Up

Like a lot of people, I was skeptical when I first heard about the story for Up. An old guy taking his house to South America, via balloons, because his wife wanted to go there before she died? It didn't sound dumb by any means, just kinda weird. Then I realized how weird the stories for WALL-E, Monsters Inc., Ratatouille and a few others sounded, and I knew I'd be seeing it no matter what. I may not like everything Pixar's done, but they have a good track record, and just like with WALL-E, they knocked another one outta the park with Up. If you ask me, I think this movie has the most heart of all Pixar's films, and that's pretty hard to do given the amount of heart that most of them have.Up is the story of Carl Fredricksen, a balloon salesman who lives alone in an old fashioned house now in the middle of a construction site. He runs into a little trouble one day when he's encouraged to sell his house, and takes off with thousands of balloons tied to it. He wants to go to Paradise Falls, a beautiful location in South America that he and his now deceased wife were going to go, but things keep preventing them from taking the trip when they were younger. Everything seems to be going to plan at first, but Carl soon discovers that he's not alone. Russell, a boyscout, was on the porch when the house took off, and is now along for the ride. The two make it to South America, and try to make it to Paradise Falls, but discover a rare bird, 'talking' dogs, and someone that Carl used to admire when he was younger. What's in store for these guys is the definition of adventure.Personally, eventhough kids obviously loved this film, I think Up is a little more for adults than children, kind of like how The Incredibles was. The theme of an old man trying to fulfill a promise made to his dead wife is pretty emotional, and seeing the couple grow old in a montage is sure to tug at anyone's heart strings. The cast of characters here is great, and since the cast is fairly small, everyone gets their share of time. Russell and Dug steal every scene they're in, and the humor is typical Pixar, with a lot of little jokes that anyone can enjoy. Having a boyscout out in the middle of a South American jungle is pretty hilarious on its own when you think about it. I can honestly say that this is one of the few movies in the last couple of years that I enjoyed every minute of. I was never bored, and didn't want the movie to end. The final scene did bring a tear to my eye, not because I found it sad, but because of how beautiful it was. Up deserved every bit of that Best Picture award nomination it got, and it's a shame that it didn't win it.Simply put, the picture and audio quality for the blu-ray are perfect. There's NOTHING bad I can say about either, though it might've been even better if there were a 7.1 track in addition to the 5.1 DTS-HD Master. Either way, if you're looking for an animated movie, or any movie at all, to show off your home theater system, Up is sure to impress.And just like the audio/visual quality, the extras are great too. First you get the dvd and digital copy, and both are good to have since you can have one in the car and the other on your computer or portable media player, then keep the blu-ray for home. Disc one, the blu-ray disc, has a good number of extras. Partly Cloudy is the short that played before the movie in theaters, and Dug's Special Mission is a brand new short where we get to see what Dug was doing before Carl and Russell meet him. There are also two featurettes about the animators going to South America for ideas for the scenery, and one involving the movie's antagonist and a kind of alternate ending with them. There's also an extensive commentary track that'll cover everything not given its own feature on either disc. Very informative, and I liked that they'd point out extra jokes that you might've missed. Disc 2 has even more, with featurettes for the four main characters (Carl, Russell, Dug and Kevin), an extended montage scene of Carl and Ellie when they were younger and growing up (get ready to cry during this one), and more extras covering music, promos, trailers and much more. Basically, the only possible thing missing from this set is the 3D version of the movie, which I'm sure will come out on its own when 3D tvs start to sell better.If you like Pixar, you'll get Up regardless of the reviews. It's definitely a worthy follow-up to WALL-E, which is to me, Pixar's best movie to date. This is definitely one for the whole family, or anyone who just wants to watch a great movie with an excellent story and memorable characters. For the movie itself, or the blu-ray, there's nothing bad I can say at all. This is one of those rare perfect sets.

Great classic cartoon movie. Very emotional and well done. The disk quality is great.

I'm not sure if this is the best movie I've ever seen, but for the life of me I can't think of one better. I'm not usually a watcher of Pixar stuff for some reason, indeed the last one I'd seen was the first Toy Story. No good reason why that's so, I just never got around to them. But something about the premise of Up grabbed me, so when I saw it in a used DVD bin, I snagged it. Two watchings in two days later, and I ordered this particular Blu-Ray copy of it, after bragging about Up to anyone and everyone I came across.What's great about it? Where do I start? First, there's the house made of balloons. It makes for amazing cover art, and arouses curiousity. Petty you think? Not really, the eye likes what the eye likes, and that's not to be discounted. The characters for another. Carl Frederickson isn't some to good to be true hero or precocious kid, he's a crotchety old man who actually behaves like an old man. Go figure eh? He doesn't look much like voice talent Ed Asner, but Asner's voice is letter perfect for the performance. His sidekick, Russell, voiced by Jordan Nagai, acts just like a little kid would act. He's very observant at times, but naive and obtuse a lot of the time as well, just like a real life version of Russell would be. The two of them make for a great team, even if Carl is a little slow to grasp that. And that's what's terrific about the roles, neither of them know everything, or instantly figure out what to do. They have to think, and the movie shows them thinking. Not a lot of movies have the patience, or the sense, to allow its characters to think. But Up does. The supporting characters, like Christopher Plummer's Charles Muntz, the dog Dug, and all the rest are excellently handled as well.The highlight of the supporting characters, for me, was the young/old versions of Ellie Frederickson. The young version is voiced by the director's daughter, and she has the right bit of spunk and adventure for the shy and callow Carl (they look to be about 8-10 years old in those scenes). The adult version, who marries Carl, is done without a voice, and is part of the most touching montage I've ever seen on screen. We watch 50 years of their lives in a few minutes, with no dialogue, yet it spoke volumes. This is why the cliche "A picture is worth a thousand words" is so relevant even today. I think I've watched it five or six times and I still tear up during it.The computer artistry is what one expects from Pixar, even someone like me who isn't a habitual watcher of their films. The balloon house, the airship, the dogs (don't laugh, they're a riot), all of it was done with amazing technical proficiency, and always adds to the story.But it really comes back to Carl and Russell in the end. I cared about them, what happened to them, and more importantly what they took out of those adventures. I've not heard anything about an Up sequel, and there's nothing on its Wikipedia page, but I would love to see another adventure with the two of them in it. Either way, Pixar has made a fan out of me for a long time, I hope they can keep it up.Five stars