Starring: Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer, Elie Doctor, John Ratzenberger, Delroy Lindo, Jordan Nagai
Directed by: Pete Docter
Rated PG for some peril and action
By John Delia
An animated adventure comedy bursts on the screen from Disney-Pixar; it’s called Up and the touching high flyer is excellent for the whole family. The Disney-Pixar formula of making a film that is spirited and interesting with the ability to warm your heart has not changed here, only the storyline and the characters.
Up centers around balloon salesman Carl Fredrickson (Azner) who marries Ellie (Elie Doctor) his childhood sweetheart and they make plans to fulfill one of their dreams, going to South America. They grow old together and when Ellie dies before they could make the dream come true, Carl finds himself lonely in a big city, which has grown around him.
But, like in life, we all have a bad day and Carl is about to have one. Pestered by Russell (Nagai) a Wilderness Scout and due to an accident involving a bulldozer that strikes his mailbox, Carl finds being evicted and his life crumbling. So he inflates thousands of balloons, attaches them to his house and floats away to South America for one last adventure. Little does he know; Russell has inadvertently hitched a ride.
The fun of this film is the way it opens, taking you back to the early years of Carl and Ellie, how they met and their subsequent life together. It’s the scrapbook that ties the threads of this film together and there in lays the tenderness of hopes and dreams. If the film gets a little sentimental, it is meant to be as I found it a wake up call to make one of my possible dreams come true.
Pete Doctor does a superb job of directing the free wheeling plot. But the champions here are the artists and the computer geniuses that bring the characters to life. After a few minutes into the movie my imagination took flight and instead of animation I had the feeling that I was watching a live action movie.
The film is rated PG for some peril, action and a scene where Carl Fredrickson looses his cool. The film was not reviewed in 3D, but it is available in that format.
FINAL ANALYSIS: An excellent film for the whole family (5 of 5 Palm Trees)