Watching the box office for Avatar (review to come shortly) propel itself to a mere $6Million from Titanic makes me wonder. How can that movie be so popular? In a nutshell I really enjoyed it, but cannot fathom how it has managed to earn over twice as much as perhaps the best film of 2009. Now, it may seem weird to offer my thoughts on Pixar’s latest masterpiece, UP, in the year of 10, but for whatever reason I have only just been able to experience it. And what an experience. The first ten minutes of this movie completely and utterly blew me away, and I had to pause the Blu-Ray to just gather my feelings before we embarked on the remainder. Pixar have truly, astoundingly and wonderfully outdone themselves.

What I love so much about movies is being made to feel, think and share an experience with the actions on screen. What I love even more is when a movie can be so perfectly balanced, so perfectly timed and self-contained that I am left just reminiscing with much, much fondness about the wondrous story I have seen. In many ways I look back at UP with an almost nostalgic feeling; it is as if the film has managed to create within itself a depth of emotion that spans many years. And all this within the first ten minutes! The film opens with a scratchy black and white projection of a story about adventurer Charles Muntz. In the crowd is a wide-eyed little boy named Carl, with an aviator’s cap and goggles over his glasses. The sheer wonder in his face at seeing the world’s Muntz has explored is timeless. This little boy’s wondrous imagination of adventure seems to consume him and he is in his own world. Then he meets Ellie, a little girl who also shares his insatiable passion for adventure and excitement.

What follows is a heart-breakingly beautiful montage of this little boy’s life. This is a close to perfect ten minutes of celluloid (or in this case bits and bytes) that I struggle to find anything to compare it to. It is simply stunning. We follow Carl and Ellie has they learn to love each other and spend their lives dreaming of the one big adventure they have wanted to go on: to travel to paradise falls, like their idol Muntz. The tragic, painfully so, realisation that their every day lives begin to push this dream aside is so amazingly represented as they age that at some point I had to remind myself that these people weren’t real. It was just so well done, so precise.

As Carl and Ellie age, we see their happiness, their shared experiences both good and bad. We see them grow old together, with the constant twinkle of adventure in their eye, but with a growing sense of the inevitable way life seems to pass you by without you being able to fulfill your life-long dream. The first, most beautiful, most stunningly sad and so amazing part of this movie sets the older Carl’s mood in stone. As we see him as we will for the remainder of the movie, Ellie is no longer of his Earth, and Carl casts a tragic figure. Alone and full of yearning to be with Ellie again as well as the horrible feelings of lost dreams, Carl is a man caught in the middle of dreams and reality. What comes next shapes the remainder of the film. But after a start like that, it needed to shift its gears.

The house that little Carl and Ellie used to play in became the house they grew old together in, and now it is under threat from property developers. So Carl hatches a master plan; to float the house to Paradise Falls so he can fulfill their dream to visit. It is such a beautiful notion that the old man would move his house all that way just so he can say to Ellie: there I did it, we did it Ellie. Argh the movie was just so beautiful. While Carl manages to string up a gigantic collection of balloons to carry the house forth, he never expected a little wilderness scout to tag along for the ride. For the most part, the movie plays out with a superb mix of humour, for adults and children alike, with equal parts wonder and adventure, but the one constant that stuck with me was how Carl was just so determined to see his and Ellie’s dream come to life.

Carl and his scout castaway Russell are whisked away on adventure to Paradise Falls. We see them befriend local wildlife, be chased by the minions of some hidden menace and eventually, and yes, expectedly, begin to bond. Now I say expectedly because, well, Pixar make movies for everyone, and they need Carl to grow fond of Russell. It doesn’t happen quickly or easily, but it does happen. And I for one think it was handled so well, so cleverly and so realistically. Carl needs Russell more than he can imagine, and vice versa. Seeing Carl listen to Russell’s confession that he doesn’t see his father much, and the amazingly animated facial expressions, was just mind-boggling.

There were a handful of times during this movie that tears would well in my eyes. Tears of all kinds. The movie manages to strike the chords that many of us have felt in life; that feeling of childhood dreams not being fulfilled and for myself, the feelings of childhood glee, abandon, happiness and innocence that gets lost to the realities of life. I fucking loved this movie.

The final act, with a reveal about Ellie, made the tears appear yet again. The look on Carl’s face when he realises that his one true love, truly loved him too is just so goddamn beautiful it makes me think that the creative minds behind this movie are true story-tellers. I wonder how they would go directing/writing movies with real actors? The way they showed in the montage a light-footed Ellie race to the top of a mountain, Carl in tow and then later showed it in reverse with an aging Ellie now struggling to keep up. The way Carl would always place his hand on Ellie’s painted handprint on the letterbox every morning when he goes to get his mail. The way he looks in shock and horror when a cement mixer backs into it. He has invested so much of his love for Ellie into the mementos he has to remember her. It is just such brilliant story telling.

It is remarkable that I have barely touched on the bulk of the film’s plot, and this is in no way a negative reflection on the movie, its just that the keys for me are how Pixar managed to create such an enjoyable movie with two very emotional first and final acts. I think I said this about Wall-E but I have no idea how they could ever surpass this movie, but I have faith that if anyone can, Pixar can.

2008 is going to be a stellar year for movies of all types; action bloodbaths with Rambo, adventures with geratrics in Indiana Jones, re-imaginings of classic villians in Batman: The Dark Knight and unfortunately, far too many piss-poor ’spoof’ films like Meet The Spartans. When looking at the world of cinema has a whole, crossing cultural boundaries is the one thing that none of these films mentioned can even jokingly expect to do by any real measure. Rambo, while appealing to the bloodlust of many mid-20s westerners, pales in significance to the potential collective giddyness that the world is about to share, with one little robot named Wall-E.

Disney bought Pixar a few years ago, and although some people think that this brought Pixar a richer, more involving story-writing prowess, I am of the belief that Pixar is without peer in the fully CGI film genre. There is something innately charming about nearly all of their blockbuster films, and these leads them to appeal to children, teenagers, adults and the elderly unlike many film-makers can boast. What I see so powerful in their next offering Wall-E is the fact that the titular character offers Pixar a wonderful opportunity to create a character that can be made up of so many appealing traits, that all of the world can enjoy him in their own way.

Children around the world will giggle at his cuteness. Teenagers of the world will enjoy his quirky-ness. Adults will admire his innocence and his naive nature. The elderly will like it because of all the nice colours and lights. Harsh, but true. Where Wall-E will truly dominate, is how he will be seen as a ‘kiddy’ robot. His child-like mannerisms will appeal to more children around the world then a wise-cracking donkey on its overblown and wasteful third cinematic outing (no, I did NOT like Shrek 3). Much like Nemo in their underwater adventure, Wall-E seems to be a soul yearning for companionship and excitement, a dream shared with countless iconic characters.

He is stuck alone on a used up and abandoned planet Earth, doing what he was built for, cleanging up rubbish. His name stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class, and he spends his days crushing and sorting the junk we humans left behind. From the trailer, you can tell that while he tries to make the most of his life, he yearns for something more. And then, out of the skies falls an oddly shaped craft, and disembarking from it, a beautiful (to Wall-E of course) white search robot named Eve. Being so desperate for a friend, he instantly falls for her, while showing off his collection of shopping trolleys, old vacuums and his pet cockroach. With a plot so simple, how can they fail? They can’t, and we will all see why.

Sure, the film will be bursting at the seams with ideas all trying to force their way out but I have faith that Pixar will construct it in a way to offer the cream of all these ideas. A simple lonely guy meeting someone who seems to offer him an escape from monotony. The inevitable bumbling, goofy antics as he tries to win her over. A seperation from his potential pal, leading him on a desperate adventure to win back the companionship he craves. Sprinkle in large amounts of slapstick, innuendo and pop culture references, and the recipe gets more appealing everyday.

Mark my words – Wall-E will be the biggest movie event of 2008. There are no films on the horizon (bar the years-from-completion Hobbit films) that will come close to having the worldwide popular impact as this little fella. All I hope is that he finally knocks that steel monster Titanic from its unsuitable, unsightly and overwhelmingly undeserving place high atop the box office charts. If anyone can do it, its Pixar. And they will no doubt be getting some of my hard-earned.

Top 5 movies I’m waiting for this year, in order from most eager to somewhat less eager:

1 – Wall-E. No shit huh?

2 – 24 movie. I heard they are doing a movie to bridge last season with next one.

3 – Iron Man / The Dark Knight. I can’t split the two of these, they both look sensational.

4 – Tango and Cash 2. I can dream can’t I?

5 – Indiana Jones. Sure, he may be well into his 60’s, but I reckon he is still gonna kick some ass.

//Number 5 stupid name… want to be Kevin or Dave!