Getting better all the time

In Emeryville, Calif., far away from the bustle and gloss of Los Angeles, the torch bearer of the old Hollywood studio system doesn't survive - it thrives. At Pixar, talent is cultivated on an assembly line of imagination and, one animated picture after another, the production shop outdoes itself.

But despite Pixar's impeccable critical record, Wall Street investors seem a little sour on the financial prospects for the studio's upcoming tenth feature, the simply remarkable Up. Never mind that the claims of Pixar's diminishing returns don't exactly check out - both WALL-E and Ratatouille easily surpassed Cars at the worldwide box office - all the worry is over an old man.

Admittedly, the grouchy old man in the lead role, Carl Frederickson (Edward Asner , So Others May Live) isn't ripe for action figure reproduction. By the end of Up, though, he does become something of an elderly action hero - infinitely more convincing than Harrison Ford in the latest Indiana Jones film.

Grandpas are never an easy sell, especially for a younger audience. But like all the preceding Pixar protagonists before him, Carl is as lovingly crafted as any character you're likely to see on the big screen this year.

In an interview with The Diamondback, director and writer Peter Docter (Monsters Inc.) talked about his mentor, longtime Disney animator Joe Grant, and his influence on Carl and Up.

"Something [Grant] would keep coming back to is, 'What are you giving the audience to take home?'" Docter said. "'What sort of emotional core are you setting forth that people can relate to and it resonates with them?' They understand - even though it's a bug or a monster or a fish - they understand what that character is going through, and they feel it themselves."

As a member of the unofficial Pixar brain trust, Docter has been one of the studio's key creative forces, appearing as the second writer on both Toy Story films and contributing to most of the other releases in varying capacities. In the spirit of upping the ante after the ambitiously beautiful WALL-E, he and his directing and writing partner Bob Peterson (The Visitor writer Tom McCarthy also worked with Docter on the script) have imbued Up with a sense of melancholy and morbidity.

Having said that, the film may eke out Finding Nemo for the studio's laugh-out-loud, funniest feature to date. It's a balance Docter was very much aware of.

"The films that I really loved as a kid like Dumbo, The Muppet Movie - these movies have a certain seriousness that goes along with all the jokes and comedy and they last because of that," Docter said. "You feel it more and you care about the characters. If it's just all 'wakka wakka,' it kind of all just goes away once the lights come up."

Though Up eventually stretches into eye-popping adventure as Carl and his eight-year-old Wilderness Explorer tag-along, Russell (newcomer Jordan Nagai), fly off in Carl's balloon-lifted house, the opening scenes and ensuing montage are alternately heartwarming then heartbreaking. Docter and Peterson boil down an entire relationship - from childhood, through marriage, into the autumn years - in a few minutes.

The editing pace during the silent montage is deliberate and contemplative, emotional and effective - what many might refer to as pure cinema.

"I grew up in an era where my parents took a lot of home movies on us in Super 8, and you watch it and there's no sound," Docter said, imitating the sound of a film projector for emphasis. "There's something about that that's almost more emotional than watching video with sound. It's like you sort of help bring the thing to life in your own head … because you're sort of contributing to it."

Besides tackling one of Pixar's most ambitious stories to date, Docter had an additional task - Up will be the first Pixar film to be released in 3D. The director likened the old, gimmick 3D to early experiments in stereophonic sound - bongs blaring from the left channel, trumpets soaring through the right.

Not surprisingly, he opted for something a little more subtle.

"Really, the way we approached it was kind of similar to the way we approached Toy Story," Docter said. "We got a lot of concerned people saying, 'You're never going to be able to carry a whole feature with computer animation. It's cold and lifeless.' And we knew that if we had a good story, a compelling story, that you could make a story with matchsticks or whatever.

"We don't have things coming out at you going, 'Remember, this is a 3D movie! It's 3D!'" he later added. "We just have a window that you see into. And it's much more kind of subtle that way, and hopefully for that you stay more focused on the characters and the storytelling and get swept up in it. And that's, of course, why we go to the movies."

Up will open nationwide on May 29.

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