Up!!!!!!!!

Up (2009): Starring Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai, Bob Peterson, Elie Docter
The folks at Pixar bring us another high quality, off-beat animated film, this one about an elderly man filling his house with balloons and flying to South America. This is the third film in a row that pixar has openly challenged its audience and their conception of what a "kids movie" should be. And it's that process of challenging the audience they just seem to keep getting better at. The movie opens with the elderly man as a young boy meeting his future wife, and in rapid order, takes us on a very real journey through the joys and pains of life and death. It's quite an amazing piece of story-telling, and with almost not voice-over during the entire segment. George Baily in "It's A Wonderful Life" felt resentment for what he saw as his life's failure, that he never saw the world. The old man is an almost direct continuation of George Baily, always planning that trip, only to have life shoot it down. It's not until a wealthy corporation forces him off his property that he launches his home skyward with the help of thousands of helium balloons. The accidental scout stow-away seems to put a damper on his great adventure at first, but soon becomes a valuable friend as the old man sees himself in the kid. Pixar knows pathos, and Up has a ton of it. Maybe that's why the second half of the movie seems so light, as if to say "everything's going to be okay, kids". Still, unlike like the old disney films where Cinderella is treated mean by the wicked step sisters or Snow White is being hassled by the wicked witch, Pixar's pathos comes from within the characters themselves, something which owes more to classic cinema verite than classic animation studios. It's a style Pixar first introduced in Ratatouille, then further refined in Wall-E, with "refined" being the key word. Pixar has gone from pushing technical boundaries to pushing the boundaries of filmmaking, animation, and the notion of what a "family" movie is. In short, I enjoyed it very much. However, having seen it in 3D, I have to say the 3D seemed tacked on, and didn't really add anything to the viewing experience (the only thing I really noticed as standing out in 3D were the clouds floating around in the sky). I hope Pixar continues to make films like this (at least inbetween the upcoming Toy Story and Cars sequels).
***** out of *****

Good review.