'Up' opens Cannes with an impressive showing

Los Angeles Times - May 13, 2009

The Chicago Tribune's Michael Phillips is at Cannes and filed this report on the fest's opening night selection:

“We would like to make a picture,” said Thierry Fremaux, director of the Cannes Film Festival, on stage at the Debussy Theatre prior to the May 13 press screening of the new Disney/Pixar triumph, “Up.” He urged everyone in the audience to don their 3-D specs—beautiful, sturdy, stylish specs they were, too, better than whatever you wore when you saw “Monsters vs. Aliens”—and look pretty for the phalanx of cameras, including Fremaux’s own. 

Then came “Up,” the out-of-competition festival opener. It opens in Chicago May 29. And it’s as beautiful, sturdy and stylish as those glasses.

In the 10th Pixar feature since “Toy Story” in 1995, director Pete Docter (“Monsters, Inc.”) has created one of the medium’s most powerfully emotional pieces of commercial animation. Michael Giacchino’s score equals his work on “Ratatouille,” which means he’s now officially the finest film composer of his generation.

Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com