Up in 3D

Yesterday a friend and I inadvertently saw Pixar’s Up in 3D. The movie theatre we went to was screening Up only in 3D, and we did not realize it until the staff member handed us the glasses. Thankfully they were not those terrible chromadepth red and blue glasses that give me a headache within seconds of putting in them on. The 3D glasses used in Up look like sunglasses that are grossly out of style. If one looks through the lens at normal objects, they would appear the same, just slightly darker. Once the trailers and movie came on, images became 3D with both eyes looking through the glasses. Without the glasses the movie appears inherently myopic, like it is out of focus with everything slightly separated into two. With only one eye through either lens, the movie becomes clear and 2D like a regular movie. I would guess that the glasses polarized the light, either circularly or linearly, to create the 3D effect. Now the 3D effect is not perfect, as sometimes an area or object of numerous scenes would still appear out of focus even with the glasses on. At the end of the movie I did have a slight headache, but it is much better than the torture of the red and blue glasses.
The bulk of the movie itself follows the adventure of an old widower, a young boy, and various creatures that accompany them. There are a lot of fun, humor, action, and sentiment, all evenly paced and deftly written. But beyond the adventure lies a more substantial message that both kids and adults can appreciate, a message that Carl, the old protagonist, eventually discovers along with the audience. I really liked the music in Up. The instrumentals are so emotive and seem to tell a story on its own. Speaking of emotive, Up managed to move me to tears at two heart touching scenes. Within ten minutes of the movie my eyes were watery at the wordless montage of Carl’s and Ellie’s (Carl’s wife) life together with the above linked music playing. At a second, again wordless, tender scene much later in the movie where Carl makes his realization, I could not hold back, and my right eye was overwhelmed by tears and a stream ran all the way down to my chin. My nose was so runny I had to sniff with a tissue paper. As a man I have been denying my tears all my life and it is extremely rare to see me visibly crying. Not even in my grandparents’ (mother’s side), who partially raised me as a little boy, funerals did I cry. Up made me do just that. It speaks volumes of Pixar’s masterful storytelling and presentation in Up.
Up is easily my favorite movie of 2009 so far, and I am very tempted to declare Up as one of my favorite movies of all time. Very tempted…