Up (2009 - Animated film)

Directed by - Pete Docter

Cast - Edward Asner (Carl Fredricksen), Jordan Nagai (Russell), Bob Peterson (Dug) and Christopher Plummer (Charles F. Muntz)


Disney-Pixar does it again. After the tough-to-top Wall-E, the gold mine of animation has come up with, yet again, another visual treat for the young and old alike. "UP" is Pixar's tenth movie to-date. And it doesn't disappoint.

Have you ever had a dream as a kid? A plan? One that you swore you would see through no matter what?

Meet Carl Fredrickson. A shy, quiet boy whose hero is the world renowned explorer Charles Muntz. Carl befriends Ellie, a feisty little chatterbox who shares his devotion of Muntz. Ellie dreams of moving to South America one day and building a house on top of Paradise Falls and makes Carl promise he'll take her there someday.

Ellie and Carl grow up and get married, living blissfully and very much in love. They try to save up money to go to Paradise Falls but something or the other always crops up and makes it impossible. After several years, just when it seems like they can finally make it there, Ellie dies of old age, leaving Carl alone and bitter, missing his wife very much (Four minutes of wordless, heart-breaking montage encompassing Carl and Ellie's life together, set to a haunting number by composer Michael Giacchino - One of the many reasons I love this movie) To make matters worse, the City Council wants to run down Carl's house and build something else in its place.

When it all finally gets too much, 78-year old Carl hatches a plan to get away from the concrete jungle and honour Ellie's wishes at the same time by moving his house to Paradise Falls. Using, literally, thousands of helium balloons tied to his house, he lifts it off its foundations and floats his way to South America.

But unbeknownst to Carl, eight-year old Russell, a little-too-eager boyscout stows away along with him. Carl has no choice but to take Russell along with him. When they finally crash-land in South America after running into a storm, they realize they need to walk the rest of the way to get to the Falls and pull the house behind them.

Along the way, they run into a colourful, chocolate-loving bird whom Russell adopts on the spot and names Kevin (we are later told Kevin is, in fact, a female), a talking dog named Dug (a voice box on his collar allows him to speak) who adopts them and a whole lot of trouble which they were better off staying out of.

The what, the who and the how that follow is what makes this movie one of the best in 2009. The laughs are aplenty and it gets you chuckling in all the right places. Russell (the first Asian-American lead in a Pixar movie) and his naivety are just adorable. The initial moments between him and Carl are something to watch out for. Dug steals the show (A talking dog! Come on!) and his obvious love for Carl and desire to please him is just so like a dog that you can't help but love him.

It's a simple, heart-warming storyline that touches every aspect of life - love, death, sadness, betrayal, friendship and that tricky little thing called hope - with amazing finesse and leaves you longing for an adventure of your own.

I'm gonna go with 10 BOPs for this visually stunning masterpiece

(I would give it more if I could - I dare you to come out of the movie theatre and say you disagree with me. Now, shoo. Go watch it!)

Reviewed by,
Mithila Ananth

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Posted by Girl at 5:29 AM  |