Pixar hits new heights with Up!

For a movie about a guy who lifts his home with thousands of helium balloons for a high flying adventure, Up is pretty heavy.

Up follows the life of Carl Frederickson, from his days as a young, shy boy who dreams of adventure until he becomes as an old man who finally decides to get off his porch and fulfill that dream. All of that, somehow, happens in about the first 10 minutes of the film. It contains enough humor, heart and tearjerking moments to be its own movie but, amazingly, that's all just background for the story the film actually wants to tell, which begins when 10-thousand multicolored balloons erupt from the chimney of his home, lifting it into the sky and towards South America.

Why South America? As a child Carl absorbed with wide-eyed wonder the newsreels about his favorite adventurer, Charles Muntz, who talks about the amazing things he has found around Paradise Falls. Carl soon meets a young tomboy, Ellie, who has the same dreams and is everything he is not; brave, brash and determined. They grow up and marry and plan to make the trip down south, but life gets in the way, and all too soon it is too late.

And, again, all of this happens in the first 10 minutes .. before the balloons.

Now, Carl is on his way, and even though he had planned to make the trip with only the memories of Ellie for companionship, there is a stowaway. It's Russell, a young, talkative, optimistic Wilderness Explorer scout who inadvertantly got trapped on Carl's porch and is now along for the ride. Soon the home is caught in a massive thunderstorm that somehow transports them to South America, and Carl can see Paradise Falls from his front porch. Once there they are joined by an 8-foot playful bird that Russell decides to name Kevin (for no apparent reason) and a dog named Doug with an electronic collar that translates his thoughts into a human voice.

It goes without saying that you won't find this South America on any map.

This is Pixar's 10th film, and once again they raise the expectations for how good animated films, or pretty much all films in general, should aim to be. It's the perfect family movie. Kids are going to love Russell, Kevin and Doug while adults will likely absorbed into what the movie has to say about love, loss, the failure of childhood idols and the true nature of parenthood. And that house ...a not so subtle metaphor for Carl's memories of Ellie. He thinks he is living by taking the house to the falls, but he doesn't see the house is literally holding him back from the rest of his life. (Was that too pretentious?)

What other summer movie is going to try to tell all those stories? Hopefully all of them ... but I'm not holding out much hope with Transformers 2 right around the bend.

Side note: I want those talking collars for my two dogs, but have a feeling they won't have much more to say beyond "food," "bird," "gotta go outside" and "tell that other dog to stay away from the house."

P.S. Be sure to check out Don Nelson's interview with director Pete Docter and producer Jonas Rivera. Click here!

Disclaimer: Disney is the parent company of this television station.

Comments

[Narconon Arrowhead]

Up is one of the best movies I have ever seen! It's a great family movie, it's also a good date movie. Thank you Pixar