Warm, wonderful, beautiful, allegorical, moving and heartfelt. Pixar do not seem to do run of the mill. Thank God they are not the child of their parent company!
Up is fantastical tale of Carl Fredericksen, an old man with nothing left to lose letting go and following his childhood dream. Hitching a ride on Carls flying home is Russell, a young widerness explorer scout and together the mis-matched pair set off in the footsteps of Carls childhood hero, daredevil explorer Charles Muntz (wonderfully voiced by Christopher Plummer), to Paradise Falls in darkest South America.
As with Wall-E, Up does not start like a kids movie, adults of an emotive disposition will be in tears within the first 10 minutes and most of the first quarter is scene setting, done, like Wall-E again, with a minimal amount of dialogue. Revealtions, when they come, will also mean more to an adult audience; the very real perception that we are all too busy chasing the dream to realise the dream is what we already have in everyone and everything around us; the moral that one should never meet ones heroes because even heroes are fallable. And, of course, for the kids, the triumph of good and friendship over evil.
However, Up is a genuine family film. Pixar have really mastered the balance of enjoyment for all ages and the reward for the little ones to sit patiently through that first quarter is plenty of cute and comical once our heroes land in the jungle. Dug the clueless golden retriever and his pack, Squirrel! and Fred the bird are a joy. Not manic, or over the top, or Disney stupid but well rounded fall guys that you warm to immediately. Subsequent adventures may see septuagenarian Carl turn into some kind of Indiana Jones (the only incongruous note to the film considering his previous incapacitation) but Up is still head and shoulders above anything else produced outside of the Pixar stable. It is beautifully well observed and loaded with deft touches; the animation is, yet again, impeccable.
So there are plenty of morals to be taught and lessons to be learnt and good will out etc. etc. But there's talking dogs (dozens more than Bolt (and a dozen times funnier!)), a flying house, a chocolate addicted bird and a crazy scientist explorer. The dark bits are not excessively so and many of the funny bits are laugh-out-loud funny. If it is perhaps, too plodding for younger audiences then that is to Pixars credit for not dumbing down and chasing the pandering parent pound. Up is another addition to their impressive catalogue of genuine family classics.
Another great film, a film that's for life, not just the holiday season.Get more detail about Up (4 Disc Combo Pack with Digital Copy and DVD) [Blu-ray].
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