Between pandemics and protests the world can feel more than a little overwhelming right now. It's enough to make you want to just curl up on the couch with a Disney movie. That's probably exactly why Disney made the decision to bring back The Wonderful World of Disney on ABC for a limited run and air some of the studios' popular movies on television. This week's offering was Pixar's Up, which, while it's a great movie, is maybe not the movie that you want to watch if you're already feeling like an emotional wreck.
Pixar is known for making movies that take us on emotional journeys, but Up is a special case in that it does that to the viewer all in the first few minutes. The movie's opening sequences gives us the entire history of a relationship that spans nearly the entire lives of two people, Carl and Ellie. Much of it is done without a word being spoken, but the emotional impact is no less powerful. As you can imagine, seeing that again on television took its toll on viewers.
Carl and Ellie meet each other as children, and become fast friends. But eventually, the relationship becomes something more, they fall in love, and get married. We see their entire married life, backed by a beautiful piece of Michael Giacchino music, that's actually called "Married Life." It's only about ten or twelve minutes long, but the ending of the opening, with the passing of Ellie and Carl's mourning, is no less powerful.
The sequence has become so famous that a lot of people who may have never actually seen Up all the way through still know the opening by heart. And it's really just the backstory. It introduces Carl and explains why he ends up going on the journey that he does, but the actual plot of the movie is a separate story.
The opening sequence is almost a movie unto itself. Certainly, a story like Carl and Ellie's relationship looks like something that could have been a Pixar movie all on its own. Many think it's one of cinema's great love stories.
We're probably all feeling emotionally fragile right now. Sometimes what we need in that case is a movie that will make us feel good and warm and happy. But sometimes maybe what we really need is a good cathartic cry, and Up can certainly provide that.
Up was the third of four movies planned for the Disney anthology series at this point. Viewers can check out Big Hero 6 next week, and they might want to restock on tissues, because that one has a pretty emotional opening as well.
