Indeed the animation is very impressive and definitely makes this one of the better animated films I have seen. However, if I had to muster one criticism it would be that the human characters seem a bit too geometric. Carl’s face appears to be modelled entirely on a square, and Russell seems to be a couple of circles that has been squashed and put on top of each other. This isn’t a major criticism though and it doesn’t spoil my enjoyment of the film at all.

The best thing about Up is how engaging it is. The first scene involving Carl and his wife is tragically sad and is the perfect scene to captivate the audience. Personally I couldn’t stop watching after the first scene. Carl is a typical old man in an animated film – grumpy and set in his ways. However through his time with Russell and the animals he changes and becomes more understanding. My personal highlight of the film was the fight between the two old men. This had me in stitches, and I imagine it would be exactly the same if a younger child was watching. Russell is also very entertaining and provides an ideal figure for a younger audience to identify with.

I particularly enjoyed the idea of using dogs as other characters. The talking dogs were very amusing, particularly Alpha and Doug. I liked the idea of having them communicate through a machine rather than having them actually talk, and this seems to add a sense of realism to the film. Obviously when I say realism I do not actually mean that it is realistic, but the communication relay made it much less obscure.

Up is the sort of film that can appeal to both adults and children. I really enjoyed and I think children will enjoy it too. As a child you can enjoy the storyline and the laugh at the jokes and what-not. As an adult you cannot help but become engaged with the characters and the story. Without a doubt this is one of the best family films made in recent years and I think all the family can enjoy it, from grandparent to grandchild.

The Emperor's New Groove

The first time I watched The Emperor’s New Groove I was a kid and I absolutely adored it. As a fairly hyperactive child (I think my Mum would say very hyperactive) I used to act out the movie. When I re-watched it again recently I found that me getting older had not dampened how much I enjoyed the film. In a similar way to The Mummy, the films that you see in your childhood and adore stick with you, and you always seem to hold a small candle for them.

The plot, unsurprisingly, isn't complex. There is an Emperor who is quite self-absorbed. His ‘evil’ advisor Yzma is jealous of his power and plots to take it for herself after he fires her. With the help of her assistant Kronk she poisons Kuzco, but accidently turns him into a llama. Kuzco winds up in the home of a man whose village he plans to destroy to make way for his birthday present to himself. The man tries to help Kuzco get back to the palace and on the way Kuzco changes as a person and agrees to build his summer house somewhere else. It’s a fairly standard story of changing people through time but directed at kids.

Beyond telling you how much I liked it, and describing the plot, it’s difficult to know where to take this review now. The characters are not deep, profound or particularly interesting. The only change in any of them throughout the film is Kuzco’s personality. The animation is fairly average, and there’s not much, good or bad, to say about it. The characters are voiced fairly well. David Spade (8 Simple Rules, Rules of Engagement) voiced the Emperor, and does so very well. The interesting voice is Patrick Warburton. He voices Kronk, and has a very distinctive voice. When I started watching Family Guy I could not place the voice of Joe, until I realised that it was the same guy!

Anyway, I've decided to focus on the comedic side to the film. As with most animated children’s films there is a comedic element to the story. On the journey back to the palace Kuzco and Pacha get into a number of scrapes which provided great amusement to my childhood self, and reminiscent memories to my (only slightly) more mature self. The film is quite quotable and I’m fairly sure that my girlfriend (who has been watching more and more films with me lately) was utterly sick of me talking along to the characters as the memorable lines came out. The scene at the end of the film where Kuzco and Pacha are escaping from Yzma and trying to turn Kuzco back to a human is quite funny.

It’s difficult to identify exactly what I like most about The Emperor’s New Groove. It is definitely the kind of film that you can relax to, but I feel that if you haven’t seen it before then you will hate it. When I watched The Rock, I didn't see why my flatmates had hyped it up so much, but then I figured that they had seen it when they were younger, and so the memory of enjoying it once sticks with them. It’s the same with me and The Mummy, which one of my flatmates doesn't seem to enjoy as much as I do. I guess it is also the same with The Emperor’s New Groove. If you have kids and they are younger than eight I think they will love this film. However, if you are looking for a new film to watch one evening then I would avoid this. It is the memory of seeing it before that makes me enjoy it so much.