Squirrel!

First, as we logged into Blogger today, we noticed that today's post would be number 502. 502! We've passed the half-millenium mark! Well, we're impressed, anyway.

Second, as you might have guessed from the title of today's post, the Solipsist is continuing his slog his way through last year's Best Picture nominees. Last night's feature: "Up."


Now, we wanted to like this movie, and, on several levels, we did. The animation exemplified the typical virtuosity we've come to expect from Pixar ("Toy Story," "The Incredibles," "Wall-E," etc.): The first sight of Mr. Frederickson's (Ed Asner)balloon-borne house sailing above the clouds through an impossibly blue sky is enough to bring a lump to even this inveterate cynic's throat. The animated format also provides the filmmakers the opportunity to supply some clever and genuinely funny dog-related gags.

We weren't blown away, though. Maybe we've become jaded by the virtuosity we mentioned in the previous paragraph. We know Pixar movies are going to be beautiful to look at. We know they'll be well-made and intelligently written. But we also know they're going to hit some standard points: There will be a fairly obvious message; there is will be a fairly upbeat/ heartwarming ending. There's nothing inherently wrong with either of these things----it worked for "Avatar"--but there's also nothing particularly surprising about them.

In terms of visuals, the makers of animated films can literally do anything they can imagine. In order to truly dazzle an audience, then, they need to create stories whose elements we cannot so easily predict.