Up (2009)

As children, Carl and Ellie meet and bond over their love of explorer Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer), whose most famous expedition was to Paradise Falls in South America.

Carl and Ellie pledge to each other that they will one day go to Paradise Falls, and meet the great Muntz in person.

Staying together for their entire lives, until Ellie passes away, they sadly never make good on that pledge, and Carl (now elderly, voiced by Edward Asner) lives alone in the same house they moved into together when they got married.

But all around him, the world is changing. A property developer wants to build apartments, and continually pesters Carl to sell him his property too, as it stands right in the middle of where he is already building.

Carl is stubborn, however, and refuses to budge; this house is all he has left to remember the many good times he had with his wife.

After an altercation with the construction workers, Carl is about to be admitted to Shady Oaks Retirement Village. But when staff turn up to escort him to his new home, he has other ideas.

Tying hundreds of helium-filled balloons to the top of his house, he lifts right off the ground, and begins his promised journey to Paradise Falls.

It isn’t until he gets hundreds of feet into the air that he discovers he has a ‘stowaway’ on his porch: Junior Wilderness Explorer (basically a Boy Scout) Russell (Jordan Nagai), who only needs one more badge to become a Senior Wilderness Explorer: his ‘Assisting the Elderly’ badge.

So the two of them adventure together to South America, Russell hoping to get his final badge and Carl hoping to settle down in the place he and Ellie had always wanted to visit.

As I’m sure I’ve said numerous times now, there is just something so wonderful about Pixar films, and this one is no exception.

Written by Pete Docter & Bob Peterson, the script is funny, clever, heartbreaking, tender, and so many other great adjectives. It may not be Pixar’s best film to date, but it is still a good one.

Docter and Peterson also directed the film together, and it is just as wonderful as any other Pixar film, as I’ve already said. The characters are all clearly defined, and the love between Carl and Ellie is just as strong and motivating a force as the frustration Carl has with Russell.

The plot is incredibly inventive (I mean, whoever thought it was possible to fly your entire house to South America using balloons?) but within the confines of the film, it feels perfectly normal and acceptable.

The voice cast are all fantastic. I’m sure this is one of the most fun parts of an animated film for the directors: choosing actors whose voices will best capture the particular nuances of character you’re going for. It’s impossible now to imagine these characters being voiced by anybody else, as it is the voices themselves that make and define the characters.

But what I want to focus on the most in this review is the music. Michael Giacchino’s score is absolutely superb, and an opportunity for anyone studying film scoring technique to learn some of the greatest lessons, more informative than anything a traditional class environment could teach you.

Giacchino has written a theme - a leitmotif - to represent Carl and Ellie’s relationship, and this theme recurs many times throughout the film. Each time it appears, the instrumentation is different. Occasionally the tempo varies. Sometimes the key centre changes, sometimes the mode changes, but each time, it is the ‘same’ theme.

This serves to unite the entire film as one story: the story of Carl and Ellie, even though Ellie is not physically present for the majority of the film. But the way the music is used like this is just beautiful, and even if the audience only realises it unconsciously, Ellie is as much a part of this film (as a whole) as any of the other characters, if not more so.

As I’ve already mentioned, this may not be Pixar’s best film overall. But it does have the best music of any Pixar film to date.

8 out of 10.

Inside Out (2015)

Have you ever wondered what is going on inside someone else's head? Well, this film attempts to answer that question.

Riley Andersen (Kaitlyn Dias) is 11 years old, and with her parents (Kyle MacLachlan and Diane Lane) has just moved from Minnesota - where she has lived her whole life - to San Francisco, where she knows no-one, has to adjust to a new school and new surroundings.

And thanks to the magic of animation, we are able to see inside her head, where her emotions are all personified. Joy (Amy Poehler) is the self-appointed leader of the emotions, as Joy is the main emotion that Riley has felt so far as a child. But now, as she approaches her teenage years - and as her life is becoming less and less enjoyable for her - some of the other emotions are beginning to take over.

The other main emotion who starts coming to the fore a lot more is Sadness (Phyllis Smith). In fact, even some of Riley's Core Memories (that were hitherto Joyful memories) are beginning to be tainted with touches of Sadness.

One day, Joy and Sadness together are whisked out of 'Headquarters' and end up lost in Riley's 'Long Term Memory', and have to find their way back to Headquarters, along with all of Riley's Core Memories, that are at risk of falling into 'the dump' and being lost forever.

While Joy and Sadness are away from Headquarters, Riley's other emotions are left to take charge. Fear (Bill Hader), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Anger (Lewis Black) start to become more and more prevalent in Riley's various outbursts, as her parents try to understand what has come over their little girl all of a sudden.

In Riley's Long Term Memory, Joy and Sadness find Riley's imaginary friend, Bing Bong (Richard Kind), who helps them in their journey out of his long-held love for Riley.

I'll let you discover the rest for yourself if you haven't seen this film yet. Writers Meg Lefauve, Josh Cooley and Pete Docter (who was also the director of this film) have created in my opinion an absolute masterpiece. The writing is so clever, and the animation so good (though who could expect less from a Pixar film these days?) that it is very easy to get swept up in the story, and to really feel for Riley and her parents in the whole situation.

Music by Michael Giacchino is subtle and heartfelt. There is a very simple piano theme that repeats throughout, which serves to ground the viewer each time it appears.

I have said this over and over again to many people with whom I have discussed this film over the years: This is quite simply the best Pixar film since Finding Nemo back in 2003. And I think it would be very difficult to knock it from this position, at least as far as I am concerned.

There is plenty here for young children to enjoy and to learn, particularly the lesson that it is okay to feel sad sometimes (Joy has a very hard time accepting that Sadness is a valid part of Riley's emotions, and it is only through a long and arduous journey that she realises for herself that Sadness is important, too). But there is also so much in here for older audiences, parents and other adults alike. This to me is the appeal of animated films like this, there is something for everyone.

9 out of 10.