UP (Disney/Pixar) review by Gary Dean Murray

In the annals of film history, one lunch must go down as the most important moment of all time. A group of animators and creative types sat down and sketched out ideas for animated full length films made on the computer. This meeting was for a new company called Pixar and that meeting spawned Toy Story, Monsters Inc., Wall-E, and all the rest of the stable. This little get together has turned Pixar from a little company that could to the most successful studio in motion picture history. Pixar has never made a film that wasn't a blockbuster. Like all things, eventually the well from this meeting ran dry. Pixar is now working on new ideas not from that lunch. One of the first out of the gate is Up, and it is, without a doubt, the best motion picture of 2009.

The story is of a life. We start with a 1930's style newsreel about an airship explorer Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer) who is trying to prove the existence of a very lost ancient bird. He brings back on his ship 'The Spirit of Adventure' a bird skeleton but is doubted by science. Watching the newsreel is a wide-eyed little boy wearing the same cap and goggles as his on-screen hero. Leaving the theater, he hears someone playing in an old house and investigates. He finds a little girl wearing the same kind of goggles he does. These two are Carl and Ellie. Through a series of quick scenes we see them fall in love, buy that same house and live a life at the zoo - she working with animals and him selling balloons.

All the time they make a promise to see the world, following the idea of the now years-lost Charles Muntz and visiting Paradise Cove, a South American magical wilderness. Ellie has an empty scrapbook waiting to be filled with their adventures. But the savings jar has to be hit into over and over while living their little life does cost money. They never seem to make it.

Late in life, Carl (Ed Asner) finally buys the South American tickets but Ellie (Ellie Docter) is stricken down. Carl loses his beloved and is now a sullen, bitter man who has a house that is in the middle of a new construction site. The company wants the house gone and the house is all Carl has left of Ellie.

One day, there is a knock at the door. Russell (Jordan Nagal) a fatherless kid looking for someone to fill the void and also a scout one badge away from completing his sash. That one badge left is helping old people. So, Carl sends the kid on a 'snipe' hunt, looking for a mystical beast that is a scout style prank. An incident happens and the house is threatened. Carl hatches a plan.

Just as the attendants show up to take him to the assisted living facility, balloons shoot up through the roof of the house. These thousands of helium filled devices lift the house up, up and away. Carl and the house (which he calls Ellie) are floating above the city.

There is a knock at the door. Russell was under the house looking for the snipe and is now a part of the adventure. The rest of the story is of Carl and Russell trying to get the house to that perfect spot in the middle of the wilderness. And it is an adventure, with them finding Charles Muntz, still looking for that elusive bird and a little crazier for the effort. He has an army of trained dogs with collars that let them communicate in human terms.



This is just a beautiful film to watch. The colors jump from the screen with the palate of the masters of great art. It is a shame that this movie is computer generated because the animation cels would have been a perfect collectors item. They fill every bit of the frame with perfect detail and warmth, hugging the eyes with a balmy calm.

Ed Asner has always been the grumpy old man his entire career. Here he finds some softness in the gruff and builds a character that is beaten down but is not out. His sadness is reflected in each utterance. Christopher Plummer is just magical as a maniacal cross between Charles Lindbergh and Clark Gable. He goes from hero to villain in a pivot and never misses his footing.

There is a zeppelin battle in the third act that is what Flyboys should have been, full of aviators and stunts. It goes from a sentimental love story, to an adventure story, to an action packed ending and never loses the heart. One is almost exhausted by the pace set in the film and the final reels just keep us on an action course.

UP has those silly moments that are shown on the commercials, with the dogs getting the lions share of chuckles, but there is this giant sentimental core at the base of the film, and some scenes generate some genuine tears. It truly is a grown-up movie with stuff thrown in for the little ones.

Partly Cloudy opens this experience, and it is a wonderful little short about a how clouds craft babies for the storks to carry, both human babies as well as kittens and puppies. One stork gets caught helping a partly cloudy cloud as he makes the less than desirable little ones - alligators, rams, porcupines and eels. It is more of a whimsical adventure than an all out riot like last years Presto was.

Even if it is the last bit of money in your wallet, use it to see Up. You will not be disappointed.

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