Up!

After holding off in NY with Anna and seeing 'Angels & Demons' instead. I finally saw it a couple of nights ago!!

Don't worry. No spoiling details in case you haven't seen it yet. Well, okay. Minimal details.

It's probably the first Disney [albeit Pixar] villain that's actually evil in awhile. Sitting through this movie, I kept getting the feeling that this Disney-Pixar production was significantly darker than recent previous animations. This was probably because, other than the initial somewhat sadness-inducing sequence of scenes depicting Carl's [the main character's] life with his wife, Ellie, until she dies, the main villain in the movie, Charles Muntz, is actually...well...a villain.

As Disney has developed their animated movies, with the additional influence of overprotective, paranoid parents complaining about the overly dark nature of the bad guys in the movies they were taking their kids to see, these supposed "evil" characters transitioned from actually evil, almost-psychotic Ursula [Little Mermaid] and Cruella de Vil [101 Dalmatians], to honestly just plain stupid. They're not longer evil because of their villainous intentions, but are labelled bad guys purely because their being dumb and the dumb things they do happen to have a negative effect for all involved à la Prince John [Robin Hood], Captain Hook [Peter Pan].

Up! changes this somewhat. I'm not sure it counts as a 3D animated made in conjunction with Pixar, but its a refreshing change. Muntz' active evilness to get what he wants by any means necessary is certainly a welcome upgrade, although I'm curious to see what parents think of this new childhood-hero-turned-psycho-killer-over-some-bird character when they take their kids to go see what they expect to be yet another cookie-cutter Disney-Pixar production.

At least Disney-Pixar writers got the right idea in terms of balancing darkness with some sweet sugary goodness...in the form of five bajillion talking puppies running around everywhere, who, although are there to do Muntz' bidding, still hold onto that puppy innocence that allows them to be distracted by the simplest pleasures of a squirrel or a tennis ball. Best of all is Dug, the first and awesomest talking pup of them all! From whom I've also learnt a nice, new trick or two to use myself. POINT!! I wish that stuffed Dug toy at the Disney store wasn't so expensive. Dug and Russell, the little asian boy scout who helps Carl along his way to Paradise Falls, provide perfect comedic counterpoints to Muntz' psycho, house-burning bird-search rampage.

I also want a Kevin.