Upcoming Pixar Reviews The Art of Up

We’re late, we’re late! Here’s our review for The Art of Up by Tim Hauser from Chronicle Books:

First off, I’d like to apologize about the tardiness in my review. Hopefully some of you are still pondering if you should get this book and I hope I can shed some light on your questions.

This has got to be, dare I say, the best book in Pixar’s Art of series! Yup, I said it. The Art of Up could possibly be the best, and that’s saying a lot! Author Tim Hauser handles it masterfully, it’s his second book with Chronicle/Pixar after all! I think his experience doing The Art of WALL•E really made Up’s counterpart the great "read" that it is. It’s safe to say that if you liked TAo WALL•E, you’ll love The Art of Up. Not in terms of the quality of the pieces contained in this 160 page coffee table book (which is amazing nonetheless), but because it blends rich text with over 250 gorgeous paintings, sketches, sculptures and more!

That’s one of the highlights of both books, they don’t flood you with text, but they give you enough so that you have insight on what’s on the page instead of just pictures of Carl, Russell, Dug and Kevin. Speaking of the main characters, the latest installment in the series gives you a good idea on how these personalities evolved and in what order/why they were created. Ricky Nierva calls the design ideology "simplexity", caricaturing the cast into simple shapes but retaining details like fur and texture. "Simplexity" works great in this world because, even though the events in Up are farfetched, the emotional "lift off" renders it believable.

Hauser goes in depth into Up’s production, featuring quotes from the Up team including director Pete Docter and co-director Bob Peterson. Some cool facts you might not have known before picking up this book are that Muntz, in a previous incarnation of Up, was obsessed with fountain of youth like "snipe" eggs that would keep him young or that the original concept of what evolved into Up was a Muppet like story about two people living in a floating city! The best part is, there’s much, much more in there to enjoy and marvel at, for hours!

I would highly recommend this book if you haven’t already bought it. If you’ve just ordered it, you made a great investment! You can purchase the The Art of UP ($40.00 MSRP) from Chronicle Books or Amazon, among other retailers.

(Thanks goes out to Chronicle Books for allowing us to review yet another one of their magnificent coffee tale books. A big thanks also goes to Tim Hauser and Pixar for populating it with gorgeous details.)

P.S. I love the little touch they added when you remove the slip cover, it could be considered Pixar’s "My Adventure Book" for the last few years!