I finally got to see the movie Up (in 3-D) yesterday, the new Pixar film. It was pretty entertaining. They know how to make a basic coherent story every time that's both funny and to some degree heartfelt. It's no wonder they usually are the leader above the other movies that fall under the same genre. You may want to wait until it comes out on DVD though since the price (for me at least) was $13 (including the 3-D glasses).
That's not all I wanted to post on though. Anyone who follows movies even a little bit will notice that there are a lot more computer genereated and cartoon movies out now than before. The previews I saw before the movie were all under that category. Why mention that? Because usually, this kind of movie is not held to as high a standard as a movie with real people making choices that (hopefully) have good or bad results according to what they choose. "But," someone will say, "those themes can be present in cartoons too." Fair enough. But it's doubtful that the standard is held as high as moveis with physical human beings in it. Take the Little Mermaid for example. How many people remember that as a part of the film, she defied her father and left her home and it was not looked down upon, but exalted. If a teenage girl in a typical film was so dissatisfied with living at home that she ran away to find some place that she really wanted to be, would it be looked at in the same way as Ariel? Arguably, there are more permissible things that we allow for cartoons and computer animated films than other pictures.
With that said, I thought it would be good to turn to the worldview of the movie Up. I won't ruin any major parts of the story, but it is safe to say that pretty much every Pixar movie (along with most/all popular animated ones) don't mention any sort of higher power at all. Part of the reason I think is because of what is mentioned above. Now I know that these kinds of movies are fictional. But that doesn't mean they have to leave that element out. No one could easily say that the Narnia books leave out a sovereign ruler, or a substitutionary sacrifice for evildoers, or that what you do really matters.
This is where the worldview comes in. Though I could not claim that I know the exact worldview that the movie represents (though some that come to mind are moralism, materialism, and naturalism), the way I would phrase the movie's message is, "Make the most of this life as you can." But then that just begs the question. Why? Why make the most of this life? Why go to great lengths at all to do something epic in this world, or even small things that will contribute to society? Why not just eat and drink and make merry, since tomorrow you die?
The only way to answer that question in an intellectually honest way is to have the Lord in the story, if not literally, than (very carefully I would say) in a creative way. What other reason could you give that would truly motivate someone? In the short-term, a good feeling could be a reason, or more money, or whatever other worldly motive you could think of. But after this life, none of it would matter. It would all be meaningless. But if God's glory is the motive, then it has an infinitely deep meaning.
Picture from http://www.rottentomatoes.com/
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