For all its cosmic fluff and visually stunning hot air, Upside Down,?a tale of star-crossed lovers that find themselves divided by conflicting gravity fields of two parallel planets, fails to evoke any genuine character depth or emotional authenticity to match is visually expansive and innovative conceptual design.
The movie opens with a shot of stars exploding into supernovas across the night sky. A whispering, raspy voiced teen begins to narrate and explain the complexity of the worlds that exist here. There are two planets in equal orbit around a single sun, and each has its own gravity that its residents are governed by. He immediately solicits an idea of concrete physics that should certainly allow for our acceptance of this world, and hopefully all reasoning to follow should fit as neatly into the pursuing narrative as the opening monologue declares. It does not. Adam is a young boy with a troubled past that barely exists beyond his brief explanation of it. He is an orphan who lives in the lower world, which is where the peasants live in depraved isolation without the glamour and resources of the elitist upper world. There is also one gigantic corporation whose building and tyrannical dominance connect the two worlds and employ most of its citizens, and it?s called Transworld.
Adam narrates us quickly through his youthful struggles where he learns the secrets of the Sage Mountains from his Aunt Betty. She shows him a magical bee pollen that makes pancakes fly, and he is immediately entranced by its possibilities. On his journey to collect this pollen he comes to a mountain top and notices a young girl named Eden wandering along a similar peak in the opposing upper world. Over time they become close and Adam even uses a rope to pull her to his side. Unfortunately, this is strictly prohibited by the draconian law enforcement that maintains proper segregation between both worlds. In their attempt to escape, Adam drops Eden and is captured by the police. For no explained reason, his Aunt Betty?s house is burned and she is driven away forever.
Time passes and Adam tinkers in his science lab concocting some potion from the magic bee pollen that only he possesses. To save myself the pain of reliving this story again, I will now proceed with brevity. Adam goes to work for Transworld where he is ridiculed for his lower world stature, but his cosmetic lift cream that is powered by his magic pollen attracts the attention of the Executives. He manages to find Eden again, who also works for Transworld and has suffered amnesia from her fall so she does not remember Adam. He plies his bushy haired, disheveled charm to no end in hopes to win back her forgotten heart while using inverse matter to maintain gravity in her world. She struggles to remember, but ultimately does and they escape again to the woods for some immaculate conception. In the end Adam triumphs and somehow Eden is pregnant. Blah.
The film makes a consistent effort to distract from its vapid and shallow plot by wowing the audience with gimmicks from the conflicting gravities. At one point, Adam is weighted in the upper world by his inverse matter and while he uses the restroom, his urine comically falls to the ceiling. Adam is similar to Aladdin in his attempts at love, but without the charm and heroic talents or entertaining sidekicks. The movie pays such little attention to logical reason that Adam?s quarter mile free fall causes no injury and he is saved simply by landing in a pine tree. I remember Rambo suffering great pains as he fell from a helicopter through a similar tree ending up bloodied and beaten. Oh well. And speaking of animated children?s movies, how Eden got pregnant with twins from making out is beyond me, but I?m sure it?s easier to explain to children that way. Adam closes the movie by saying, ?but that?s another story.? Let?s just hope they keep this one to themselves.?
Despite all Upside Down?s romantic pageantry, there is little beyond the robust special effects to conjure up anything beyond a mediocre and disingenuous love story. I found myself on many occasions dropping my head into my hands in embarrassment for the filmmakers. As you may be guessing, I did not care for this movie.
reese witherspoon pregnant billy joel bent new york jets etch a sketch romney sean payton saints bounty program
No comments:
Post a Comment