By Vanessa Ho
Pixar has done it again. Just when think that the Disney computer animation studio was due for a flop after nine consecutive critical and box office smashes.
And on the surface an animated movie about curmudgeonly 78-year old Carl Frederickson (voiced by Ed Asner) and an 8-yearWildnerss Explorer names Russell (charmingly-voiced by Jordan Nagai) seemed destined to be hits first box office failure but when you dig deeper, the movie is anything but.
Up's first five minutes will have you in tears so you know that the film is going to be good. What has you all emotional is how the story recounts Carl's life with his wife Ellie as they dream of adventures in Paradise Falls that is somewhere in South America. However, life gets in the way, they get older and Ellie passes away before that dream becomes a reality.
With Carl's home under threat of developers and himself being forced to move to a retirement community, Carl (a former balloon salesman) attaches 1000s of helium balloons to his home to finally embark on the South American adventure that his wife dreamed of as a little girl.
A hiccup in his plan is stowaway Russell, who was on Carl's front porch when the house floated up. Russell attaches himself to Carl as he just needs one more badge (Assisting the Elderly) so that he can become a Senior Wilderness Explorer. The pair does make it to Paradise Falls and encounter an exotic bird, talking dogs and a disgraced explorer (Christopher Plummer).
The movie is the first Disney Pixar 3D film and seeing Up in 3D isn't totally necessary. There were only a handful of scenes like when house floats away and some of action sequences that is neat but not worthwhile to pay the extra dough for the 3D glasses that are styled like the glasses that Carl sports. You don't need 3D to appreciate the colors of the balloons or on the exotic bird.
The real winner of this movie is the performance of Nagai as Russell. It is so adorable and innocent and filled with joyous naivety that as he and Carl go through their adventure, it elicited a lot of oohs and aahs from the audience. Russell is also animated so cutely that you just want to hug him.
Asner and Nagai made for a great voice team that elevated what is essentially a great buddy flick.
Also stay for the end credits for some Carl and Russell treats and don't be late for the film, you don't want to miss the Pixar short, Partly Cloudy, which plays before Up. I won't spoil plot details but let's just say clouds never looked so cute.
Pixar has done it again. Just when think that the Disney computer animation studio was due for a flop after nine consecutive critical and box office smashes.
And on the surface an animated movie about curmudgeonly 78-year old Carl Frederickson (voiced by Ed Asner) and an 8-yearWildnerss Explorer names Russell (charmingly-voiced by Jordan Nagai) seemed destined to be hits first box office failure but when you dig deeper, the movie is anything but.
Up's first five minutes will have you in tears so you know that the film is going to be good. What has you all emotional is how the story recounts Carl's life with his wife Ellie as they dream of adventures in Paradise Falls that is somewhere in South America. However, life gets in the way, they get older and Ellie passes away before that dream becomes a reality.
With Carl's home under threat of developers and himself being forced to move to a retirement community, Carl (a former balloon salesman) attaches 1000s of helium balloons to his home to finally embark on the South American adventure that his wife dreamed of as a little girl.
A hiccup in his plan is stowaway Russell, who was on Carl's front porch when the house floated up. Russell attaches himself to Carl as he just needs one more badge (Assisting the Elderly) so that he can become a Senior Wilderness Explorer. The pair does make it to Paradise Falls and encounter an exotic bird, talking dogs and a disgraced explorer (Christopher Plummer).
The movie is the first Disney Pixar 3D film and seeing Up in 3D isn't totally necessary. There were only a handful of scenes like when house floats away and some of action sequences that is neat but not worthwhile to pay the extra dough for the 3D glasses that are styled like the glasses that Carl sports. You don't need 3D to appreciate the colors of the balloons or on the exotic bird.
The real winner of this movie is the performance of Nagai as Russell. It is so adorable and innocent and filled with joyous naivety that as he and Carl go through their adventure, it elicited a lot of oohs and aahs from the audience. Russell is also animated so cutely that you just want to hug him.
Asner and Nagai made for a great voice team that elevated what is essentially a great buddy flick.
Also stay for the end credits for some Carl and Russell treats and don't be late for the film, you don't want to miss the Pixar short, Partly Cloudy, which plays before Up. I won't spoil plot details but let's just say clouds never looked so cute.
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