Disney / Pixar Not Afraid to Show Blood in 'Up'

[CoolTrainerTerry]

An interesting little article from Cinematical.com:



Pixar's much-ballyhooed feature Up opens this weekend, and the theaters will be chock full of families with little ones ready for some colorful eye-candy and delightful storytelling. But how are those little ones going to act when they see not one, but two separate instances of bright, red blood on the screen? I'm sure no one is going to need therapy after seeing this, but it's interesting that Pixar is breaking down the blood / screen barrier.

Disney films have long been sanitized, and although we've seen death in Disney's animated movies before (Bambi's mother, Simba's dad, Nemo's mother, countless goons in The Incredibles and so on), they really never feature blood, despite the violent nature of many of the plots. Usually the characters die off-screen, and the audience is spared any actual shots of the red stuff.

In The Lion King there's a brief spray of blood in the battle between Mufasa and Scar, but otherwise you get red scratches on the characters, which look cartoonish (well, it's a cartoon) and not very realistic. They did the same "scratches for wounds" thing in Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid, and even with Sleeping Beauty there's only a tiny trickle of blood as Phillip slays Maleficent. A bit surprising given the fact that she has a huge sword buried through her massive heart.

So what does this all mean? Well, it ain't the end of the world. Blood's just another fact of life, but parents should probably be prepared for questions about the two scenes that involve blood. It's cool that Pixar isn't afraid to show the stuff, because it could have easily been left out of both scenes. I just wonder if they'd ever form an offshoot like Disney did with Touchstone Pictures so they could release more adult CGI films that are a bit more ... horrific? For now, you'll have to settle for Up.

 

[Saxsoon]

I didn't notice it, but I was more shocked about the miscarriage.

 

[pwdebbie]

I didn't notice it, but I was more shocked about the miscarriage.

Please explain this. I was thinking about taking my 4yo dgs, maybe I should reconsider?

 

[artesian]

I didn't notice it, but I was more shocked about the miscarriage.

My 2 kids didn't catch on what happend. My DD10 usually is very savvy but missed the meaning of that scene.

 

[disfountainofyouth]

We just returned from seeing UP. I have to disagree about the "blood" as I
thought it was handled in a appropriate manner. This was one of Pixar's best
story lines to date in my opinion.

 

[Scurvy]

I didn't notice it, but I was more shocked about the miscarriage.

I didn't even realize it was a miscarriage! I thought they just decided to have a child and then found out they couldn't.

pwdebbie - It's in a montage with no dialogue. I don't think kids would even catch it. SLIGHT SPOILER: they are decorating a nursery, then talking to a doctor and looking sad, then redecorating the nursery to be something else.

 

[ChrisFL]

Right, I thought she found out she couldn't have kids either, instead of a miscarriage...it's all implied.

 

[Maxwell]

Right, I thought she found out she couldn't have kids either, instead of a miscarriage...it's all implied.

That's what we thought too.

 

[pwdebbie]

Thank you!

 

[Saxsoon]

The first thought that came to mind was miscarriage however that works as well. Either way, very mature subject matter done in very subtle ways.

 

[IllinoisJones]

I felt they hit a home run with this movie. My 3 year old has sat through 3 movies at the theater in his life and this was one of them. While the blood did shock me a bit, I felt it worked and progressed the story. That's what Disney/Pixar is known to do best. Besides, we're not talking gushing blood. My son has had his share of scraped knees.

 

[donaldduck1967]

I have to agree with everyone else. Not once did I think it was a miscarriage.

 

[M-I-C-K-E-Y]

Blood? Miscarriage? Relax folks - ALL AGES will LOVE this film! What's being discussed takes places very carefully and last around 10 seconds out of a 90 minute or so film.

 

[dementia412]

I watched it and can't remember any blood. Which parts had blood? None of my kids got the whole baby thing but they got the general feeling of that whole part.

 

[m2j]

I can't remember the blood sceens either. I did, however, think that it was a miscarriage as well.

 

[M-I-C-K-E-Y]

Just after the mailbox was damaged, he hit the construction worker with his four-legged cane. There was a touch of red on the man's head - nothing flowing or spurting, like some might wish to believe...

 

[CoolTrainerTerry]

I think the other part they're mentioning is when Kevin's leg gets bitten and you see a close-up of his bandaged leg later on for about, two seconds.

 

[Ed5781]

I viewed it as she realized she couldn't have children.

 

[pwdebbie]

Just got back from seeing UP. Good movie but made me cry. I didn't think the one scene was miscarriage, just them being told they couldn't have children. And the blood was not at all exaggerated. As I said, good movie, well worth seeing.

 

[P.I. Squirrel]

I think the blood on the worker's head was necessary, because if it was not there, we would be wondering why it was necessary to put him in a home. With the blood, and everyone staring at it in the crowd, it was obvious that it was about to be blown way out of proportion. It gave you a hint that he was in serious trouble.

I also didn't think it was a miscarriage. My interpretation was of their inability to have children at all.

On both issues, not even a blink from my kids. I don't think they understood the implied problems at all. DW did though, she boo hoo'd in the popcorn.