Up was awesome; Camera 7 not so much
Kelvin and I went to watch Up at the Camera 7 in Campbell with Ravi, Jess, and Avery last Friday night. Ravi helped us get tickets, we had dinner in the Pruneyard, and went straight to the theater right after we finished. We still had a good 45 minutes until our 9:15PM showing. There was a short rope line by the door, and we were told by staff to form a line by this rope. Originally, we were the only ones standing there, but as time passed, a formidable line formed behind us. For the entire wait, people would ask us what we were waiting for, since we were at the front of the line.
I was trying to get a pic of the line, but instead I get this blindingly white pasty
face on the bottom. At least the lady behind us has a decent pic :P
I thought it was a little ridiculous to make us wait in line for a movie when it wasn’t opening weekend. Even tho it was a June evening, it got cool quickly. Jess was getting cold, because she didn’t want to bother with a jacket, as we were expecting to go in any minute. 15 minutes prior to movie start, we still weren’t let in. At this point, even I was getting cold in my hoodie. 10 minutes before, everybody in line was getting antsy. I saw a couple people go inside and ask if they were in the right place. We kept waiting and waiting until showtime passed. We STILL weren’t let in. We made plans to take the center of center seats. The staff finally let us in a few minutes after showtime, and even tho we were at the front of the line, we rushed to the theater just in case.
We walked in, and there were already 10-15 people in the theater. WHAT THE F*CK, CAMERA 7? You make us wait in line for no reason, and you let people who sneaked in the theater stay before folks who waited in line. F*cking asinine. Of course, all the center rows, center seats are taken. We went to an optimal row, where some jerkwad was saving two seats aside from his own in the center and keep us from taking them. I said something stern/irked along the lines of “No way! We waited in line!”, while Kelvin was more chill/obnoxious, like “It’s cool, we waited in line” and sat in one of the seats he was saving. I’m glad this guy wasn’t feeling particularly entitled to argue with us as he let Kelvin take the seat, tho I think he later realized he was being a dick, as he asked Kelvin if the staff had really told us to wait in line. I’m willing to bet he saw the line, but chose to not inquire about it to feign ignorance when sneaking into the theater and taking seats early. I was still pissed; because of this guy who cut the line, Ravi and Jess and Avery weren’t particularly centered. Kelvin and I tried to give our seats to Ravi, who got us the tickets in the first place, but he wouldn’t take them. Whether or not that guy is a jerk, this stupidness is totally Camera 7’s fault. They should have just cleared the theater before letting people in. Seriously, what was point of the damn line??? I feel a complaint letter coming on…
Eventually, everything settled, and they finally started showing stuff on the screen. We were watching a 3D showing, so the ticket office had given us these dorky sunglasses-looking 3D specs to wear. The 3D took some time to adjust to; most of the trailers looked kinda blurry to me. I guess it’s good to let your eyes adjust during crappy trailers instead of the actual movie. The animated short shown before Up was Partly Cloudy. It’s a cute short film, with an interesting spin on creationism. Then it was finally time for Up.
Prior to seeing the Up, I had only seen the teaser trailer, its RottenTomatoes rating, and comments from my friends about how sad it was, so I knew Up was a really good film about a guy who’s house floats away in balloons with emotional moments. And that’s pretty much what it was… except I had no idea the movie had talking dogs! Talking dogs automatically make this movie awesome. I loved how they made them talk while maintaining their doggy mannerisms. Dug is, by far, my favorite character; he’s so adorable and hilarious! Actually, I really liked all the protagonists in the film. I think Pixar did a good job developing the characters and making us feel attached to them.
The things that happen in the film are pretty ridiculous, especially when you consider you have an elderly man and an 8-year-old as the main characters in an action adventure. And *slight spoiler alert on the antagonist* the bad guy has to be at least 90 something years old! All the crazy things they do, somebody should have broken a hip. And Carl (the main character) spends most of the movie dragging a house around! The movie lives up to its name, with many action sequences taking place up in the air. Pixar did a pretty decent job giving the viewer a sense of height. As a person who’s afraid of falling, I found myself a little anxious during some of the high altitude scenes. Watching the film in 3D was neat (reminds me of pop-up books), but I think about halfway through the movie I forgot about it because I was too enthralled with the flim. Ravi later told me it made his eyes hurt. The trailers showed the next Toy Story movie is going to be in 3D; I hope this isn’t a gimmick that Pixar is going to bank on.
Despite all its goofiness (house flying to South America using balloons, talking dogs, fistfighting elderly men), the film is surprisingly poignant. Like many other people, I did tear up a few times. Carl’s backstory is particularly touching and relatable, assuming you are (or were at some point) in a long term monogamous relationship. The film really takes you on an emotional roller coast, and I think it’s because of this, Up is definitely one of my top Pixar films. My favorite is currently The Incredibles. I haven’t figured out if I like Up more than The Incredibles, but it’s sure awful close.
New thing I learned today: Dug is voiced by the co-director of the film, Bob Peterson.
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You know, if you complained right then and there, you could’ve probably gotten– SQUIRREL! –free tickets.
Also, I don’t think you need to be in a monogamous relationship to relate to Carl. I’m sure most people, relationship or otherwise, can relate to the emotions in his backstory.
Oh, and I’m with you on the bad guy. Personally, I feel he must be way older than 90. Like 130 or something.
1You’re probably right. I should have known to complain; I’ve done it before at other theaters (Sony Metreon, I’m looking at you).
2My eyes hurt for the first 10 minutes or so, then they got used to it (or damaged enough that I stopped feeling it.) I liked Up, but it felt more like a pitch than a finished film, a bunch of cute ideas strung together without much of a throughline. In particular, I never really bought the villain as anything more than a plot device for more zany chases.
I’ve been thinking about writing a post on my blog about how I’d rank Pixar’s ten feature films to date (I finally saw Cars through Netflix this week), but really, most of them are a blur of “good, not great” and “pleasant, but bland”. Truth be told, I feel the same way about most of Hayao Miyazaki’s work.
For me, the cream of the Pixar crop are Wall-E, Monsters, Inc., and Toy Story 2.
3I think my top 3 are probably The Incredibles, Toy Story, and now Up . I agree the story is random craziness, but I really enjoyed the characters (except the antagonist), humor, and emotional tugs. Before, my third would probably have been A Bug’s Life.
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