ANI-MOVIES, *Up

Aside from The Incredibles, I try not to get too judgemental about Pixar movies. Some of them like Wall-E which have dynamic animation, and others like Toy Story have a great story but might not be as visually appealing. Up manages to bring together both of these into a wonderful experience for the whole family, as well as for animation fans.

The movie starts out with the young Carl Fredrickson who is a fan of the famous explorer, Charles Muntz, and through this befriends a hick girl named Ellie. They later on marry, and keep planning for their own expedition, but as the years go by the burdens of "real life" makes their dream go unfulfilled, and Ellie eventually dies of old age. Carl is now an old man living in his and Ellie's old dream home, which is in danger of being bought out by a large construction company. So, being a longtime balloon salesman, Carl sticks hundreds of balloons to his house and flies it to South America in the hope of leaving it on the cliff at a place called Paradise Falls. The only hiccup in this is the chubby boy scout Russell was stranded on Carl's porch when it took off, and is now along for the ride. Once in South America, they land the house on the opposite end of the plataeau that the falls are located, so Carl and Russell have to carry the house still floating by balloons to the other end like a giant parade float. They encounter an exotic flightless bird, that Russell calls Kevin, which is being chased by dogs with special collars that allow them to talk. One of the dogs is Dug who quickly befriends them. The other dogs force them to where their owner is, who turns out to be Carl's childhood hero, Muntz. He's been there this whole time ruthlessly looking for a rare bird, which is what Kevin is. Carl and Russell barely escape with Kevin's help, but Kevin gets caught by Muntz's mutts. After finally getting the house to the falls, Russell leaves Carl to go rescue Kevin. Carl eventually decides to go to by flying his house after Muntz in his giant zepplin, and despite being in probably in his 80s, Carl manages to free Kevin and Russell with Dug's help. They then hijack the zepplin and head to the States.

Up was a pure delight. It took a brave move in making a senior citizen the main hero in a family adventure animated film. The first few minutes are very endearing, and really pulls you into this journey of Carl, and ultimately what he decides to do with himself now that he's nearing the end of his life. I totally think that this is the best animated movie of the year, and a modern-day classic.