"Up", animation, and the Oscars

So the creative team behind "Up" went to Venezuela to see the location that inspires the movie's main character: a series of rock plateaus that rise out of the jungle, with the world's highest waterfall as an added bonus. I suppose there are worse ways to spend money when you're making a big-budget movie. The lush scenery did distract me until about halfway through the movie, when the similarities to the Road Runner cartoons hit me: you have a character that's obsessed with chasing a fast-running, non-flying, non-talking bird, through a strange landscape, employing complicated traps and things that never work...

But I liked the movie. It seems insulting to call it a cartoon (to the Academy it's an "Animated Feature"), with all that expensive hi-tech stuff being used to tell the story. And it may just be the best movie to win an Academy Award this year (Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Score). It's certainly the only one people (small people) will be watching a few years from now.

Someone knew what they were doing: a wrecking crew is seeking to evict the old man from his house. He argues with someone at the curb, the argument escalates, and he hits the man with his cane, drawing blood. The supervisor comes over to survey the scene and realizes that this is the excuse they need to get rid of the old fellow. As he stands there with his clipboard (old man POV from the house) he puts his hand on the fencepost. That's it. It's like Darth Vader saying "I have you now" before being blasted off course. It's completely understated and it's pure cinema.

How important are the Oscars? I need say nothing more than this: look at the list of Best Picture winners from 1927 to the present. I guarantee you'll see many unrecognisable titles. And it's not your fault: the list is filled with many earnest, well-intentioned movies that deserve to be forgotten.