Up is a glorious, sweet film – another brilliant work from Pixar. I laughed, I cried. No, seriously, I teared up during the opening sequence that portrays the life-long love affair between the main character, Carl Fredrickson, and his wife – from their first meeting as children to her death – without a word of dialogue. From there, it’s a movie about Carl figuring out how to live his life after devastating loss and the adventure begins.
About to lose his home and be shipped off to a retirement home, Carl decides to take go on the adventure he and his wife Ellie always wanted to but never did – to Paradise Falls in South America. To do this, the former balloon salesman uses his leftover stock to lift his house off its foundation and float away. But he soon finds out he’s not alone, when an overeager wilderness scout named Russell knocks on his door. Reluctantly Carl lets Russell in and together they make it to Paradise Falls where they run into a pack of talking dogs, a huge colorful bird, and a long-lost eccentric explorer who is hunting the bird and using the dogs to do it. I enjoyed every silly second of it and so did the six-year old I took with me. I asked him his favorite part, and to my surprise his answer was “the old guy.” So obviously Pixar and Ed Anser, everyone’s favorite curmudgeon, who voices Carl, are doing something right if they can get a six-year old to like “the old guy.”
So is it a chick flick? I’d say yes – you’ve got laughs, you’ve got tears, and you’ve got a love story. Take the kids if you haven’t already, or borrow one if you don’t have your own, because I’d say Up is a must see this summer.