A while ago, I saw the trailer for an interesting looking science fiction movie called UPSIDE DOWN.
It looked like it would be a visually quirky movie, if a bit ridiculous in concept.
I promptly forgot all about it, until I saw it in one of my local Redboxes. I rented it, not sure what I was getting into.
Turns out, it was a visually quirky, if a bit ridiculous in concept.
Watching it, I felt like this was part of a YA novel series. It opens with lots of exposition and then when the narrator stops expositing, one of the characters starts doing it, and then it goes back to the narrator. It’s necessary, I guess, setting up the world — well, WORLDS — to prepare the viewer for the story.
The set up is pure fantasy, though. Don’t let the look fool you, this is fantasy in the same way a movie like Brazil or Dark City is. In fact, I was reminded a bit of those two movies watching it. It is a stylistic movie with strong cinematography and effects — all serving the story.
Here’s what you need to know: two worlds hover near each other, with mountain tops only a few dozen yards apart. Anything that originates on one particular world is attracted by the gravity of that world, but not the other. A boy and a girl, one from one world and the other from the other world, meet and fall in love and cause al sorts of problems for their own lives and ultimately for the world. Well, WORLDS.
This is a sci-fi fairy tale, and it’s fun. Suspend your disbelief, and you’ll be able to go with it. Expect hard science fiction and you’ll be very disappointed.
It’s Romeo and Juliet, and it flirts with having some weighty themes and a little bit a depth, but for all its visual strengths, it’s just too small of a story.
Here’s the trailer. Sometimes trailers only show you the good stuff, and advertise a movie quite different from what you get. To me, this trailer is a perfect representation. If the trailer appeals to you, the movie will, too.
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