Up

Reviewed by:
Krista Soriano

Directed by: Pete Docter and Bob Peterson

The Skinny: Seventy-eight year old Carl Frederickson (voiced by Ed Asner) has two things to live for after his wife and childhood-adventure-mate Ellie passes away: to save their house from being torn down by construction and to fulfill their life-long dream of moving to the mythic Paradise Falls. He ties thousands of balloons to the house, heads south and teams up with an unlikely friend for an adventure slightly off the agenda.

The Good: It's Pixar, a studio that makes producing brilliant movies look simple, so right off the bat we expected an adorable, feel-good film with easy laughs and stunning eye-candy graphics. Up goes, well, above and beyond. Especially in the wake of Pixar's charming Wall-E, a movie about a huffy old man who ties balloons to his house doesn't exactly sound like the bar breaker. But if not compelling, the premise is definitely original: Our hero is elderly, and he attempts to use weird science to achieve his goal. In his way is an unwanted passenger, the overly helpful Russell (Jordan Nagai), and more maliciously, vindictive explorer Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer), who has spent decades trying to capture the bird no one believes he saw. Each of them have their own story, and Pixar never sacrifices their character development just for a happy ending. It's why we get so easily emotionally invested in them and the situations that arise. Prepare to cover your mouth in suspense and blink back the tears because the sentiment in Up is unsurprisingly too much to handle. Oh, and you'll want to take Dug the retriever and his high-tech talking collar home with you.

The Bad: Not much to say here. Watching Up in 3D is nice but unnecessary.

Head's Up: If you think the little kid is fat, wait until you see how big the old guy's head is. In one scene that's clearly not to scale, Pixar completely disregarded proportions when Carl and Russell are trying to climb up into the floating house above them. Oh, CG animation… It's Pixar's own fault that we're so greedy for perfection.

Theater, DVD, or TNT in Five Years? The movie is beautiful. See it in theaters.

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