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Summer Movies: UP (with love from Pixar)

Pixar’s Up is launching on May 29th and I’m not sure how I feel about it. I’ve seen the trailer, seen it again in 3D. Normally I find myself stoked for Pixar movies, but for some reason I can’t seem to get excited for Up…I think the main reason for this is that no one really knows anything about it. We’ve heard bits and pieces slip out, but even the actual synopsis doesn’t give us much to go on: 

From Disney*Pixar comes “Up,” a comedy adventure about 78 year old balloon salesman Carl Fredericksen, who finally fulfills his lifelong dream of a great adventure when he ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies away to the wilds of South America. But he discovers all too late that his biggest nightmare has stowed away on the trip: an overly optimistic 8-year-old Wilderness Explorer named Russell.

Normally I would find myself quite excited about a Pixar movie entailing a South American adventure, but I think the lack of any more substantial information (coupled with the same trailer footage over and over and over) has filed me under “intrigued” instead of “way interested.” 

Also, since Disney owns Pixar now, I’ve got to wonder what kind of merchandising opportunities will arise from Up. There’s a Cars sequel coming soon, mostly due to the fact that Cars merchandise has sold incredibly well for Disney. (In fact, so well, that rumor had it that the strength of Cars merchandise was responsible for keeping Speed Racer merch off the shelf at the time of its release.) Wall-E was able to put out some neat stuff based on the cuteness of its main character and the technology aspect of the movie (lending itself to all sorts of robotic alarm clocks and such). But what on earth is Up going to give us? I can’t really imagine kids rushing out to snatch up Carl Frederickson action figures or to pick up their own Carl Frederickson’s Cane (complete with tennis balls on the bottom).