Brave Friendship

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Intellectually, all people understand friendship, how essential it is for relationships.  Being unable to be a friend leaves one bitter and alone.

Children bounce from friend to friend, like balls in a court.

Instantaneously BAM!  A friend is made.

But to describe friendship and what it entails, especially when confronted with two students, steamed and red-faced, pointing fingers at each other?  Sigh.

A movie on friendship is “The Brave Little Toaster”.  One has to accept anthropomorphism, old-fashioned animation, dark scariness, and the corniness that comes with talking appliances.

The intrepid appliances

Synopsis:  A family vacation cabin has stood unused for years, but its appliances continue their duties, while longing for the Master (a boy named Rob) to return.  When it appears that the cabin will be sold, the appliances begin an epic journey to find the Master in the city. **  

It is during this daring quest that the appliances learn that friendship is vital to their survival.  More than that, friendship binds them together.  Why is the movie entitled "The Brave Little Toaster"?  

Because it is the toaster who leads the way and who gives the most to each appliance.

With hurdles faced, dangers avoided, and possible destruction diverted, huge questions hang over the appliances literally:  Will the Master remember them?  Will he search for them as they have searched for him?

Can the appliances maintain this bond of friendship, even though destruction is eminent?

**This was made in 1987,and released a few years later. Its obvious presage to "Toy Story" is clear.  

It was an opening foray into a whole new world of Animation known as Pixar.  It was considered horrible back then, but is now called "a cult movie".

I loved this movie way back when it was a new movie, and I love it now.

U is for....

UP! is an animated movie about many things. The characters are an elderly man, Carl Fredrickson,

who has lost his wife, Ellie. They bonded together as children when they considered themselves to be explorers. Their life-long dream was to visit ParadiseFalls in the Lost Lands of South America. To that end, they saved up pennies, nickels, and all denominations of money in a jar. The jar had to be broken several times during their life to pay for disasters. Being unable to have children, they devoted themselves to each other and their dream: to travel

Carl and friends (squirre

to Paradise Falls.

Both worked at a local zoo, where Carl sold helium-filled balloons and Ellie taught children about animals. After Ellie dies and when Carl is threatened with eviction and a forced nursing home life, Carl inventively makes his house into one floating helium balloon, with thousands of balloons lifting his house off the foundation.

Unknowingly, Carl has a stow-away, Russell, a needy eight-year old scout who is trying to earn one last badge, “Helping an Old Person” to complete his scout sash.

Dug (squirrel!), Kevin with Russell, and Carl

Ultimately, they do make it to Paradise Falls, where they encounter hundreds of speaking dogs (who wear dog collars that translate ‘dog’ into English, Korean, Chinese, Spanish, and other languages.), and the dogs’ crazy owner, famed and disgraced explorer Charles Munts.  During their wanderings, a dog named ‘Dug’ and an exotic bird (which Russell

names ‘Kevin’) befriend them.  They are chased by the dogs and their maniacal alpha dog, a doberman pincher, whose speaking device is shorting out, making him speak with a helium voice.

Ed Asner is the voice of Carl, and is endearing throughout the character's growth (he looks like Spencer Tracy).  Crazy Explorer Charles Munts has the velvet voice of Christopher Plummer (and looks like Kirk Douglas).

On his way

Okay, I understand that not everyone loves children movies as much as I do. The technology that goes into making these endearing films amazes me. Heck, I was also amazed by “Snow White”, so perhaps I am easily amazed. Art in any form grabs me, and feeds my soul. The unexpected twists and turns also delight me. So, there!

On a deeper level, UP! is about undying love, creating one’s own adventures, opening the adventure to someone who needs something to believe in, and to be believed in. It is about persevering and accomplishing a dream thought to be impossible.