My review of UP

When I heard the premise of UP – an irascible old codger befriends an eager neighborhood kid -- I thought, oh great, GRAN TORINO with balloons. But no movie I’ve seen in years is as original and touching as UP. Who knew the most heartfelt and heartbreaking sequence of any movie in years would be in a cartoon? But the montage of Ed Asner’s character, Carl, sharing a life with his wife Ellie is so beautiful, so powerful, so sweet, so emotional without ever once going over the top (not even for a single frame) that UP should win the Best Picture Oscar for that ten minutes alone.

Leave it to Pixar. Those lads know how to tell a story. The best screenwriting done in America right now features talking dogs and toys that come to life. The stories always track, they make sense, you’re invested in the characters (even if they’re robots or grumpy old men), and yet you’re constantly surprised and delighted by the sheer invention and imagination that greets you at every turn.

There is such attention to detail in behavior than any Pixar character (be it a car or a rat) is more three-dimensional than any character in any Jerry Bruckheimer movie.

I imagine the top paragraph makes UP seem maudlin and sad – an animated ABOUT SCHMIDT -- when in fact it’s a rollicking fun throwback to adventure movies and Saturday afternoon serials of the 30s. There are big laughs, thrills & spills, and here’s the best part: parents, you can take your kids to see this without wanting to put a bullet in your head! It’s your reward for sitting through HORTON HEARS A WHO.

Oh, and the animation is cool too. If Walt Disney were alive he’d be in awe of the craft, impressed by the storytelling, and probably the only note he’d give is in the scene where old Carl is sitting alone in his house after his wife has passed on, Walt would have birds and squirrels come in, clean the house, bake him a cake, and buoy his spirits by singing “This is not a morning for mourning”.

I unabashedly loved this movie. And judging by the trailers for the other animated features coming out this summer, see UP six times and skip the others.