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"Up" is a wonderful film, with characters who are as believable as any characters can be who spend much of their time floating above the rain forests of Venezuela. They have tempers, problems and obsessions. They are cute and goofy, but they aren't cute in the treacly way of little cartoon animals. They're cute in the human way of the animation master Hayao Miyazaki . Two of the three central characters are cranky old men, which is a wonder in this youth-obsessed era. "Up" doesn't think all heroes must be young or sweet, although the third important character is a nervy kid.

This is another masterwork from Pixar, which is leading the charge in modern animation. The movie was directed by Pete Docter , who also directed " Monsters, Inc. ," wrote " Toy Story " and was a co-writer on "WALL-E" before leaving to devote full time to this project. So Docter's one of the leading artists of this latest renaissance of animation.

The movie will be shown in 3-D in some theaters, about which I will say nothing, except to advise you to save the extra money and see it in 2-D. One of the film's qualities that is likely to be diminished by 3-D is its subtle and beautiful color palette. "Up," like " Finding Nemo ," "Toy Story," " Shrek " and " The Lion King ," uses colors in a way particularly suited to its content.

"Up" tells a story as tickling to the imagination as the magical animated films of my childhood, when I naively thought that because their colors were brighter, their character outlines more defined and their plots simpler, they were actually more realistic than regular films.

It begins with a romance as sweet and lovely as any I can recall in feature animation. Two children named Carl and Ellie meet and discover they share the same dream of someday being explorers. In newsreels, they see the exploits of a daring adventurer named Charles Muntz ( Christopher Plummer ), who uses his gigantic airship to explore a lost world on a plateau in Venezuela and then bring back the bones of fantastic creatures previously unknown to man. When his discoveries are accused of being faked, he flies off enraged to South America again, vowing to bring back living creatures to prove his claims.

Nothing is heard from him for years. Ellie and Carl ( Edward Asner ) grow up, have a courtship, marry, buy a ramshackle house and turn it into their dream home, are happy together and grow old. This process is silent, except for music (the elder Ellie doesn't even have a voice credit). It's shown by Docter in a lovely sequence, without dialogue, that deals with the life experience in a way that is almost never found in family animation. The lovebirds save their loose change in a gallon jug intended to finance their trip to the legendary Paradise Falls, but real life gets in the way: flat tires, home repairs, medical bills. Then they make a heartbreaking discovery. This interlude is poetic and touching.

The focus of the film is on Carl's life after Ellie. He becomes a recluse, holds out against the world, keeps his home as a memorial, talks to the absent Ellie. One day he decides to pack up and fly away -- literally. Having worked all his life as a balloon man, he has the equipment on hand to suspend the house from countless helium-filled balloons and fulfill his dream of seeking Paradise Falls. What he wasn't counting on was an inadvertent stowaway, Russell ( Jordan Nagai ), a dutiful Wilderness Explorer Scout, who looks Asian American.

What they find at Paradise Falls and what happens there I will not say. But I will describe Charles Muntz's gigantic airship that is hovering there. It's a triumph of design, and perhaps owes its inspiration, though not its appearance, to Miyazaki's "Castle in the Sky." The exterior is nothing special: a really big zeppelin. But the interior is one of those movie spaces you have the feeling you'll remember.

With vast inside spaces, the airship is outfitted like a great ocean liner from the golden age, with a stately dining room, long corridors, a display space rivaling the Natural History Museum and an attic spacious enough to harbor fighter planes. Muntz, who must be a centenarian by now, is hale, hearty and mean, his solitary life shared only by robotic dogs.

The adventures on the jungle plateau are satisfying in a Mummy/Tomb Raider/Indiana Jones sort of way. But they aren't the whole point of the film. This isn't a movie like " Monsters vs. Aliens ," which is mostly just frenetic action. There are stakes here, and personalities involved, and two old men battling for meaning in their lives. And a kid who, for once, isn't smarter than all the adults. And a loyal dog. And an animal sidekick. And always that house and those balloons.

A longer version is here: http://blogs.suntimes.com/eber...

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

Rated PG for some peril and action.

Edward Asner as Carl

Jordan Nagai as Russell

Christopher Plummer as Muntz

Bob Peterson as Dug

Delroy Lindo as Beta

Jerome Raft as Gamma

John Ratzenberger as Tom

• Pete Docter

Co-director

• Bob Peterson

Writer (story by)

• Tom McCarthy

Cinematographer

• Patrick Lin
• Kevin Nolting
• Michael Giacchino

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Review by Brian Eggert May 29, 2009

The Spirit of Adventure. Pixar Animation Studios has captured it before, but never so precisely as in Up . The themes throughout the picture address life’s immeasurable potential to take a journey or explore the unknown. Through the studio’s gloriously bright and colorful animation, tangible and beautiful and alive all at once, they inhabit an emotional complexity that is conveyed with the utmost ease. There are layers to this picture; however, each is clearly described for children and adults alike, rendering a universal entertainment that wisps the viewer away into an escapist fantasy remarkably devoted to its very real characters.

As a boy, Carl Fredricksen (voice of Ed Asner) aspired for adventure with his playmate, and future soul mate, Ellie. The two children dreamed of visiting South America, to a faraway land called Paradise Falls, discovered by daring explorer Charles Muntz (voice of Christopher Plummer), containing unusual creatures never before seen by human eyes. The children kept an “Adventure Book” to log their fanciful wish of someday living in Muntz’s forgotten wonderland. But their dreams, like many of us, were slowly consumed by reality. Carl and Ellie were married, but they could not have children, which made their bond even stronger. Years pass, and in time, Carl, a 78-year-old balloon vendor, finds himself alone. Ellie has passed on and his life of adventure with her. This is all shown in a beautiful, wordless opening sequence that establishes the entire picture’s emotional substance.

Carl has become a cantankerous old man living alone in the rickety home he and Ellie built, a city growing all around him. He speaks to his absent wife, aching for her company. When he finally must resign himself to a retirement home, he instead launches the house from the city with countless helium-filled balloons and takes off for Paradise Falls. Accidentally stowed away on his porch, however, is Russell (voice of Jordan Nagai), the young Wilderness Explorer desperate to earn his “Assist an Elderly Person” badge. Russell’s sweet virtuousness recalls the young Carl, though the grumbling senior doesn’t realize it.

When they arrive at their destination, the world they find is best discovered for yourself. Among the mysteries are misty mountains, a chocolate-loving exotic bird, and a talking dog named Dug (voice of Bob Peterson). The reject of a small army of talking canines, Dug, and those like him, speak via electronic collars. If you’ve ever questioned what dogs would say if they could talk, this film captures it, in all their loving, naïve, desperate-to-please splendor. Who created these collars? Carl doesn’t care. He just wants to set his house down by the falls, as he promised Ellie he would do long ago. But as Carl quickly learns, there’s more at risk than his own desires.

Arguably the funniest of the Pixar films, the laughs are only matched by the thrills. Carl’s crankiness and Russell’s hilarious innocence keep the audience laughing, while dog humor is prevalent and twisted slightly by their ability to speak. Take the hench-pooch, Alpha, a Doberman Pinscher who stands with a threatening glare until his falsetto voice, raised by his broken collar, squeaks as if he was sucking the helium from some of Carl’s balloons. Near-constant humor helps ease some of the film’s later, more gripping suspense that might otherwise frighten youngsters.

As with every Pixar film, the stakes are set from the beginning. But these aren’t mindless conflicts cleared away by equally mindless animated antics. These characters are tangible, the turns of their stories occasionally heartbreaking. Pixar’s animators illustrate the characters through mild stylizations that don’t detach from their humanness. Of course, they’re cartoons, but they have depth and sheen and the faultless illusion of flesh. Cute animals are present not merely to elicit awww reactions from the audience; rather, they have fully conceived personalities, even while remaining true to their nature. Dogs are just dogs. People are just people. How they react in this amazing situation is what’s extraordinary. And the imagery used within the story captures a kind of vintage iconography, employing objects rooted in the simplicity of their design, such as balloons and blimps, bringing to mind an immediate classicism.

Director Pete Docter, who helmed Monsters, Inc. and conceived Toy Story and WALL•E , works alongside co-director and writer Bob Peterson, himself the writer of Finding Nemo . Together, they create a world where the impossible is just a step passed intention, where adventure arrives by your own making, and where escapism doesn’t necessarily mean escape. Once again, Pixar shows audiences that the potential for animated features is boundless in the right hands. In contrast, competing studios like Dreamworks and Fox prove time and again just the opposite.

How appropriate then that the film speaks with awe about the pure concept of Adventure, about the romantic possibility of unexplored nature and newfound technology colliding in a grand discovery. Pixar finds wondrous ways of touching on this theme on and offscreen, through their story and by way of their breakthrough animation techniques, while also acknowledging that the need for adventure and exploration have tragically become characteristics of the past. And so, Pixar films are contemporary cinema’s abundant fountain where our thirsty imaginations are quenched, as they can realize the most spectacular story, infuse it with the most sincere of human emotions, and render it with the most visionary narrative scope.

Up is the kind of film where even critics find themselves incapable of putting into words just how cheerful and entertaining it is, ever at a loss to explain how everything is just right. Each line of dialogue and the accompanying gestures extract the precise emotion intended. As always, from Toy Story to WALL•E ,  Pixar’s clarity of purpose astounds. Flawlessly evocative, the film’s joys are so very joyful and the saddening moments ever so tender. Miraculously transporting us up and away through means by which only Pixar can, this is Movie Magic at its purest, realized with all the infinite possibilities of the cinema, animated or otherwise.

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The Animated Movie “Up” by Carl Fredricksen Essay (Book Review)

The 2009 animated movie Up follows the adventures of Carl Fredricksen as he strives to achieve his deceased wife’s and his life-long dream of living near Paradise Falls. However, the story’s primary focus is not only the adventure but the grief with which the main character is dealing. As the movie shows, Carl met the love of his life, Ellie, when he was a young boy. The beginning part of Up shows the progression of their relationship. They grow from friends into a romantic couple, get married, and want to have children; however, they find out that Ellie is infertile. Determined to live their life happily, Carl and Ellie decide to save enough money to move to Paradise Falls but have to spend this money on trivial problems in their adult lives. The couple grows old together, and as Carl finally saves up enough to surprise his wife with tickets to Paradise Falls, Ellie suddenly dies from an illness (Keogh, 2010).

The rest of Up shows Carl’s grieving process and his eventual acceptance of his wife’s death. It is unclear how many months or even years pass where Cark is completely isolated from social interaction. His behavior is indicative of a person who cannot let go and go through a healthy process of grieving. In particular, the largest part of the movie depicts Carl’s inability to let go, which leads to him prioritizing possessions that hold memories of Ellie over his and other people’s lives.

In the scenes following Ellie’s death, Carl is completely different from the happy man who has been just shown to the audience. He is grumpy, unsociable, and rude – he avoids interactions with people, does not express positive emotions, and has a pessimistic outlook on life. It is clear that Carl feels sadness and anger over his wife’s passing. Possibly, Carl also felt numbness following Ellie’s death, as he quickly sequestered himself in his house.

As for cognition related to grief, Carl’s main symptom is preoccupation. While he does not express guilt about Ellie’s death, he believes that he is responsible for not achieving their childhood dream. Thus, he obsessively thinks about Ellie’s ideas and ruminates on what they could have accomplished in their younger years. His behavioral symptoms are defined by social withdrawal and aggressiveness toward people. A particular sign is that Carl carries and surrounds himself with objects that remind him of Ellie. He leaves Ellie’s favorite chair in its old place and does not allow anyone to sit in it. Carl also wears a handmade pin that Ellie gave him. As he decides to lift his house in the air and physically move to Paradise Hills, the whole place becomes a way for him to further distance himself from society and deny moving on with his life.

One of Carl’s limitations is that he does not appear to have any other relatives or friends left in his life. Another problem is his lack of desire to reach out for help or conversation. Nevertheless, Carl continues living and performing daily tasks – his routine of caring about his basic needs is not disturbed. He also does not show any stronger symptoms of depression, such as self-harm and suicidal ideation.

Following Worden’s (1996) description of grief mediators, it becomes apparent that Ellie played an essential role in Carl’s life. Ellie was his life-long partner and wife, and their relationship seemed very strong. Due to them being friends from early childhood, Carl was overly attached to Ellie, and they depended on each other for moral support. The death was natural but somewhat unexpected for Carl, as Ellie’s health declined quickly. Notably, the couple had another type of loss – as the couple could not have children, Ellie mourned the possibility of a family. Carl was supportive, and the two found solace in one another and their ultimate dream.

As for Carl’s personality variables, at the moment of Ellie’s passing, he was an older man who started engaging in avoidant emotional coping. The loss has affected Carl’s ego, as Carl sees his life as less important than completing Ellie’s dream of moving to Paradise Hills. As noted above, Carl did not have any emotional or social support immediately after Ellie’s death. The interaction with Russell, a young Wilderness Explorer, is possibly the longest event of socialization that Carl had for months. Finally, Carl’s concurrent stress is that newly built skyscrapers are occupying his house’s neighborhood, and the building company tries to take away Carl’s land as well. After a fight with the builders, Carl is ordered by the court to leave his home and move into a retirement home – this event motivates him to turn his house into a flying balloon and start his journey.

The movie is unclear about what culture Carl turns to when experiencing grief. The wedding and funeral scenes feature a church of ambiguous denomination, and Carl does not have any other religious items or rituals. Thus, one cannot describe any specific cultural considerations; Carl engages in a formal funeral and preserves mementos reminding him of Ellie. The lack of rituals and socialization may play a role in his inability to finish mourning.

Grief Conceptualization

There are many ways to assess grief, and most of them are formulated as questionnaires. For example, Neimeyer (2018) lists the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief (TRIG) and the Inventory of Complicated Grief (ICG) as two of the most commonly used tools to measure one’s emotional, behavioral, and cognitive responses to their loss. The ICG contains such statements as, “I find myself thinking about the person who died” and “I can’t help feeling angry about his/her death” (Prigerson et al., 1995, p. 72). Looking at all items listed in this assessment, one may suggest that Carl is likely experiencing complicated grief. The Brief Grief Questionnaire also exposes Carl’s prolonged grief in that Carl has distanced himself from people and still has trouble talking about his wife’s death (Neimeyer, 2018). Nevertheless, it is challenging to assess Carl’s grief, as he does not speak openly about his feelings following Ellie’s death in the movie. Most of the evaluation points are drawn from his behavior before leaving for Paradise Hills and interactions with Russell when they are up in the air.

Theoretical Frameworks

Two theories can be utilized to understand Carl’s situation better. The first one is Kübler-Ross’s five stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance (Kübler-Ross et al., 1972). As the scholar notes, people can skip some stages, and everyone experiences each step within their own timeframe. Looking at Carl’s social isolation, pessimistic outlook on life, and emotional responses to the world around him, one may conclude that Carl is at the stage of depression. While he does not experience anger about the death, he is angry at people who try to disturb his grieving process. At the same time, he cannot finish mourning and is stuck on a type of grief that brings him pain.

The second theory is Worden’s (1996) tasks of mourning that describe actions that people go through to complete grieving. The four tasks include accepting the loss, processing the pain, adjusting to a world without the deceased person, and starting a new life while finding an enduring connection with the departed (Worden, 1996). Carl seems to have accepted the death of his wife in that he does not deny her passing. He does not have delusions or distortions about Ellie, although he is seen talking to the house as if asking his wife’s opinion. Thus, Carl is between the first and second tasks since he does not adequately process his pain of grief. While he physically leaves the area where the family lived together for years, he does that not to find relief or new meaning of life, but to take away all mementos of Ellie and sequester himself in an area where he would not be bothered by society. Thus, Carl refuses to process his emotions and adjust to the world without Ellie.

Interventions

While Carl’s adventure eventually helps him to move on and leave his house in the movie, in real life, he would benefit from some psychological interventions to process his grief. For example, Johannsen et al. (2019) and Boelen and Smid (2017) suggest using complicated grief treatment, exposure therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy. Moreover, group therapy is found helpful for grieving adults, as they can share their feelings with people who went through similar experiences (Chow et al., 2019). Overall, all approaches would require Carl to seek and agree to help and open up about his feelings, which may be challenging for him.

Boelen, P. A., & Smid, G. E. (2017). Disturbed grief: Prolonged grief disorder and persistent complex bereavement disorder. BMJ , 357 , j2016.

Chow, A. Y., Caserta, M., Lund, D., Suen, M. H., Xiu, D., Chan, I. K., & Chu, K. S. (2019). Dual-process bereavement group intervention (DPBGI) for widowed older adults. The Gerontologist , 59 (5), 983-994.

Johannsen, M., Damholdt, M. F., Zachariae, R., Lundorff, M., Farver-Vestergaard, I., & O’Connor, M. (2019). Psychological interventions for grief in adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Journal of Affective Disorders , 253 , 69-86.

Keogh, A. (2010). ‘Up’ with grief: Film review . Open to Hope. Web.

Kübler-Ross, E., Wessler, S., & Avioli, L. V. (1972). On death and dying. Jama , 221 (2), 174-179.

Neimeyer, R. A. (2018). Complicated grief: Assessment and intervention. Psikiyatride Güncel Yaklaşımlar-Current Approaches in Psychiatry , 10 (3), 269-279.

Prigerson, H. G., Maciejewski, P. K., Reynolds III, C. F., Bierhals, A. J., Newsom, J. T., Fasiczka, A., Frank, E., Doman, J., & Miller, M. (1995). Inventory of Complicated Grief: A scale to measure maladaptive symptoms of loss. Psychiatry Research , 59 (1-2), 65-79.

Worden, J. W. (1996). Tasks and mediators of mourning: A guideline for the mental health practitioner. In Session: Psychotherapy in Practice: Psychotherapy in Practice , 2 (4), 73-80.

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IvyPanda. (2022, September 27). The Animated Movie "Up" by Carl Fredricksen. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-animated-movie-up-by-carl-fredricksen/

"The Animated Movie "Up" by Carl Fredricksen." IvyPanda , 27 Sept. 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/the-animated-movie-up-by-carl-fredricksen/.

IvyPanda . (2022) 'The Animated Movie "Up" by Carl Fredricksen'. 27 September.

IvyPanda . 2022. "The Animated Movie "Up" by Carl Fredricksen." September 27, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-animated-movie-up-by-carl-fredricksen/.

1. IvyPanda . "The Animated Movie "Up" by Carl Fredricksen." September 27, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-animated-movie-up-by-carl-fredricksen/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "The Animated Movie "Up" by Carl Fredricksen." September 27, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-animated-movie-up-by-carl-fredricksen/.

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Inciting Event: Shortly after meeting the young boy scout Russell—who will drive the personal side of the plot—grumpy, lonely old man Carl sees a construction worker run over the mailbox he had painted with his deceased wife. Incensed, Carl loses his temper and hits the man over the head with his cane. As a result, he is summoned to court, forced to sell his house, and ordered to move to Shady Oaks Retirement Home the next day.

Two things of note here:

• Because of the lengthy (and wonderful) prologue section showing Carl’s relationship with his wife, the rest of the First Act is slightly crammed, and the timing of the Inciting Event is a little late. It works out fine, but it’s worth noting.
• When we finally “settle” with Carl in the main part of the story, we discover he is literally surrounded by the main conflict: his house is the only one in the construction zone, because he has refused to sell to the faceless businessman. In other words, the conflict is already nicely in medias res . But note how Carl doesn’t actually brush the main conflict, which will drive the story’s plot, until he gives the businessman an opening to engage him. At that point, Carl still doesn’t want anything to do with the conflict; he firmly and adamantly rejects it. But he has no choice after that. He’s being dragged into it against his will.

First Plot Point: Carl unleashes a horde of helium balloons from his chimney and uses them to rip the house from its foundation and go floating out of the city. Shortly after, he discovers Russell clinging to his porch railing. Reluctantly, he allows the boy inside—and now all the pieces are in place for the “adventure world” of the Second Act. They finally land in that world several minutes later when the house crashes on a South American plateau, not far from Carl’s lifelong destination: Paradise Falls.

First Pinch Point: The “pinch” is extremely subtle. The audience is shown a pack of angry dogs, who are searching for a mysterious animal in the jungle around Carl and Russell. The turn in the plot comes when that animal ends up being a huge “snipe” bird, who promptly adopts Russell (and vice versa), despite Carl’s increasingly ineffective protests. Now, Carl is firmly enmeshed with a human antagonist—although he doesn’t yet know it.

Midpoint: In a lovely Moment of Truth, Carl learns about Russell’s “daddy issues.” The next morning, the dogs capture them and take them to their master—who turns out to be Carl’s disgraced childhood hero, explorer Charles Muntz. This is a good Midpoint revelation: it’s surprising (but still well foreshadowed) and completely changes the landscape of the story.

Second Pinch Point: Muntz proves to be insanely jealous of his right to the bird he has been hunting all these years. When he learns the bird is hiding atop Carl’s house, he attacks them. Carl and Russell barely escape. Although we’ve already gotten the sense that there’s something ominous about Muntz, this is a nice example of how to save the actual revelations for the pinch point, where the new clues should be introduced. It’s startling, and it turns the plot—which is what is most important.

Third Plot Point: Muntz and his dogs catch up. They capture the bird—who is trying to return to her babies—and light Carl’s house on fire. Carl has a meltdown and alienates Russell—and Dug the talking dog who “loves” Carl anyway. Carl’s house symbolizes his dead wife, so the threat to it is the perfect low point for this movie. But Carl’s character arc dictates he is moving away from the past (his wife) and onto a new adventure (his relationship with Russell), so in alienating Russell, he also endangers his future.

Climax: After finding a note from his wife, encouraging him to go on new adventures, Carl gets his head on straight (note how the character arc is basically complete just prior to the Climax). He goes after Russell, who had run off to save the bird.

Climactic Moment: After knocking Muntz to his death and gaining control of the dog pack via Dug, Carl saves Russell and the bird.

Resolution: Back home, Carl pins Russell with the “Ellie badge” and buys him ice cream, symbolizing his burgeoning new adventure as a father figure in Russell’s life.

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Movie analysis: “Up”

Scott Myers

Go Into The Story

When Up was about to be released, Wall Street experts actually downgraded Disney stock. Their thinking: Who would go see a movie featuring a bitter old man as Protagonist? Then the movie went on to gross $735M in worldwide box office revenues.

I was digging through the Go Into The Story archives when I stumbled onto an article I wrote in June 2009, the week after the Pixar movie Up was released into theaters. In rereading the analysis, I was — frankly — impressed by it. [pats self on back]

So I decided to clean it up, add some photos, and just generally update it.

Up is a delight, wonderful characters on a classic hero’s journey in a richly detailed animated world. But for me as always with a Pixar movie, it’s the story that stands out most. Its screenplay, written by Bob Peterson , who also co-directed the movie, makes excellent use of primary character archetypes.

PROTAGONIST

It’s Carl Frederickson as he hits on all the major Protagonist markers:

• The story is told from his perspective. The movie begins with young Carl where we learn about his love of adventure. The story follows Carl as he meets young Ellie, an adventurous soulmate. A montage takes us through their courtship, marriage, and the tragedy of Ellie’s death, all of which impacts Carl deeply. And for the rest of the story, no matter what characters are introduced, the dynamic is almost always based upon each of them in relation to Carl.
• It’s Carl’s goal — to fulfill his promise to Ellie and go to Paradise Valley in South America — that sets the plot into motion and creates the end-point of the movie.
• It’s Carl’s character who goes through the most significant transformation, realizing his goal of bringing Ellie — in the form of his memories of her, her Book of Adventure, and the house itself — to the exact spot atop Paradise Valley by the waterfall — then moving into a new adventure with Russell, Dug, Kevin and the rest. In addition, Carl evolves from disliking Russell to becoming Russell’s surrogate father figure. And Carl’s disposition changes as well — from cantankerous old man, just stringing out the days until he dies, to an upbeat, vital, and ‘alive’ version of himself.

The principal Nemesis figure is Charles Muntz. What’s interesting about Muntz’s character in relation to Carl is that Muntz serves as an inspiration to Carl when he’s a young boy, in some ways the very vision of who Carl imagines himself being and becoming. But Muntz ‘devolves’ into a Nemesis when he becomes obsessed with salvaging his legacy by finding a rare bird in the jungles of Paradise Valley, his fixation moving Muntz away from the initial innocence of exploration for discovery’s sake to the ‘dark side’ of exploration in service to one’s ego.

In classic Nemesis fashion, Muntz not only provides opposition to the Protagonist reaching his goal — his efforts to kidnap Kevin, the rare bird who ends up as Russell’s pet and a member of Carl’s troupe, disrupting Carl’s plans — but also demonstrates how Carl could, if he chose, go down his own dark side path: If he insists on achieving the goal not so much to satisfy Ellie’s dream, but rather his own ego-needs to fulfill the promise he made to her.

By the end of the story, it becomes a Bad Guy vs. Good Guy battle with death on the line.

It’s interesting to note that after the movie’s opening newsreel sequence which features Muntz, this Nemesis character doesn’t reappear until very far into Act Two. The script does a good job of interweaving other characters who provide an opposition dynamic to Carl — Russell, a thunderstorm, Kevin, and the ever-present hassle of having to move Carl’s house — until Muntz re-enters the plot.

Finally, Muntz’s dogs are part of Muntz’s team and provide a nemesis function.

The two characters who are tied most directly to Carl’s emotional self are Ellie and Russell. In young Ellie, Carl finds the love of his life and they get married. Indeed, it is the inability of Ellie to have a child and her death that drives home the necessity Carl feels to make her goal — going to Paradise Valley — his goal.

Even though Ellie is dead, she remains very much ‘alive’ to Carl throughout the story in part through a number of talismans which take on her ‘spirit’ — the house itself, the Book of Adventure, her photo, the grape soda pin. And when he finally manages to set the house on the exact spot atop Paradise Valley, as envisioned by Ellie, she magically ‘reappears’ to him through a series of touching photos in the Book of Adventure, ending with her handwritten note, thanking him for fulfilling the promise he made to her (“cross your heart”), then setting Carl ‘free’ with the admonition: “Now go have a new adventure.”

And in deft fashion, the script sets up another Attractor character with which Carl can have that new adventure: Russell. The Carl-Russell relationship has the feel of a classic rom-com dynamic — at first, Carl can’t stand the kid — but by the end of the movie, Russell’s dogged determination and basic goodness causes Carl to warm up to the boy. But symbolically, Carl’s biggest point of connection with Russell is that he is the embodiment of Ellie’s adventurous spirit. That’s what Carl gets from Russell. What Russell gets from Carl is a ‘father,’ someone who does show up for his merit badge ceremony, who does sit on the curb outside his favorite ice cream parlor counting red and blue cars, just like his absentee father used to do.

So the Attractor function is passed like a baton — starting with Ellie and her dream of going to Paradise Valley, and once that dream is realized, to Russell, as Carl’s goal shifts to embrace Russell’s goal: Save Kevin and reunite the bird with her babies.

One final thought re the Attractor: The house itself is an extension of the Ellie-Carl dynamic, so it’s interesting to note that after Ellie relieves Carl of the obligation to realize their shared dream, Carl becomes ‘free’ of the house as well. Of course, it’s a beautiful and fitting touch that the house ends up atop Paradise Valley, back on the spot where Ellie dreamed for all those years.

In my view, the Mentor is Dug, voiced by the movie’s screenwriter Bob Peterson. This may cause some head-scratching, but consider this. First, Dug is the character who has the most insight and understanding of the jungle, Muntz, and Muntz’s other dogs — and with this ‘wisdom’ fulfills at least one function of the Mentor character. Also, Dug plays a pivotal role in assisting Carl in the Final Struggle, another role often played by the Mentor. But I think the most important mentoring Dug does is by providing a symbolic conduit for Carl to see Russell with ‘new’ eyes. For just as Dug is loyal, trustworthy, and dogged in his pursuit of that which is good, so is Russell. Indeed, the identification — as far as Carl is concerned — between Dug and Russell is such that they share an exact same beat: The house rises into the air, Carl settles into a chair, then a knock at the door. First time, it’s Russell; later, it’s Dug.

With Dug, Carl can envision what a companion can be — after all, that’s one of the primary descriptors of a dog in relation to its owner. Carl’s experience of Dug teaches Carl that Russell can be a good companion, too, opening up a possibility Carl had left for dead after Ellie was gone.

From scene to scene, this dynamic shifts from one character to another as at times Russell, Dug, and even the house present obstacles and roadblocks to Carl, but the primary Trickster character is Kevin. First off, Kevin is actually a girl, not a boy — a trick played on Russell and the others. Second, Kevin constantly messes with Carl: Kevin eats Carl’s walker; Kevin eats some of the house’s balloons; Kevin follows the group when she’s not supposed to, then disappears when they need her around. But most importantly, Kevin is the cause of the biggest test Carl has: Getting Kevin back from Muntz so Carl can (A) get the house to Ellie’s spot atop Paradise Valley and (B) save Russell’s life. In other words, it’s Kevin who brings the Nemesis back into the plot; without Kevin, there is no Final Struggle — no Big Test — at least as it’s played out in the movie.

FINAL THOUGHTS

— This is the second consecutive Pixar movie (after Wall-E ) to feature a lengthy sequence in which there is literally zero dialogue. Wall-E has a first act that is comprised almost solely with Wall-E on the planet by himself, going about his business, then interacting with Eve (where they do eventually engage in some rudimentary dialogue). In Up , after young Carl meets young Ellie, there is an absolutely beautifully crafted sequence tracking key moments in Carl and Ellie’s marriage — all with no dialogue. It’s not only wonderful storytelling, it’s a great reminder: Movies are primarily a visual medium.

— There are so many talismans , objects that take on emotional and symbolic meaning. Everything from the grape soda button to Russell’s merit badges to Ellie’s photo to the Book of Adventure to the house. There’s even a gesture — crossing one’s heart — that takes on enormous significance, both between Carl and Ellie, and Carl and Russell. Another great reminder: Make use of talismans.

— Last night, I had a post about movie cliches with this point:

Actually from a screenwriter’s standpoint, cliches can be a helpful starting point. Take the cliche, go in the opposite direction, and have fun with it.

Pixar is fantastic at doing this and nowhere better than with the Nemesis dog Beta. A vicious looking Doberman, when we first meet the dog, his speaker-altered voice sounds like a cousin of Alvin & the Chipmunks, completely the opposite of a snarling ‘bad’ dog — a fine example of going in the opposite direction of the cliche and having fun with it.

— Finally, I have to say that Up is a remarkably sweet movie. And I mean that in the most positive way possible. The characters are so loveable, so engaging, so resonate emotionally, and the themes simple, honest, real — all of that with not one whiff of edge, seemingly Hollywood’s most vaunted contemporary aesthetic. To which I say, “Hallelujah!” It proves there is room for all types of movies, even a sweet movie with a grumpy old senior citizen as a Protagonist. And the $68M in opening weekend box office is a tremendous affirmation of Pixar’s instincts.

Bottom line, they’ve done it yet again. All hail Pixar!

FURTHER REFLECTIONS: In thinking about the movie some more, two other thoughts came to mind.

• If I recall correctly, after Ellie and Carl suffer their setback in an attempt to have a child, there’s a scene of Ellie sitting alone outside — depressed. Carl sees her through the window of their house. Then he takes the Book of Adventure out to her. She smiles. So in a way, that underscores even more the symbolic heft of Carl’s promise to her: Paradise Valley doesn’t just represent Ellie’s dream of adventure; it also takes on an emotional connection to the couple’s loss of a child. In a way, I suppose, rekindling the fantasy of going to Paradise Valley fills the vacuum created by their childlessness. And thus, isn’t it interesting to think that Carl chooses to fill the vacuum of missing Ellie and missing his home as well (being relocated to the retirement village) by rekindling — again — the dream of going to Paradise Valley.
• Several times on the journey in South America, Carl looks up to the house, hovering above him, and talks to it as if he’s talking to Ellie. That makes sense, does it not, not only because of her identification with the house, but also being up in the ‘heavens,’ her floating house ‘up there’ as well.

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Developmental Theories in Docter’s “Up” Movie

Introduction.

Development and growth, including not only physical but also cognitive and socio-emotional progress, is an inseparable part of human life. In movies, which are supposed to artistically reflect the challenges that individuals experience at certain points in their lives, the portrayal of certain developmental stages and the progress made is not only necessary but inevitable. The specified characteristic is particularly true for movies such as “Up,” where the protagonists’ struggles, as well as one of the major character arcs, are tied very closely to their age and the relevant challenges that it implies.

Theories: Review

In order to approach the movie and analyze the development of its characters properly, several developmental theories will be required. Specifically, the framework offered by Piaget allows identifying the main stages of childhood development, namely, the sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational ones (Young, 2019). The described stages signify the transfer to a new mode of perceiving and exploring the environment in which an individual lives, as well as the people with which one interacts (Young, 2019).

According to Piaget, the sensorimotor stage suggests cognizing the world based on the five key senses and the informational input that they provide. In turn, the preoperational stage begins at the point when a child starts gaining language skills, whereas the concrete operational stage suggests the use of logical thinking. Finally, the transition to the formal operational stage implies gaining the ability to think in abstract concepts (Young, 2019). Applying the specified theoretical framework allows understanding the motivations and needs of a child.

In turn, the theory offered by Erikson provides a glimpse at the psychosocial development of an individual throughout the course of his or her life. Specifically, the theory offered by Erikson suggests that an individual undergoes a psychosocial crisis each time when a particular age is reached. These include Trust vs. Mistrust (infant – 1.5 years), Autonomy vs. Doubt (1.5-3 years), Initiative vs. Guilt (3-5), Industry vs. Inferiority (5-13), Identity vs. Role Confusion (13-21), Intimacy vs. Isolation (23-39), Generativity vs. Stagnation (40-65), and Integrity vs. Despair (65 and older). As a result of the specified struggles, one is expected to develop a respective virtue (hope, will, purpose, competency, fidelity, love, care, and wisdom, accordingly) (Young, 2019).

The described approach allows placing the process of development into a sociocultural context, which, in turn, points to the opportunity to assist one in overcoming key age-related challenges.

Movie Analysis

Physical development.

In the movie under analysis, two protagonists of different ages are featured, which allows integrating two theories into the assessment. Carl Fredricksen is a senior citizen, supposedly in his late 70s, whereas Russell is a nine-year-old boy. Therefore, in their physical development, the characters are strikingly different, yet both are portrayed in a very realistic way as far as their physical progress is concerned. Namely, Carl is shown as having difficulty moving, primarily, by showing him using a walker and making each pace with slight difficulty. In turn, Russell represents the exact opposite physical state, being quite bouncy, often running, and being overall very lively.

The described portrayal is quite realistic as it pertains to the observed developmental stages, namely, those of Piaget’s concrete operational stage (Russell) and Erikson’s “Integrity vs. Despair” one (Carl). Likewise, the brain development of the two is depicted in a very accurate manner, Carl being quite forgetful and slow, and Russell showing high levels of inquisitiveness and focusing on the outside world and its exploration. In fact, Russell features complete absence of egocentric attitudes, which could technically align with the concrete operational stage, yet seems to be a characteristic of a more mature person, which slightly reduces the credibility of Russell’s portrayal.

Cognitive Development

In turn, the cognitive development of the leading characters is represented in a rather basic yet quite convincing way. Carl has issues with his memory and the ability to process information, which can be seen in his struggle to grasp specific situations, such as the emergence of Dug and the revelation of Muntz’s secret. In turn, Russell with his curiosity and quick thinking also reflects the appropriate stage of cognitive development, when the transition toward abstract thinking is observed in children: “Adventure is out there!” (Rivera & Doctor, 2009).

Socio-Emotive Development

Finally, the socio-emotive development of Russell and Carl is demonstrated quite well in the movie. Namely, Carl’s willingness to alienate himself from the rest of the community indicates his inclination toward despair in his socio-emotive progress, as Erikson’s taxonomy suggests: “You don’t talk very much” (Rivera & Doctor, 2009). In turn, Russell also meets the criteria of the Industry vs. Inferiority stage, even though his progress might seem slightly less obvious. Namely, Russell’s need for a father figure in his life, specifically, a father, who would be proud of him, implies a struggle of Industry vs. Inferiority and the willingness to achieve Competency. In turn, the latter is represented by an approval and support of a parental figure, which Russell finally gets at the end of the movie as Carl attends his scout ceremony.

Portraying both the concrete operational and the Integrity vs. Despair developmental stages as crucial points in its protagonists’ lives, “Up” helps to understand the struggles of both aging people and young children. Moreover, even though the setting in which both characters are placed is barely realistic, the struggles that they face are connected to their age and, therefore, make both of them very relatable. As a result, young audiences watching it can learn both to appreciate the needs and character specifics of aging people, while also developing a proper understanding of their own emotional progress. Despite the presence of several minor inaccuracies concerning the portrayal of aging people, “Up” does a perfect job at representing the related stages of development from physical, cognitive, and socio-emotive aspects.

Rivera, J., & Doctor, P. (2009). Up. Burbank, CA: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Young, G. (2019). Causality and development: Neo-Eriksonian perspectives . Springer.

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How Can I Write an Essay About a Movie?

By Film Threat Staff | May 23, 2023

Watching movies for a long time has been a major past-time for most individuals. The people expect to sit in front of their screens and get thrilled into a world of adventure, mystery, and wonder.

But how can you gauge your appreciation and understanding of filmmaking? Writing an essay about a movie is one way of showing your grasp of the content.

Movie analysis is a common assignment for most college students. It is an intricate task where every detail matters while tied together to form a part of the story.

A part of the assignment involves watching a particular movie and writing an essay about your overall impression of the movie.

Essay writing services such as WriteMyEssay show that more than rewatching a movie several times is needed to make up for a solid movie analysis essay. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to write your movie analysis:

What Is a Movie Essay?

The world of literature is multifaceted while testing different attributes of students. A movie analysis essay, at its core, seeks to uncover the hidden layers of meaning within the cinema world.

A movie analysis essay is much more than a movie review that seeks to delve into the artistry behind filmmaking. Thus, it seeks to test a student’s prowess in understanding various elements that come together to form a meaningful cinematic experience.

The main purpose of movie analysis essays is to dissect different components employed by a film in making a unique and impactful storyline.

Students can appreciate the filmmaking process’s complexities by analyzing these different elements. Also, students can develop a keen eye for the nuances that elevate a movie from entertainment to a work of art.

Here are top tips by experts when writing an essay about a particular movie during your assignments:

1. Watch the Movie

The first obvious standpoint for writing an essay about any movie is watching the film. Watching the movie builds an important foundation for the writing exercise. Composing an insightful, compelling, and well-thought movie essay requires you to experience it.

Therefore, select an appropriate environment to watch the movie free from distractions. Moreover, immerse yourself in the full movie experience to absorb all the intricate details. Some critical elements to note down include:

• Characterization
• Cinematography

We recommend watching the movie several times in case the time element allows. Rewatching the film deepens your understanding of the movie while uncovering unnoticed details on the first take.

2. Write an Introduction

The introductory paragraph to your movie essay should contain essential details of the movie, such as:

• Release date
• Name of the director
• Main actors

Moreover, start with a captivating hook to entice readers to keep reading. You can start with a memorable quote from one of the characters.

For example, released in 1976 and Directed by Martin Scorsese, ‘The Taxi Driver’ starring Robert De Niro as the eccentric taxi driver.’

After writing an enticing introduction, it is time to summarize what you watched. A summary provides readers with a clear understanding of the movie’s plot and main events. Hence, your readers can have a foundation for the rest of your movie essay.

Writing a summary need to be concise. The entire movie essay should be brief and straight to the point. Ensure to capture the main arguments within the movie’s plot. However, avoid going into too many details. Just focus on giving concise information about the movie.

4. Start Writing

The next vital part is forming the analysis part. This is where the analysis delves deeply into the movie’s themes, cinematography, characters, and other related elements.

First, start by organizing your analysis clearly and logically. Each section or paragraph should concentrate on a particular aspect of the film. Ensure to incorporate important elements such as cinematography, character development, and symbolism.

In addition, analyze different techniques employed by filmmakers. Take note of stylistic choices, including editing, sound, cinematography, imagery, and allegory. This helps contribute to the overall impact and meaning.

Lastly, connect your analysis to the thesis statement. Ensure all arguments captured in your analysis tie together to the main argument. It should maintain a straight focus throughout your essay.

Remember to re-state your thesis while summarizing previously mentioned arguments innovatively and creatively when finishing up your movie essay. Lastly, you can recommend your reader to watch the movie.

Final Takeaway

The writing process should be a fun, demanding, and engaging assignment. Try these tips from experts in structuring and logically organizing your essay.

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Essays About Movies: 7 Examples and 5 Writing Prompts

Check out our guide with essays about movies for budding videographers and artistic students. Learn from our helpful list of examples and prompts.

Watching movies is a part of almost everyone’s life. They entertain us, teach us lessons, and even help us socialize by giving us topics to talk about with others. As long as movies have been produced, everyone has patronized them.  Essays about movies  are a great way to learn all about the meaning behind the picture.

Cinema is an art form in itself. The lighting, camera work, and acting in the most widely acclaimed movies are worthy of praise. Furthermore, a movie can be used to send a message, often discussing issues in contemporary society. Movies are entertaining, but more importantly, they are works of art. If you’re interested in this topic, check out our round-up of screenwriters on Instagram .

5 Helpful Essay Examples 

1. the positive effects of movies on human behaviour by ajay rathod, 2. horror movies by emanuel briggs, 3. casablanca – the greatest hollywood movie ever (author unknown).

• 4.  Dune Review: An Old Story Reshaped For The New 2021 Audience by Oren Cohen

5. Blockbuster movies create booms for tourism — and headaches for locals by Shubhangi Goel

• 6. Moonage Daydream: “Who Is He? What Is He?” by Jonathan Romney
• 7. La Bamba: American Dreaming, Chicano Style by Yolanda Machado

1. My Favorite Movie

2. movies genres, 3. special effects in movies, 4. what do you look for in a movie, 5. the evolution of movies.

“​​Films encourage us to take action. Our favourite characters, superheroes, teach us life lessons. They give us ideas and inspiration to do everything for the better instead of just sitting around, waiting for things to go their way. Films about famous personalities are the perfect way to affect social behaviour positively. Films are a source of knowledge. They can help learn what’s in the trend, find out more about ancient times, or fill out some knowledge gaps.”

In this movie essay, Rathod gives readers three ways watching movies can positively affect us. Movie writers, producers, and directors use their platform to teach viewers life skills, the importance of education, and the contrast between good and evil. Watching movies can also help us improve critical thinking, according to Briggs. Not only do movies entertain us, but they also have many educational benefits. You might also be interested in these  essays about consumerism .

“Many people involving children and adults can effect with their sleeping disturbance and anxiety. Myths, non-realistic, fairy tales could respond differently with being in the real world. Horror movies bring a lot of excitement and entertainment among you and your family. Horror movies can cause physical behavior changes in a person by watching the films. The results of watching horror movies shows that is has really effect people whether you’re an adult, teens, and most likely happens during your childhood.”

In his essay, Briggs acknowledges why people enjoy horror movies so much but warns of their adverse effects on viewers. Most commonly, they cause viewers nightmares, which may cause anxiety and sleep disorders. He focuses on the films’ effects on children, whose more sensitive, less developed brains may respond with worse symptoms, including major trauma. The films can affect all people negatively, but children are the most affected.

“This was the message of Casablanca in late 1942. It was the ideal opportunity for America to utilize its muscles and enter the battle. America was to end up the hesitant gatekeeper of the entire world. The characters of Casablanca, similar to the youthful Americans of the 1960s who stick headed the challenge development, are ‘genuine Americans’ lost in a hostile region, battling to open up another reality.”

In this essay, the author discusses the 1942 film  Casablanca , which is said to be the greatest movie ever made, and explains why it has gotten this reputation. To an extent, the film’s storyline, acting, and even relatability (it was set during World War II) allowed it to shine from its release until the present. It invokes feelings of bravery, passion, and nostalgia, which is why many love the movie. You can also check out these  books about adaption . 

4.   Dune Review: An Old Story Reshaped For The New 2021 Audience by Oren Cohen

“Lady Jessica is a powerful woman in the original book, yet her interactions with Paul diminish her as he thinks of her as slow of thought. Something we don’t like to see in 2021 — and for a good reason. Every book is a product of its time, and every great storyteller knows how to adapt an old story to a new audience. I believe Villeneuve received a lot of hate from diehard Dune fans for making these changes, but I fully support him.”

Like the previous essay, Cohen reviews a film, in this case, Denis Villeneuve’s  Dune , released in 2021. He praises the film, writing about its accurate portrayal of the epic’s vast, dramatic scale, music, and, interestingly, its ability to portray the characters in a way more palatable to contemporary audiences while staying somewhat faithful to the author’s original vision. Cohen enjoyed the movie thoroughly, saying that the movie did the book justice. 

“Those travelers added around 630 million New Zealand dollars ($437 million) to the country’s economy in 2019 alone, the tourism authority told CNBC. A survey by the tourism board, however, showed that almost one in five Kiwis are worried that the country attracts too many tourists. Overcrowding at tourist spots, lack of infrastructure, road congestion and environmental damage are creating tension between locals and visitors, according to a 2019 report by Tourism New Zealand.”

The locations where successful movies are filmed often become tourist destinations for fans of those movies. Goel writes about how “film tourism” affects the residents of popular filming locations. The environment is sometimes damaged, and the locals are caught off guard. Though this is not always the case, film tourism is detrimental to the residents and ecosystem of these locations. You can also check out these  essays about The Great Gatsby .

6. Moonage Daydream:  “Who Is He? What Is He?” by Jonathan Romney

“Right from the start, Brett Morgen’s  Moonage Daydream  (2022) catches us off guard. It begins with an epigraph musing on Friedrich Nietzsche’s proclamation that “God is dead,” then takes us into deep space and onto the surface of the moon. It then unleashes an image storm of rockets, robots, and star-gazers, and rapid-fire fragments of early silent cinema, 1920s science fiction, fifties cartoons, and sixties and seventies newsreel footage, before lingering on a close-up of glittery varnish on fingernails.” 

Moonage Daydream  is a feature film containing never-before-seen footage of David Bowie. In this essay, Romney delves into the process behind creating the movie and how the footage was captured. It also looks at the director’s approach to creating a structured and cohesive film, which took over two years to plan. This essay looks at how Bowie’s essence was captured and preserved in this movie while displaying the intricacies of his mind.

7. La Bamba:  American Dreaming, Chicano Style by Yolanda Machado

“A traumatic memory, awash in hazy neutral tones, arising as a nightmare. Santo & Johnny’s mournful “Sleep Walk” playing. A sudden death, foreshadowing the passing of a star far too young. The opening sequence of Luis Valdez’s  La Bamba  (1987) feels like it could be from another film—what follows is largely a celebration of life and music.”

La Bamba  is a well-known movie about a teenage Mexican migrant who became a rock ‘n’ roll star. His rise to fame is filled with difficult social dynamics, and the star tragically dies in a plane crash at a young age. In this essay, Machado looks at how the tragic death of the star is presented to the viewer, foreshadowing the passing of the young star before flashing back to the beginning of the star’s career. Machado analyses the storyline and directing style, commenting on the detailed depiction of the young star’s life. It’s an in-depth essay that covers everything from plot to writing style to direction.

5 Prompts for Essays About Movies

Simple and straightforward, write about your favorite movie. Explain its premise, characters, and plot, and elaborate on some of the driving messages and themes behind the film. You should also explain why you enjoy the movie so much: what impact does it have on you? Finally, answer this question in your own words for an engaging piece of writing.

From horror to romance, movies can fall into many categories. Choose one of the main genres in cinema and discuss the characteristics of movies under that category. Explain prevalent themes, symbols, and motifs, and give examples of movies belonging to your chosen genre. For example, horror movies often have underlying themes such as mental health issues, trauma, and relationships falling apart. 

Without a doubt, special effects in movies have improved drastically. Both practical and computer-generated effects produce outstanding, detailed effects to depict situations most would consider unfathomable, such as the vast space battles of the  Star Wars  movies. Write about the development of special effects over the years, citing evidence to support your writing. Be sure to detail key highlights in the history of special effects. 

Movies are always made to be appreciated by viewers, but whether or not they enjoy them varies, depending on their preferences. In your essay, write about what you look for in a “good” movie in terms of plot, characters, dialogue, or anything else. You need not go too in-depth but explain your answers adequately. In your opinion, you can use your favorite movie as an example by writing about the key characteristics that make it a great movie.

From the silent black-and-white movies of the early 1900s to the vivid, high-definition movies of today, times have changed concerning movies. Write about how the film industry has improved over time. If this topic seems too broad, feel free to focus on one aspect, such as cinematography, themes, or acting.

For help with your essays, check out our round-up of the  best essay checkers .

If you’re looking for more ideas, check out our  essays about music topic guide !

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How to Write a Movie Review

Last Updated: March 13, 2024 Fact Checked

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 179 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. There are 14 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 5,595,533 times. Learn more...

Whether a movie is a rotten tomato or a brilliant work of art, if people are watching it, it's worth critiquing. A decent movie review should entertain, persuade and inform, providing an original opinion without giving away too much of the plot. A great movie review can be a work of art in its own right. Read on to learn how to analyze a movie like a professional film critic, come up with an interesting thesis, and write a review as entertaining as your source material.

Sample Movie Reviews

Writing an Intro for a Movie Review

• Comparison to Relevant Event or Movie: "Every day, our leaders, politicians, and pundits call for "revenge"– against terrorist groups, against international rivals, against other political parties. But few of them understand the cold, destructive, and ultimately hollow thrill of revenge as well as the characters of Blue Ruin. "
• Review in a nutshell: "Despite a compelling lead performance by Tom Hanks and a great soundtrack, Forrest Gump never gets out of the shadow of its weak plot and questionable premise."
• Context or Background Information: " Boyhood might be the first movie made where knowing how it was produced–slowly, over 12 years, with the same actors–is just as crucial as the movie itself."

• Using stars, a score out of 10 or 100, or the simple thumbs-up and thumbs-down is a quick way to give your thoughts. You then write about why you chose that rating.
• Great Movie: ABC is the rare movie that succeeds on almost every level, where each character, scene, costume, and joke firing on all cylinders to make a film worth repeated viewings."
• Bad Movie: "It doesn't matter how much you enjoy kung-fu and karate films: with 47 Ronin, you're better off saving your money, your popcorn, and time."
• Okay Movie: "I loved the wildly uneven Interstellar far more than I should have, but that doesn't mean it is perfect. Ultimately, the utter awe and spectacle of space swept me through the admittedly heavy-handed plotting and dialogue."

• Great: "Michael B. Jordan and Octavia Spencer's chemistry would carry Fruitvale Station even if the script wasn't as good. The mid-movie prison scene in particular, where the camera never leaves their faces, shows how much they can convey with nothing but their eyelids, the flashing tension of neck muscles, and a barely cracking voice."
• Bad: " Jurassic World's biggest flaw, a complete lack of relatable female characters, is only further underscored by a laughably unrealistic shot of our heroine running away from a dinosaur – in heels."
• Okay: "At the end of the day, Snowpiercer can't decide what kind of movie it wants to be. The attention to detail in fight scenes, where every weapon, lightbulb, and slick patch of ground is accounted for, doesn't translate to an ending that seems powerful but ultimately says little of substance."

• Does the film reflect on a current event or contemporary issue? It could be the director's way of engaging in a bigger conversation. Look for ways to relate the content of the film to the "real" world.
• Does the film seem to have a message, or does it attempt to elicit a specific response or emotion from the audience? You could discuss whether or not it achieves its own goals.
• Does the film connect with you on a personal level? You could write a review stemming from your own feelings and weave in some personal stories to make it interesting for your readers.

Composing Your Review

• When you name characters in your plot summary, list the actors' names directly afterward in parenthesis.
• Find a place to mention the director's name and the full movie title.
• If you feel you must discuss information that might "spoil" things for readers, warn them first.

• Cinematography: " Her is a world drenched in color, using bright, soft reds and oranges alongside calming whites and grays that both build, and slowly strip away, the feelings of love between the protagonists. Every frame feels like a painting worth sitting in."
• Tone: "Despite the insane loneliness and high stakes of being stuck alone on Mars, The Martian's witty script keeps humor and excitement alive in every scene. Space may be dangerous and scary, but the joy of scientific discovery is intoxicating."
• Music and Sound: " No Country For Old Men's bold decision to skip music entirely pays off in spades. The eerie silence of the desert, punctuated by the brief spells of violent, up-close-and-personal sound effects of hunter and hunted, keeps you constantly on the edge of your seat."
• Acting: "While he's fantastic whenever he's on the move, using his cool stoicism to counteract the rampaging bus, Keanu Reeves can't quite match his costar in the quiet moments of Speed, which falter under his expressionless gaze."

• Keep your writing clear and easy to understand. Don't use too much technical filmmaking jargon, and make your language crisp and accessible.
• Present both the facts and your opinion. For example, you might state something such as, "The Baroque background music was a jarring contrast to the 20th century setting." This is a lot more informative then simply saying, "The music was a strange choice for the movie."

• Great: "In the end, even the characters of Blue Ruin know how pointless their feud is. But revenge, much like every taut minute of this thriller, is far too addictive to give up until the bitter end.""
• Bad: "Much like the oft-mentioned "box of chocolates", Forest Gump has a couple of good little morsels. But most of the scenes, too sweet by half, should have been in the trash long before this movie was put out."
• Okay: "Without the novel, even revolutionary concept, Boyhood may not be a great movie. It might not even be "good.” But the power the film finds in the beauty of passing time and little, inconsequential moments – moments that could only be captured over 12 years of shooting – make Linklater's latest an essential film for anyone interested in the art of film."

Polishing Your Piece

• Ask yourself whether your review stayed true to your thesis. Did your conclusion tie back in with the initial ideas you proposed?
• Decide whether your review contains enough details about the movie. You may need to go back and add more description here and there to give readers a better sense of what the movie's about.
• Decide whether your review is interesting enough as a stand-alone piece of writing. Did you contribute something original to this discussion? What will readers gain from reading your review that they couldn't from simply watching the movie?

Studying Your Source Material

• The title of the film, and the year it came out.
• The director's name.
• The names of the lead actors.

• Make a note every time something sticks out to you, whether it's good or bad. This could be costuming, makeup, set design, music, etc. Think about how this detail relates to the rest of the movie and what it means in the context of your review.
• Take note of patterns you begin to notice as the movie unfolds.
• Use the pause button frequently so you make sure not to miss anything, and rewind as necessary.

• Direction: Consider the director and how he or she choose to portray/explain the events in the story. If the movie was slow, or didn't include things you thought were necessary, you can attribute this to the director. If you've seen other movies directed by the same person, compare them and determine which you like the most.
• Cinematography: What techniques were used to film the movie? What setting and background elements helped to create a certain tone?
• Writing: Evaluate the script, including dialogue and characterization. Did you feel like the plot was inventive and unpredictable or boring and weak? Did the characters' words seem credible to you?
• Editing: Was the movie choppy or did it flow smoothly from scene to scene? Did they incorporate a montage to help build the story? And was this obstructive to the narrative or did it help it? Did they use long cuts to help accentuate an actor's acting ability or many reaction shots to show a group's reaction to an event or dialogue? If visual effects were used were the plates well-chosen and were the composited effects part of a seamless experience? (Whether the effects looked realistic or not is not the jurisdiction of an editor, however, they do choose the footage to be sent off to the compositors, so this could still affect the film.)
• Costume design: Did the clothing choices fit the style of the movie? Did they contribute to the overall tone, rather than digressing from it?
• Set design: Consider how the setting of the film influenced its other elements. Did it add or subtract from the experience for you? If the movie was filmed in a real place, was this location well-chosen?
• Score or soundtrack: Did it work with the scenes? Was it over/under-used? Was it suspenseful? Amusing? Irritating? A soundtrack can make or break a movie, especially if the songs have a particular message or meaning to them.

Community Q&A

• If you don't like the movie, don't be abusive and mean. If possible, avoid watching the movies that you would surely hate. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 2
• Understand that just because the movie isn't to your taste, that doesn't mean you should give it a bad review. A good reviewer helps people find movie's they will like. Since you don't have the same taste in movies as everyone else, you need to be able to tell people if they will enjoy the movie, even if you didn't. Thanks Helpful 3 Not Helpful 0
• Structure is very important; try categorizing the different parts of the film and commenting on each of those individually. Deciding how good each thing is will help you come to a more accurate conclusion. For example, things like acting, special effects, cinematography, think about how good each of those are. Thanks Helpful 2 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/writing_about_film/terminology_and_starting_prompts.html
• ↑ https://www.spiritofbaraka.com/how-write-a-movie-review
• ↑ https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/9-tips-for-writing-a-film-review/
• ↑ https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/writing-help/top-tips-for-writing-a-review
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/summary-using-it-wisely/
• ↑ https://twp.duke.edu/sites/twp.duke.edu/files/file-attachments/film-review-1.original.pdf
• ↑ https://www.dailywritingtips.com/7-tips-for-writing-a-film-review/
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/writing_about_film/film_writing_sample_analysis.html
• ↑ https://learning.hccs.edu/faculty/onnyx.bei/dual-credit/movie-review-writing-guide
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/conclusions/
• ↑ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/how-to-write-a-movie-review/
• ↑ https://gustavus.edu/writingcenter/handoutdocs/editing_proofreading.php
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/editing-and-proofreading/
• ↑ https://edusson.com/blog/how-to-write-movie-review

About This Article

To write a movie review, start with a compelling fact or opinion to hook your readers, like "Despite a great performance by Tom Hanks, Forrest Gump never overcomes its weak plot." Then, elaborate on your opinion of the movie right off the bat so readers know where you stand. Once your opinion is clear, provide examples from the movie that prove your point, like specific scenes, dialogue, songs, or camera shots. To learn how to study a film closely before you write a review, scroll down! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How to Write a Film Analysis Essay: Examples, Outline, & Tips

A film analysis essay might be the most exciting assignment you have ever had! After all, who doesn’t love watching movies? You have your favorite movies, maybe something you watched years ago, perhaps a classic, or a documentary. Or your professor might assign a film for you to make a critical review. Regardless, you are totally up for watching a movie for a film analysis essay.

Our specialists will write a custom essay specially for you!

However, once you have watched the movie, facing the act of writing might knock the wind out of your sails because you might be wondering how to write a film analysis essay. In summary, writing movie analysis is not as difficult as it might seem, and Custom-writing.org experts will prove this. This guide will help you choose a topic for your movie analysis, make an outline, and write the text.️ Film analysis examples are added as a bonus! Just keep reading our advice on how to get started.

❓ What Is a Film Analysis Essay?

• 🚦 Film Analysis Types

📽️ Movie Analysis Format

✍️ how to write a film analysis, 🎦 film analysis template, 🎬 film analysis essay topics.

• 📄 Essay Examples

🔗 References

To put it simply, film analysis implies watching a movie and then considering its characteristics : genre, structure, contextual context, etc. Film analysis is usually considered to be a form of rhetorical analysis . The key to success here is to formulate a clear and logical argument, supporting it with examples.

🚦 Film Analysis Essay Types

Since a film analysis essay resembles literature analysis, it makes sense that there are several ways to do it. Its types are not limited to the ones described here. Moreover, you are free to combine the approaches in your essay as well. Since your writing reflects your own opinion, there is no universal way to do it.

• Semiotic analysis . If you’re using this approach, you are expected to interpret the film’s symbolism. You should look for any signs that may have a hidden meaning. Often, they reveal some character’s features. To make the task more manageable, you can try to find the objects or concepts that appear on the screen multiple times. What is the context they appear in? It might lead you to the hidden meaning of the symbols.
• Narrative structure analysis . This type is quite similar to a typical literature guide. It includes looking into the film’s themes, plot, and motives. The analysis aims to identify three main elements: setup, confrontation, and resolution. You should find out whether the film follows this structure and what effect it creates. It will make the narrative structure analysis essay if you write about the theme and characters’ motivations as well.
• Contextual analysis . Here, you would need to expand your perspective. Instead of focusing on inner elements, the contextual analysis looks at the time and place of the film’s creation. Therefore, you should work on studying the cultural context a lot. It can also be a good idea to mention the main socio-political issues of the time. You can even relate the film’s success to the director or producer and their career.
• Mise-en-scene analysis . This type of analysis works with the most distinctive feature of the movies, audiovisual elements. However, don’t forget that your task is not only to identify them but also to explain their importance. There are so many interconnected pieces of this puzzle: the light to create the mood, the props to show off characters’ personalities, messages hidden in the song lyrics.

To write an effective film analysis essay, it is important to follow specific format requirements that include the following:

• Standard essay structure. Just as with any essay, your analysis should consist of an introduction with a strong thesis statement, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. The main body usually includes a summary and an analysis of the movie’s elements.
• Present tense for events in the film. Use the present tense when describing everything that happens in the movie. This way, you can make smooth transitions between describing action and dialogue. It will also improve the overall narrative flow.
• Proper formatting of the film’s title. Don’t enclose the movie’s title in quotation marks; instead, italicize it. In addition, use the title case : that is, capitalize all major words.
• Proper use of the characters’ names. When you mention a film character for the first time, name the actor portraying them. After that, it is enough to write only the character’s name.
• In-text citations. Use in-text citations when describing certain scenes or shots from the movie. Format them according to your chosen citation style. If you use direct quotes, include the time-stamp range instead of page numbers. Here’s how it looks in the MLA format: (Smith 0:11:24–0:12:35).

Even though film analysis is similar to the literary one, you might still feel confused with where to begin. No need to worry; there are only a few additional steps you need to consider during the writing process.

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Need more information? It can be found in the video below.

Starting Your Film Analysis Essay

There are several things you need to do before you start writing your film analysis paper. First and foremost, you have to watch the movie. Even if you have seen it a hundred times, you need to watch it again to make a good film analysis essay.

Note that you might be given an essay topic or have to think of it by yourself. If you are free to choose a topic for your film analysis essay, reading some critical reviews before you watch the film might be a good idea. By doing this in advance, you will already know what to look for when watching the movie.

In the process of watching, keep the following tips in mind:

• Consider your impression of the movie
• Enumerate memorable details
• Try to interpret the movie message in your way
• Search for the proof of your ideas (quotes from the film)
• Make comments on the plot, settings, and characters
• Draw parallels between the movie you are reviewing and some other movies

Making a Film Analysis Essay Outline

Once you have watched and possibly re-watched your assigned or chosen movie from an analytical point of view, you will need to create a movie analysis essay outline . The task is pretty straightforward: the outline can look just as if you were working on a literary analysis or an article analysis.

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• Introduction : This includes the basics of the movie, including the title, director, and the date of release. You should also present the central theme or ideas in the movie and your thesis statement .
• Summary : This is where you take the time to present an overview of the primary concepts in the movie, including the five Ws (who, what, when, where, and why)—don’t forget how!—as well as anything you wish to discuss that relates to the point of view, style, and structure.
• Analysis : This is the body of the essay and includes your critical analysis of the movie, why you did or did not like it, and any supporting material from the film to support your views. It would help if you also discussed whether the director and writer of the movie achieved the goal they set out to achieve.
• Conclusion: This is where you can state your thesis again and provide a summary of the primary concepts in a new and more convincing manner, making a case for your analysis. You can also include a call-to-action that will invite the reader to watch the movie or avoid it entirely.

You can find a great critical analysis template at Thompson Rivers University website. In case you need more guidance on how to write an analytical paper, check out our article .

Writing & Editing Your Film Analysis Essay

We have already mentioned that there are differences between literary analysis and film analysis. They become especially important when one starts writing their film analysis essay.

First of all, the evidence you include to support the arguments is not the same. Instead of quoting the text, you might need to describe the audiovisual elements.

However, the practice of describing the events is similar in both types. You should always introduce a particular sequence in the present tense. If you want to use a piece of a dialogue between more than two film characters, you can use block quotes. However, since there are different ways to do it, confirm with your supervisor.

For your convenience, you might as well use the format of the script, for which you don’t have to use quotation marks:

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ELSA: But she won’t remember I have powers?

KING: It’s for the best.

Finally, to show off your proficiency in the subject, look at the big picture. Instead of just presenting the main elements in your analysis, point out their significance. Describe the effect they make on the overall impression form the film. Moreover, you can dig deeper and suggest the reasons why such elements were used in a particular scene to show your expertise.

Stuck writing a film analysis essay? Worry not! Use our template to structure your movie analysis properly.

Introduction

• The title of the film is… [title]
• The director is… [director’s name] He/she is known for… [movies, style, etc.]
• The movie was released on… [release date]
• The themes of the movie are… [state the film’s central ideas]
• The film was made because… [state the reasons]
• The movie is… because… [your thesis statement].
• The main characters are… [characters’ names]
• The events take place in… [location]
• The movie is set in… [time period]
• The movie is about… [state what happens in the film and why]
• The movie left a… [bad, unforgettable, lasting, etc.] impression in me.
• The script has… [a logical sequence of events, interesting scenes, strong dialogues, character development, etc.]
• The actors portray their characters… [convincingly, with intensity, with varying degree of success, in a manner that feels unnatural, etc.]
• The soundtrack is [distracting, fitting, memorable, etc.]
• Visual elements such as… [costumes, special effects, etc.] make the film [impressive, more authentic, atmospheric, etc.]
• The film succeeds/doesn’t succeed in engaging the target audience because it… [tells a compelling story, features strong performances, is relevant, lacks focus, is unauthentic, etc.]
• Cultural and societal aspects make the film… [thought-provoking, relevant, insightful, problematic, polarizing, etc.]
• The director and writer achieved their goal because… [state the reasons]
• Overall, the film is… [state your opinion]
• I would/wouldn’t recommend watching the movie because… [state the reasons]
• Analysis of the film Inception by Christopher Nolan .
• Examine the rhetoric in the film The Red Balloon .
• Analyze the visual effects of Zhang Yimou’s movie Hero .
• Basic concepts of the film Interstellar by Christopher Nolan.
• The characteristic features of Federico Fellini’s movies.
• Analysis of the movie The Joker .
• The depiction of ethical issues in Damaged Care .
• Analyze the plot of the film Moneyball .
• Explore the persuasive techniques used in Henry V .
• Analyze the movie Killing Kennedy .
• Discuss the themes of the film Secret Window .
• Describe the role of audio and video effects in conveying the message of the documentary Life in Renaissance .
• Compare and analyze the films Midnight Cowboy and McCabe and Mrs. Miller .
• Analysis of the movie Rear Window .
• The message behind the film Split .
• Analyze the techniques used by Tim Burton in his movie Sleepy Hollow .
• The topic of children’s abuse and importance of trust in Joseph Sargent’s Sybil .
• Examine the themes and motives of the film Return to Paradise by Joseph Ruben .
• The issues of gender and traditions in the drama The Whale Rider.
• Analysis of the film Not Easily Broken by Duke Bill.
• The symbolism in R. Scott’s movie Thelma and Louise .
• The meaning of audiovisual effects in Citizen Kane .
• Analyze the main characters of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo .
• Discuss the historical accuracy of the documentary The Civil War .
• Analysis of the movie Through a Glass Darkly .
• Explore the core idea of the comedy Get Out .
• The problem of artificial intelligence and human nature in Ex Machina .
• Three principles of suspense used in the drama The Fugitive .
• Examine the ideas Michael Bay promotes in Armageddon .
• Analyze the visual techniques used in Tenet by Christopher Nolan.
• Analysis of the movie The Green Mile .
• Discrimination and exclusion in the film The Higher Learning .
• The hidden meaning of the scenes in Blade Runner .
• Compare the social messages of the films West Side Story and Romeo + Juliet .
• Highlighting the problem of children’s mental health in the documentary Kids in Crisis .
• Discuss the ways Paul Haggis establishes the issue of racial biases in his movie Crash .
• Analyze the problem of moral choice in the film Gone Baby Gone .
• Analysis of the historical film Hacksaw Ridge .
• Explore the main themes of the film Mean Girls by Mark Walters .
• The importance of communication in the movie Juno .
• Describe the techniques the authors use to highlight the problems of society in Queen and Slim .
• Examine the significance of visual scenes in My Family/ Mi Familia .
• Analysis of the thriller Salt by Phillip Noyce.
• Analyze the message of Greg Berlanti’s film Love, Simon .
• Interpret the symbols of the film The Wizard of Oz (1939).
• Discuss the modern issues depicted in the film The Corporation .
• Moral lessons of Edward Zwick’s Blood Diamond .
• Analysis of the documentary Solitary Nation .
• Describe the audiovisual elements of the film Pride and Prejudice (2005) .
• The problem of toxic relationships in Malcolm and Marie .

📄 Film Analysis Examples

Below you’ll find two film analysis essay examples. Note that the full versions are downloadable for free!

Film Analysis Example #1: The Intouchables

Raising acute social problems in modern cinema is a common approach to draw the public’s attention to the specific issues and challenges of people facing crucial obstacles. As a film for review, The Intouchables by Oliver Nakache and Éric Toledano will be analyzed, and one of the themes raised in this movie is the daily struggle of the person with severe disabilities. This movie is a biographical drama with comedy elements. The Intouchables describes the routine life of a French millionaire who is confined to a wheelchair and forced to receive help from his servants. The acquaintance of the disabled person with a young and daring man from Parisian slums changes the lives of both radically. The film shows that for a person with disabilities, recognition as a full member of society is more important than sympathy and compassion, and this message expressed comically raises an essential problem of human loneliness.

Movie Analysis Example #2: Parasite

Parasite is a 2019 South Korean black comedy thriller movie directed by Bong Joon-ho and is the first film with a non-English script to win Best Picture at the Oscars in 2020. With its overwhelming plot and acting, this motion picture retains a long-lasting effect and some kind of shock. The class serves as a backbone and a primary objective of social commentary within the South Korean comedy/thriller (Kench, 2020). Every single element and detail in the movie, including the student’s stone, the contrasting architecture, family names, and characters’ behavior, contribute to the central topic of the universal problem of classism and wealth disparity. The 2020 Oscar-winning movie Parasite (2019) is a phenomenal cinematic portrayal and a critical message to modern society regarding the severe outcomes of the long-established inequalities within capitalism.

Want more examples? Check out this bonus list of 10 film analysis samples. They will help you gain even more inspiration.

• “Miss Representation” Documentary Film Analysis
• “The Patriot”: Historical Film Analysis
• “The Morning Guy” Film Analysis
• 2012′ by Roland Emmerich Film Analysis
• “The Crucible” (1996) Film Analysis
• The Aviator’ by Martin Scorsese Film Analysis
• The “Lions for Lambs” Film Analysis
• Bill Monroe – Father of Bluegrass Music Film Analysis
• Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Harry Potter’ Film Analysis
• Red Tails by George Lucas Film Analysis

Film Analysis Essay FAQ

• Watch the movie or read a detailed plot summary.
• Read others’ film reviews paying attention to details like key characters, movie scenes, background facts.
• Compose a list of ideas about what you’ve learned.
• Organize the selected ideas to create a body of the essay.
• Write an appropriate introduction and conclusion.

The benefits of analyzing a movie are numerous . You get a deeper understanding of the plot and its subtle aspects. You can also get emotional and aesthetic satisfaction. Film analysis enables one to feel like a movie connoisseur.

Here is a possible step by step scenario:

• Think about the general idea that the author probably wanted to convey.
• Consider how the idea was put across: what characters, movie scenes, and details helped in it.
• Study the broader context: the author’s other works, genre essentials, etc.

The definition might be: the process of interpreting a movie’s aspects. The movie is reviewed in terms of details creating the artistic value. A film analysis essay is a paper presenting such a review in a logically structured way.

• Film Analysis – UNC Writing Center
• Film Writing: Sample Analysis // Purdue Writing Lab
• Yale Film Analysis – Yale University
• Film Terms And Topics For Film Analysis And Writing
• Questions for Film Analysis (Washington University)
• Resources on Film Analysis – Cinema Studies (University of Toronto)
• Does Film Analysis Take the Magic out of Movies?
• Film Analysis Research Papers – Academia.edu
• What’s In a Film Analysis Essay? Medium
• Analysis of Film – SAGE Research Methods
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Home — Essay Samples — Entertainment — Movies — Movie Review

Essays on Movie Review

Once in a while, you’ll be asked to do a movie review essay. This task is a great training tool for enhancing critical thinking skills. Essays on movie review aim at presenting a film from the most important scenes, special effects, to exciting moments and may be accompanied by criticism. From an advertising perspective, such a paper is aimed at convincing readers to watch the movie in question. Your writing should let a reader draw a conclusion, i.e, whether the film is worth their time or if they should try something else. Most importantly, your opinion must be independent and accurate. But how can you create a perfect introduction if you don’t have the experience in this type of writing? Relax. A good online writer can do it for you. If you have an idea but need some guidance, simply ask for a professional outline or use evaluation essay examples for students for more insights.

Hook Examples for Movie Review Essays

"a cinematic masterpiece" hook.

"Prepare to be captivated by the sheer brilliance of this cinematic masterpiece. Explore how every frame, performance, and detail contributes to a visual and emotional spectacle."

"Beyond the Screen: Themes and Messages" Hook

"This film transcends entertainment, offering profound themes and powerful messages. Dive into the underlying ideas and social commentary that make it a thought-provoking experience."

"The Journey of Character Development" Hook

"Follow the compelling journey of characters who evolve throughout the film. Analyze their growth, conflicts, and relationships, making this movie a character-driven narrative."

"Visual Delights: Cinematography and Special Effects" Hook

"Be prepared to be visually stunned by the breathtaking cinematography and cutting-edge special effects. Explore how these elements enhance the storytelling and immerse the audience."

"Unforgettable Performances" Hook

"The cast delivers unforgettable performances that breathe life into the characters. Discuss standout acting moments, character dynamics, and the emotional impact of their roles."

"The Soundtrack: Music That Moves" Hook

"The film's soundtrack is more than just music; it's an integral part of the storytelling. Explore how the score enhances emotions, sets the tone, and complements the visuals."

"Cinematic Analysis: Directing and Editing" Hook

"Delve into the meticulous craftsmanship of the director and editor. Analyze their choices in pacing, sequencing, and storytelling techniques that make this film a cinematic triumph."

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