Monday, May 18, 2009 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 9 ANGELS From Page 8 traced back to the book, in which these seemingly perfunctory state- ments are properly fleshed out and actually make sense. "Angels" (like "Da Vinci Code") screws itself by splitting action and mystery, but not fully developing either side. When details are neglected, audiences are left to go with the flow, which can be extremely infuriating attimes. On the other hand, if none of the interesting and genuinely cool Catholic and Illu- minati lore is present, the whole pur- pose of the movie is lost. The worst part of the film, though, is that fans of the book gain nothing from watching the movie. Not only does the movie skip important information present in the books, but the info it does have is so watered down that all significance is lost. The deaths in the novel definitely churn the imagina- tion. But when these scenes are shown on the bigscreen under a PG-13 rating, not much justice is done. That's not to say a "Saw" approach is required, but just like the dialogue of the film, they feel merely obligatory - just some- thing to move the story along. Ultimately, "Angels" doesn't share any of the intrigue or mystery of its book counterpart. It's trite in its descriptions and divided in its spirit. Not even a trip to the confession booth can purge the sin of watching this abomination of a movie. Pixar director discusses Up'coming film Pete Docter reveals the creative process behind the newest Pixar installment By ANDREW LAPIN Daily Film Editor When filmmaker Pete Docter ("Monsters, Inc.") was trying to figure out an idea for his next movie, a peculiar image started to float around in his brain. "I just drew this picture of a house float- ing with balloons, and something about that seemed very evocative," Docter explained in a recent phone interview. "We started just think- ing, 'Well, who's in the floating house, and how did they get there and where are they going?"' Figuring out the answers to these questions led to the concept for "Up," the latest entry in the Disney/Pixar hit parade. The film focuses on the life of Carl Fredricksen (voiced by Ed Asner, TV's "Lou Grant"), a diminutive 78-year- old man who ties thousands of balloons to his house so he can fly to South America, and Rus- sell (newcomer Jordan Nagai), the Boy Scout who smuggles a ride aboard. Early drafts of the screenplay had Carl and Russell going to a tropical island. Eventually, though, Docter decided to send the characters somewhere more original-and turned to South America's Tapui mountains for inspiration. Docter acknowledged the unorthodox choice to anchor a family-friendly film with an old man as its protagonist, but he noted that he and the other Pixar filmmakers never think about marketability during the produc- tion process.. "We make these films for ourselves," he explained. "We just think about, 'Is this inter- esting to me, as a person, as an audience mem- ber? Am I engaged? Do I care?"' Still, Docter notes that making an animated film isn't all fun and games. "You're working on cartoons, happy, fun, Pixar la-la land, but it is, you know, there comes a point where you start to think of yourself asa failure if you don't get this done," he said. "Up" wasn't immune to this pressure, and many challenges were present in the film's cre- ation. "Every film we've gone through, it seems like there's some new technological hurdle," Docter said. He found designing the.characters and set- ting to be the most taxing challenge. "This was a story where the main character floats his house to South America. It's a completely implausible idea. And if we could somehow create a sinCe 1978 caricature world, I think we felt like we could make that a lot more believable and real to the audience than if you made it super- realistic." "Up" will also mark another milestone for being the first Pixar movie to be released in 3-D. Docter explained that a separate "3-D Team" was formed after the film's initial conception to follow the main crew around and implement the extra dimension. They had.to be conscious of things that wouldn't work in 3-D, like objects breaking the edge of the frame as they rush towards the audience. Docter said he was also very careful not to rely on throw-things-at-the-audience types of gags. "The screen is almost like a window look- ing into this world," he said, summarizing the angle they were approaching the new dimen- sion from. "We're not selling 3-D. We're selling the story itself, and the 3-D's going to be in sup- port of that." The fruits ofDocter's labors can be seen when "Up" takes flight nationwide on May 29th. SICK OF THE DORMS? CAN'T FIND A PLACE TO LIVE? Visit mlchigandaily.com/classifieds to see all of the great houses and apartments Ann Arbor has to offer on a convenient map! Also be sure to check out the Classified Pages for other great properties.