Review: Up

Review: Up

Rating: ***1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 98%

A lonely old man and a pudgy little boy travel by balloon-house to South America and . . .

Does this sound like a sure-fire plot for an animated film? Hardly. But it all works so beautifully. As we've come to expect from Pixar, the animation is stunning; the colors vibrant. My grandson Max and I chose to forgo the 3-D version, and we weren't sorry.

The "adventure in Venezuela" part of the plot is great fun with talking dogs, an exotic bird, a marvelous airship, and an evil nemesis. But it is the beginning of the film that I found most compelling. With few words, the movie recounts the story of the meeting, courtship, and marriage of Carl and Ellie Fredricksen: a union marked by unrealized mutual dreams and the sad absence of children. Ellie and Carl grow old together and Ellie dies, leaving Carl to his profound sadness. This story is told directly with the absence of sentimentality. To Pixar's credit, the film recognizes that Carl's sadness does not disappear, that it surfaces from time to time. Carl, however, is not paralyzed by his grief; he moves on to fulfill his and his wife's dream.

Death at the beginning of a Disney film has been almost formulaic historically, especially the death of a parent as in Bambi, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, and Finding Nemo. In Up, death is treated realistically and appropriately for its intended viewers: impressionable children.

Max, by the way, thought the movie was terrific and far superior to Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it