Wonderful film. Little gem, if only for the first 10 minutes.
They did it again. Though I think that, if it could somehow be compared, "Wall-E" and "Finding Nemo" blew me "more away" (what's the superlative? "... it blewer me away"?), I loved this film. The importance of and love for details, the rough-angled old guy versus soft-rounded youth, the fact that their physical appearance isn't the most realistic one and that it doesn't matter. I'm not sure whether it's brave or simply logical to do so, but it focusses on the story, the scenery, the settings by taking a great leap over the uncanny-valley (ok, this is an outrageous comparison, it actually proves the theory of the uncanny valley, but nevermind, I'm being lyrical here, alright?)
The dogs; I didn't mind their "talking trick" too much, but the fight in the airplanes were slightly overdone. Suddenly they became merely jokes, instead of a okay-ish group of side-characters.
Saw it in "3D" and it worked pretty well. I hope the balloon-guys optimised the collision-detection algorithm, otherwise...
But, those first ten minutes. Ten minutes in which two lifetimes floated across your eyes. They portrayed life down to its simplicity and beauty. Love, loss, hope, dreams, crying and laughing together after those have gone. It was one of the few perfect life-passing-by shots I have ever seen. I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean.
That, and the moment immediatly afterwards, when he screechingly slow lowers himself on the stairs-elevator on the music of Bizet's "Habanera" (Carmen).
I wonder whether my admiration for those first 10 minutes comes from the fact that I could never write such a thing - it was too gentle, too perfect, too ... sad? I could do sad, but not the other two - or whether it simply touched a certain spot just behind my eyes.
first ten minutes: 9.5
rest: 8
