Jos . (jsd35)

Sentimental and Nostalgic at times, Up paints an animated pastiche of old age and family relationships, that leans more heavily on the message than on the humor on occasion. It nevertheless pulls off a great piece of animation.

Is this film as bad as the press would have us believe?

Well, It's not good, that's for sure.

It's not as bad as other movies that have been inflicted on me recently, but that alas, doesn't mean that it's any great shakes. It's a bit of a mess - an over-long rambling music video of noise and effects, strung together by a poorly developed storyline.

There are moments I enjoyed in this - mostly around the character of Jetfire, (who, I like to think, was speaking his opinion about the film as a whole, rather than simpy addressing the characters). The, er, wrecking balls of the Devastator were something of a misfire, but they definitely make wry comment on the rest of the project. And, while I'm not sure the Twins are intentionally racist (no more so than portrayals of rednecks in other movies), they do play overtly to stereotypes and are frankly speaking a total waste of movie time.

Once-in-a-while it leaves you thinking, 'This could be okay...' But nope. Not worth paying good money to see, and it should have been much better developed before set free onto the world.

Brilliant acheivement. Few ofther films capture the feel of Dickensian London so well, and none have dared what this film does - to tell a love story from the view points of both parties. Wrapped in social commentary, the film relates the love between Mr Clennam and Amy Dorrit, in a story arcing two films: the first from Clennam's view and the second from Amy Dorrit's view. Fantastic, riveting, and rewarding.

One of my all time favourites, this is a movie that has not only influenced a lot of people to take an interest in Cambodia, but has been used in parts of the world as a teaching aid to illustrate the aftermath of civil war. Although I've given it 5 stars here, it does have one fault that still grates on me (one that is quite well known now, I guess): The ever-controversial song at the end. I agree with the producer, David Puttnam, that the film needs something at the end to lift the audience from the weight of the events, and the song (which was #1 around the world at the time of Pran's escape) may have played well amongst preview audiences, but its message is wholly inappropriate. Leaving that aside, the film's understated manner gives one of the greatest visualisations of a dictatorial regime from our recent history. And, even though it's now more than 20 years since I saw this in a theatre, the film still reduces me to tears whenever I see it. Sam Waterson's portrayal of Schanberg is incredible, and the film gains merit for not flinching from showing him in quite a poor light. But how many of us would have emerged cleanly from that situation? That Schanberg was more concerned that the truth be told than that he was seen as a hero (which he certainly wasn't) is a credit to him, because I have to admit, I sympathise a lot with Al Rockoff who believes that a fair amount of responsibility rests on Schanberg's shoulders. Many people now know that the person playing Dith Pran was a Cambodian refugee who also endured a similar experiences under the Khmer Rouge, and it must have been painful for him to revisit his experiences. This is a moving story that never descends into hopelessness, and I'd love to see the original edit of this with the footage of the Vietnamese involvement and Schanberg's breakdown. Ah well, maybe sometime it'll happen.