Let’s face it old people aren’t cool anymore. There used to be a time when old people were interesting and assets to society. Now people just think they get in the way and are dangerous on the road. So when Pixar decided to make an old man the star of their latest film it became a tougher sell. Old men aren’t heroes in movies, and especially animated movies. They are the comic relief in the form of the feisty or forgetful old person. So how do they go about taking the one type of person people care little about and make him in to someone you want to spend everyday with?
By making him a real person with a real story.
He is not just an old man but by starting with him as a youth and watching him grow up and eventually grow old we learn to love him for what he went though and how he went through it. Along the way it also builds the sense of attachment the character has to his wife so that when the he takes action as an audience we understand and accept his reasoning for what he is doing. This is a lesson in character development and building a connection between audience and character. To say Pixar has storytelling down to a science would be a great understatement.
Throw in a cast of supporting characters that are all capable and not bumbling idiots or caricatures and you have something different from everything out there. This film reaches out to all age groups in different ways yet in the end everyone walks away with the same feeling of joy and sadness. Up will surely be walking away with the Oscar for best animated feature since it will take absolute gold to top.