Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon?!

I feel somewhat guilty that I just now have my review for Pixar’s newest feature, Up. But quite frankly, this one took me awhile to get right, and for all the right reasons. It wasn’t like the case with Transformers, in which I felt a cold indifference, but rather that Up is so great, I literally had a hard time trying to describe it.  It is just that unbelievably good.

In my review for Pixar’s Wall-E, I stated that the studio’s next film, Up, had a lot to live up to. Well I can honestly say that not only has Up met those expectations, but it has surpassed them on every level. Up is Pixar’s most emotional, most action packed and funniest film all at the same time. Up may very well be Pixar’s best work, I really don’t know if I need to say more than that, but I will anyway.

Up tells the story of Carl Fredricksen (brilliantly voiced by Edward Asner), an elderly man and lifelong balloon salesman who has long dreamed of going on amazing adventures. When Carl was a child, he idolized an adventurer named Charles Muntz. Carl’s admiration for Muntz eventually led him to meet a young girl (and fellow Muntz admirer) named Ellie, who would one day become Carl’s wife. They make a promise to each other that one day, they will go on an adventure to Paradise Falls, a strange ‘lost world’ that Muntz had discovered in South America.

The first fifteen minutes of the film tell Carl and Ellie’s life stories in a way that is more beautiful then I could have imagined. We witness them through the highlights and hardships of their lives. Carl and Ellie get married, repair a house to live in (which happened to be Ellie’s old club house of sorts as a child) and live their lives together, all while saving up money to one day go on the adventure they always dreamed of. But life seems to throw many difficulties in Carl and Ellie’s way, most of which keep pushing their dreams further and further down the road.

These first few minutes show Carl and Ellie as they grow old together, and conveys more emotion then nearly any film I have ever seen. The end result of this unspoken opening sequence is one of the most heartfelt and tear-inducing moments in the history of animation. The first fifteen minutes of this film alone are a masterpiece.

The rest of the film follows Carl’s life after Ellie, he has become a bit of a recluse and a curmudgeon. He now lives in a world very different then that which he grew up in and loved. His house is surrounded by Internet cafes and new age restaurants. The world he knew is now alien to the world around him, and his house is all he has left, and even it is in jeopardy of being lost to greedy developers and businessmen.

But before he lets the land developers have their way, Carl straps thousands upon thousands of balloons to his abode and flies away. Taking his home to Paradise Falls to keep that promise he made to his beloved Ellie all those years ago. What he doesn’t know is he has a stowaway on-board in the form of a young wilderness explorer named Russel. At first glance Russel may seem just like comic relief, but he too has realism and depth to his character.

On this subject I would like to bring up the character Charles Muntz, who has a strong back-story of his own, one which eventually leads him back into the main plot.

Charles Muntz was once a great adventurer, one who was inspirational to many and, as mentioned previously, was the common interest that brought Carl and Ellie together to begin with. But Muntz’s world, much like Carl’s, has changed. During his initial expedition to Paradise Falls, Muntz discovered the fossils of a mysterious, giant bird. Upon his return home, scientist accuse Muntz of fabricating the skeleton for his own gain, and he is stripped of his accolades and achievements, and all at once his glory has been robbed of him. To clear his name, Muntz travels back to Paradise Falls and vows he shall not return until he finds a living specimen of the elusive bird. Decades pass and Muntz (now probably well over a hundred years old) has become mad and paranoid. His once honest quest for redemption becoming a deranged obsession. One that has led him to do unspeakable things.

Charles Muntz is a great example of the depth and complexity of the characters in this film. He is not you’re typical “I’ll rule the world” type of villain. He is at once a loathsome being yet one with a tragic back-story. You even feel guilty of what has become of a man who was once considered a hero, even to the hero of the story.

The characters are all presented in a way that you believe in them as though they are real people in an otherwise fantastic world. They are akin to the characters of the films of Hayao Miyazaki in this sense. The setting of the world of the film, with all its flying contraptions and otherworldly wonders also seem to have had an influence by Hayao Miyazaki. Images of Castle in the Sky, Kiki’s Delivery Service and even My Neighbor Totoro seemed to find their way into my head while watching Up, which is very much a compliment.

This movies wonders just never seem to stop. The movie has so many touching, heartfelt moments that I am not afraid to admit in the slightest that I shed more then a few tears at several points in the film (a very distinct honor indeed, I can probably count how oft that has happened). But don’t fret, it’s not all sad. There are many moments in the film that are wonderfully humorous. Especially from the aforementioned Russel and Dug, the talking dog.

I should point out that Dug is also a great character because he breaks away from the predictable cliches of “talking animal sidekick” because he isn’t just some annoying chatterbox, but rather he is a dog who is thinking what a dog thinks, and we happen to hear what he is thinking (due to a special collar that translates his thoughts). Dug isn’t an in-your-face show-stealer like so many animal sidekicks found in animation (I’m looking your way, Dreamworks), he is in  it just the right amount, and he never gets on your last nerve. In fact, he’s quite endearing. With all his almost nonsensical sentence structure and almost constant urge to say “I love you,” Dug talks in just the way I would imagine a real dog would talk.

But as I mentioned earlier, not only is this Pixar’s most emotional film, it’s also their most action packed. And I’m not talking about modern day Hollywood action, with mindless explosions and car chases that seem to go on for way too long. No, this is top quality, “artistic” action, in the same sense as Raiders of the Lost Arc. The action presented in Up is brilliant and never ceases to amaze.

In short, Up is a masterpiece. That is a word I seldom like to use, but I use it when it is required. There are not many other words that can describe this magnificent film. In my opinion, it is Pixar’s best film since Toy Story 2, surpassing the classics they have made since that time like The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Ratatouille and Wall-E. Up has managed to find a special place in my heart amongst films, a place that is not easily reachable. It is the kind of movie that almost seems strange, because how can a movie this good actually exist?  Well thank heavens movies like this do exist, even if they are an increasingly rare breed.

Up is film making at its absolute best, storytelling at its most beautiful and  animation at its most artistic. Up is a film about finding one’s purpose, following your dreams, and the wonders of this world. It is one of the most poignant love stories I have ever seen (it’s not that artificially romantic stuff today’s movies throw at you, this is truly genuine and endearing).  Up is not only one of the best films of the year, it’s one of the best films I have ever seen.

Adventure is out there!

(1 votes, average: 10.00 out of 10, rated)

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Squirrel!