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meganbmooreDisclaimer: I watched this on a portable DVD player, sandwiched between my two nephews, with the three year old alternately sleeping on my arm and fussing for his Mommy. It is possible that I missed fascinating bits.
In short, my impression from the previews was on the mark for me: it looked dull, and I found it dull. Maybe if I’d ever been a little boy who wanted to have adventures, instead of having been a little girl who wondered why boys had almost all the adventures in TV and movies, it would have been different. And boy, does the movie play up “adventures are only for boys.” Actually, the first 2-3 minutes, before the montage of some of the most blatant emotional manipulation I’ve ever seen? I would have enjoyed that movie. The rest? Meh. I do want to give Pixar credit for making one of the leads an Asian kid (if his ethnicity was ever established, it was a part I missed) and for making a lot of the extras POC, but I can’t help but notice that it still came down to a pair of white guys duking it out.
Also, I spent way too much time pondering helium and the scientific feasibility of it all.
The ragey girl parts:
1.Ellie dies, like, 12 minutes in. The only non-extra female character for the rest of the movie is the only character who does not talk. This has been corrected for me in the DW version of the post, though the correction didn't make it better.
2. Russell’s dad, who apparently has no time for him? Basically gets monologues devoted to how he’s so cool. His stepmother, who apparently is there for him? Gets a passing mention, and doesn’t deserve to stand beside him when he gets his badge.
3. Being married is all the adventure a woman could need, but a man needs REAL adventure, so now that there’s no woman to hold him back, he should go have one. That was when I started hating the movie.
4. And then, to go off and have the adventure, he throws out all of their things, and all the things that remind him of her and their relationship. Ignore the justifications the text throws at you. He gets to be a hero and have the adventure by throwing away their life together.
Screw you, Pixar. I’m glad most of your movies never did much for me in the first place. I’d hate to be raging at a company who had a bunch of movies I liked.
In short, my impression from the previews was on the mark for me: it looked dull, and I found it dull. Maybe if I’d ever been a little boy who wanted to have adventures, instead of having been a little girl who wondered why boys had almost all the adventures in TV and movies, it would have been different. And boy, does the movie play up “adventures are only for boys.” Actually, the first 2-3 minutes, before the montage of some of the most blatant emotional manipulation I’ve ever seen? I would have enjoyed that movie. The rest? Meh. I do want to give Pixar credit for making one of the leads an Asian kid (if his ethnicity was ever established, it was a part I missed) and for making a lot of the extras POC, but I can’t help but notice that it still came down to a pair of white guys duking it out.
Also, I spent way too much time pondering helium and the scientific feasibility of it all.
The ragey girl parts:
1.
2. Russell’s dad, who apparently has no time for him? Basically gets monologues devoted to how he’s so cool. His stepmother, who apparently is there for him? Gets a passing mention, and doesn’t deserve to stand beside him when he gets his badge.
3. Being married is all the adventure a woman could need, but a man needs REAL adventure, so now that there’s no woman to hold him back, he should go have one. That was when I started hating the movie.
4. And then, to go off and have the adventure, he throws out all of their things, and all the things that remind him of her and their relationship. Ignore the justifications the text throws at you. He gets to be a hero and have the adventure by throwing away their life together.
Screw you, Pixar. I’m glad most of your movies never did much for me in the first place. I’d hate to be raging at a company who had a bunch of movies I liked.