Pays : Américain
Genre : Animation
Durée : 1h44
Date de sortie : 29 juillet 2009
Avec : Edward Asner, Jordan Nagai, Christopher Plummer
Réalisateur : Pete Docter, Bob Peterson
Quand Carl, un grincheux de 78 ans, décide de réaliser le rêve de sa vie en attachant des milliers de ballons à sa maison pour s’envoler vers l’Amérique du Sud, il ne s’attendait pas à embarquer avec lui Russell, un jeune explorateur de 9 ans, toujours très enthousiaste et assez envahissant... Ce duo totalement imprévisible et improbable va vivre une aventure délirante qui les plongera dans un voyage dépassant l’imagination.
(L'avis exprimé par les rédacteurs de cette rubrique est indépendant du travail et des choix du Jury oecuménique.)
13 mai 2009
A cinema delight. A great choice to open the 2009 Cannes Festival in a time of recession. Money does not make the world go round !
Why a delight ? An endearing plot that leads to many zany developments. Sympathetic characters : a grandfather-figure and a boy who needs a male role model. A hiss-the-villain. Bright Pixar animation. Some birds and animals that can take their place amongst the best of animated creatures. A thoughtful and funny screenplay.
We are introduced to two gawky kids, silent bespectacled Carl and chattering, gap-teeth, spiky hair Ellie who want to live lives of adventure when they grow up. There follows a most moving collage of episodes in Carl’s and Ellie’s marriage and how they were not able to live their childhood dreams (which is reprised beautifully towards the end as Carl looks at the album of photos of their lives, the adventure of their marriage). And now that Carl is old, is it the nursing home (’Shady Oaks’) for him and will the developers be able to take possession of his old house which is in the centre of a building site ?
At this point, the film literally takes off, or at least Carl’s house does, in the vein of The Wizard of Oz, with the myriad balloons he had sold to children over the years wafting him away. But, he is not alone. Russell, aged eight from down the street , needs another badge to become a senior in his cub-like organisation. He needs to help someone elderly. Carl has sent him on a wild goose (rather snipe) chase to get rid of him. But, Russell is hanging on to the verandah wall for dear life. He joins and shares Carl’s adventure, to go to South America where Carl and Ellie wanted to go but never did.
A fine blend of the sweet and the funny.
