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[Coach McGuirk]

I'll take a crack at this... We discussed this after the movie, and came to a couple of conclusions. First, the book was almost too painful for him to peruse so he didn't much. But second, and more importantly, he had assumed that he had simply failed (broken his "cross my heart" promise) to provide his wife with the adventure of her lifetime, so what was the point in looking for something in the book that, he thought, didn't exist? But then, at that pivotal point in the film, he learns that his wife was truly thrilled with their lifetime together, that adventures are simply the journey and not the destination, and their journey had been truly a great one.

And screw the allergies, I got teary a couple of times in the movie as well, and held my wife's hand, thankful for the adventure we're experiencing together. Yes, it's sappy, and I detest cheap sentiment, but sometimes you just have to go with it.

He looked at it at various points in the movie, and there was nothing in there. He didn't look at those pages after his wife passed. If you remember...she slides it to him at the hospital. We were talking and decided that she put it together there for him when she was dying.

I am a softie, and I cried twice during the film. No shame at all.

Me and the wife came up with a combo of the same thing. We felt she had put it together during her last days. He, feeling guilty for her lost adventures, did not want to remind himself of it by staring at blank pages. Very touching moment(s) and if you didn't well up then I would suspect you are a robot.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Very touching moment(s) and if you didn't well up then I would suspect you are a robot.

One other comment on the film (mild spoiler about something that occurs within the first ten minutes)…





At the end of what I assume was his wife’s funeral service, the old man’s expression is exquisitely painful and touching. As he sat there, all alone, I flashed on two other similarly powerful moments, one from a movie, the other from a book. In Shadowlands, a film about C.S. Lewis and his marriage to Joy Gresham, Lewis (played well by Anthony Hopkins) and his young stepson sit in the attic after her death staring silently and forlornly at the wardrobe that had earlier inspired The Chronicles of Narnia. And I was also reminded of The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt (perhaps my favorite biography), where one learns that TR’s first wife and his mother died on the same day. He kept a fairly detailed diary, but the entry on that day includes only a cross and the sentence, “Today, the light went out of my life.” Dealing with the death of a loved one (be it a spouse, child, sibling or parent) can be so hard. But in the three “stories” described above, the survivors find a way ultimately to carry on.

[Drunk Tank]

Took the kids to see this. We saw the 3d version and it was amazing. Overall, the movie was fantastic! For both adults and children. I have never seen a cartoon be able to invoke such powerful emotions from people in the audience. It is an emotional roller coaster. There was a little girl next to us asking why everyone was crying during the baby scene at the beginning. I wish i could have heard their conversation on the drive home!

[ERCougar]

Just got back from this with my daughter. To be honest, I was a little disappointed, but likely because I had such high expectations. The story with the man and his wife was wonderfully done. The addition of the boy with the absentee father was a nice touch. But the strange talking dogs and the hunt for the rare bird just took too much away from the story for me.

Out of recent kids' movies that I've seen, I liked both Bolt and Corraline better. This was better than Monsters vs. Aliens. Among Pixars, I'd put it right in the middle. I'm afraid they'll never make another Finding Nemo.

[BoylenOver]

I thought the Omega voice (alternating between Yzma-kitten and menacing Barry White) detracted from the film. From the first second of the movie until I heard that dog's annoying high-pitched voice, I was all in. After that, I still enjoyed it, but it kinda jolted me from the moment.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Just got back from this with my daughter. To be honest, I was a little disappointed, but likely because I had such high expectations. The story with the man and his wife was wonderfully done. The addition of the boy with the absentee father was a nice touch. But the strange talking dogs and the hunt for the rare bird just took too much away from the story for me.

A local reviewer I read regularly, Mick LaSalle, made pretty much the same observation, noting that it's too bad that Pixar, feeling the need to have a full-length film, added what is essentially filler (the dogs/bird story), taking what is a great, or at least near-great, 45-minute film about the widower and the kid, and turning it into a merely entertaining full length feature. Commercially, one has to go the longer route; artistically, but it would have been better to have gone with brevity. That said, I still liked it very much.

[Indy Coug]

All the talking dogs kept my two year old awake and interested at the drive in until the movie ended at 10:30. For that I am truly thankful.

[LA Ute]

A local reviewer I read regularly, Mick LaSalle, made pretty much the same observation, nothing that it's too bad that Pixar, feeling the need to have a full-length film, added what is essentially filler (the dogs/bird story), taking what is a great, or at least near-great, 45-minute film about the widower and the kid, and turning into a merely entertaining full length feature. Commercially, one has to go the longer route; artistically, it would have been better to have gone with brevity. That said, I still liked it very much.

I saw it differently. Yes, there is a lot in the movie, but once I relaxed and decided simply to have fun with it, the overstuffed plot didn't bother me. Maybe it's because I love dogs, and the writer of the movie clearly does too.

I can still make my daughter laugh by suddenly exclaiming, "Squirrel!" in mid-sentence. . . .

[OhioBlue]

Finally saw it yesterday. My first reaction, upon wiping tears, was 'wow this is a pretty grown-up movie.'

Some great themes in the movie, for sure. I viewed the chase for mythical birds, complete with talking dogs, as symbolic of tryinjg fill one's life with the exotic, the unusual, the larger than life moments. Of course, one of the most touching themes in the movie is that it's the little stuff that actually counts, the everyday. Hence his transition from pursuing the Falls like some sort of Holy Grail, thinking he had let down his wife, to finally accepting that she had enjoyed her time with him through all the other more everyday moments. And the great scene where they sit on the curb counting cars while the zeppelin thingy flies above. A juxtaposition of those two representative symbols.

So yeah, I guess what I'm saying is besides being fun and entertaining, the bird and dogs worked for me on a different level as well.

All in all, I really enjoyed the movie and applaud Pixar on another superb job.

[RobinFinderson]

*SPOILERS*

I watched this with Little Robin today. Along with everyone else who has seen it, the first few minutes had me sobbing. The graphics and animation were very good. But overall, I thought the movie was boring. I had a hard time caring about the stupid bird, and the villain was totally lame. The story that mattered was about how the old man learned to make room in his life for new and meaningful relationships by letting go of some of the pieces of his past (shown literally when he has to empty the house to make it light enough to fly again). Everything about rescuing the bird and the failure of old heroes felt really tacked on. Aside from the funny things the dogs would say, they didn't bring much more to the movie. Overall I was disappointed. Little Robin liked it.

[RobinFinderson]

Also, I think I'm tired of the 3D. I took off my glasses during one of the scenes where there was no/little 3D, and the image was twice as bright. Next time I have to choose between 3D/Dim Image/headaches and 2D/Bright Image, I'm going with the 2D. I prefer the crisp bright image.

[Fiyero]

I saw this yesterday. I've never been on an acid trip but think Pixar has captivated the experience. It reminded me of Homer eating a merciless pepper of Quetzlzacatenango that was grown deep in the primeval jungle by the inmates of a Guatemalan insane asylum, and then afterwards running into everything from a talking coyote to a successful destruction of the sun.

[RobinFinderson]

Interesting. I had avoided reading this thread until after the movie, but now I see that several others share my feelings about the lame tacked on parts of the story.

[RobinFinderson]

I keep thinking about Up, and how my disappointment makes me reconsider the other Pixar films. Wall-E had similar problem. It starts off with a strong concept that deteriorates when they try to marry it to a story with broader commercial appeal. Ratatouille might be the strongest Pixar marriage of story and concept, but with Up I think we have seen Pixar's Achilles' heel.

[PaloAltoCougar]

I keep thinking about Up, and how my disappointment makes me reconsider the other Pixar films. Wall-E had similar problem. It starts off with a strong concept that deteriorates when they try to marry it to a story with broader commercial appeal. Ratatouille might be the strongest Pixar marriage of story and concept, but with Up I think we have seen Pixar's Achilles' heel.

Here's the local review I mentioned earlier that seems to match up with your views: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...MV6617S4LC.DTL

I enjoy getting everyone's take on a good film (I think everyone agrees that it was, overall), including what they found to be its weaknesses as well as strengths.