UP

So if you're expecting me to talk about the Fourth of July, you're late. I talked about that on Thursday.

It is now that time of year where there is nothing to look forward to. I hate heat (although I'm beginning to hate it less than I used to), and there's not a major holiday until Halloween, and I can't even start thinking about that for over two months. But there still can be fun things to do.

BYU had a free outdoor screening of Up. I went with some fellow ward members. They gave out free ice cream, so we went over to get some. We realized afterward that we had totally not seen the line and cut in front of tons of people! I felt like such a jerk! It made me realize I can't always judge people, because some probably thought I was a jerk, but it was an honest mistake--I would never consciously do that.

We were also baffled at a shirt we saw a girl wearing:Are you allowed to wear shirts like that at BYU?

I was worried I wouldn't be able to see or hear the movie, but I was able to. It was only the second time I had seen it, the previous time being December 2009, in that first month of being home from my mission. Everyone hyped it up so much for me that it didn't quite meet my expectations the first time, but this time around I thought about how great a movie it is. (If you haven't seen it, there might be some spoilers in this blog.)

I think what bothers me the most is that it's not presented so much as a fantasy story, yet it is clearly impossible. I suppose this is a strange perspective from a fan of such ridiculous TV shows as Gilligan's Island and The Flying Nun, but some things do bother me--how could balloons carry a house? (I know National Geographic lifted a house with balloons, but still.) Even if collars could make dogs talk, how could they form such coherent thoughts? And how come Russell couldn't climb up the rope to the house when he and Carl were walking, but when he was perilously hanging on the rope hundreds of feet in the air, how come he could climb up so easily, and how could he hold on so well as it was swinging all around? I know it's just a movie, but the non-fantasy impossible elements throw me for a loop.

The first time I watched it, when the villain falls off the blimp, my then-six-year-old niece proclaimed "Yes!" just like I would have at that age. Is it appropriate for kids' movies to have such violent endings, or would it be better if the bad guys just went to jail? Some of you may wonder how I, of all people, would say this, when I want criminals to be boiled in oil and thrown off of cliffs and all that stuff. But when Snow White's stepmother falls off a cliff and the vultures circle, and Gaston falls off the side of the castle--can you really blame only me for having these ideas, considering the kinds of stuff I was exposed to as a kid? (Incidentally, I would like to contend that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was not intended to be a kids' movie. If Disney went through the effort of making the first full-length animated movie, would they brand it for just little girls? Definitely not! Yet the only time you ever hear of Snow White anymore is in association with princess items for girls. Most of these girls would probably find the original movie too scary anyway, what with the thirsty skeletons, terrifying woods, and glass coffin--not to mention the evil queen.)

Overall, however, I consider Up a very clever, inventive, and enjoyable movie. The only Pixar movies I have issues with are The Incredibles and Cars. (I haven't seen Cars 2 yet.)