"There is no value without sentimental value." And that's the Pixar value.

Rating: 8/10 (14 June 2009)

Saw it in Bangkok in 3D, found it overwhelmingly touching for a cartoon. If the movie can keep you concentrate on its sentimental side for the whole 2-hours ride, it surely can make you think it's the best animated film ever made(as currently at Top 18 of IMDb Top 250).
The film doesn't falls short in technical aspects. The characters, objects and everything are animated in a way that they're not bound by the physics rules. The scenes are not so different from a combination of The Incredibles and Cars, but they are assembled professionally and made their own credibility. You can prematurely conclude that a movie casting an old fart as the main character may not be vividly colorful, but that definitely is wrong. You will find the color of good old days' memory, color of freshness and color of life in Up, and you don't have to try to get it.
The story, basically the same formula implemented by Pixar, has indeed succeed again. After Wall-E and Up, we can safely say that, there are not any common senses that Pixar dare not break. So don't argue about how many balloons can bringing up a house, or how was the house floating so steady without proper operation, or how did another old fart get the technology of a dog voice box after locking himself in mountains half a century. Just sit and take it for what it is and enjoy. Family ingredient is the true star of Up, which took me to tears twice in the first 20 minutes. If ever you get a stubborn but loving family member, you will cry too. And after all, it's the sentimental value that saved its climax and ending from being a run-of-the-mill fun.
However, there is always a however. Since Pixar made Wall-E, Up will not escape from being compared to Wall-E. The screenplay of Wall-E totally blew me away from beginning to the end, but Up's energy is halfway leaking like the balloons on the house. The fist act, so touchingly executed, totally promised too much for the rest of Up to bear. After Charles became a menace, the movie became predictable at all. You can tell the bird tried to escape but failed, the old man has to struggle between his house(a symbol of all the sentimental value summed up) and the righteousness(saving the bird), you can also tell what choice he's gonna make and how he's gonna overcome his own issue. It's also obviously rigid that the writer tried to combine old Carl's emotion breaking through and the rescue mission. At last, it's sad for me to find it predictable because it's like suddenly waking up from a beautiful, touching dream.But, this doesn't prevent the whole cinema from laughing through the movie and appreciate the efforts makers put in it. This is still, a great film in every aspect.
You definitely need to bring your family to it. The children will learn, the elders will sigh and sob, and all of them will enjoy. Sometimes it has a darker and heavier undertone than Wall-E, but the final result is still as up-beating as a balloon.
8.5/10 A fierce competitor in Oscar, but may be beaten this time.