Up is excellent. Beautiful. See it in 3D on the biggest screen you can find. I laughed out loud. I cried at 3 scenes. I just might pay $11 to see it again. I rave.

I was so moved that after the credits, “awesome!” was the first word out of my mouth. Then I exploded with “WHAT THE FUCK Pixar? Would it have killed you to have a lead female character?” For real, Just One woman, girl or animal that is not: 1) dead, 2) wordless and myopically focused on returning to children when not cracked out on chocolate and named Kevin (because all cool stuffs must be boy gendered until proven otherwise), or 3) Mom patiently sitting on the sidelines while Son pines for Dad or Grandpa figure.

I’m so jaded by the father-son, boy-man character relationship dominating most films that I rarely get this riled up anymore. Plus, Disney/Pixar is the veritable King of the Mother-less child, Father-Son bonding odessey (Finding Nemo, Pinnochio, Bambi et al.) I shouldn’t expect radical gender bending here.

But I’ve paid good money to see 8 out of the 10 Pixar movies in theaters because they are consistently smart, creative and moving storytellers.

Ultimately, my distress is not about Pixar movies per se, but about the deeply entrenched ideas about gender and how they restrict our imaginations and sense of possibilities, especially for girls and young women. I mean, really, you charge a boat load of the best creative minds with making a movie and they can’t create a cast of characters that operate beyond typical gender relationships? Pixar’s cast isn’t even bound by human characteristics. They are fish, robots, animals, toys, monsters, race cars and imaginary super heroes. Yet, they imbue strict human gender identities in each character.

The always secondary female characters Pixar creates shows their team can make funny, complex and engaging female/girl characters: The Incredibles, Eva in Wall-E and of course, Dory in Finding Nemo. Gender roles aren’t encoded in our DNA. They are created and enforced by each of us and promulgated by wonderful storytellers like Pixar.

10 Pixar films and not one with a lead girl/woman. It feels like a deliberate snub. C’mon Pixar! Use your powers for good! Give us a girl!

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