Pixar's most emotionally involving film. Best flick so far of 2009!

Rating: 10/10 (6 June 2009)

Early reviews of Disney/Pixar's Up made some statements that I myself could not believe. The main charge in almost all the reviews was that the audience was crying within the first ten minutes. This seemed impossible to me, that an audience of people could become so emotionally involved in a film within ten minutes as to start crying...I was wrong. The opening to this film is heartbreaking, and possibly one of the saddest scenes to be featured in a film. And they pepper these little scenes throughout. This movie is very emotionally involving, and that's a good thing.
Carl Fredrickson (In his old age, voiced by Ed Asner) at one time was a kid with dreams of being an adventurer, visiting strange and exotic lands. As a child, he met Ellie, the girl of his dreams, and he got married to her. They had a life together, tried to have a baby, and as life went on, the explorer dreams went farther and farther away. After Ellie's death, Carl has become a bitter old man. Now 78, all that Carl has left is his house, which construction workers want down. After an accident where Carl injures a man, Carl is forced into an old folks home, but he isn't going. Being a retired balloon salesman, Carl has plenty of balloons left, so he ties his house up and takes off for South America where he and his wife dreamed of going. Unfortunately for him, boy scout wilderness explorer Russell (voiced by Jordan Nagai) came along for the ride. Adventure and chaos ensues while trying to get his house to the exact spot in South America.
This really is an excellent, if not almost perfect picture. The characters have such depth, as is true with most Pixar main characters. Carl is a mean old man, but he is definitely likable, and it's easy to see the motivation behind his anger and bitterness. Russell is another deep character, written to be the comic foil, and to be a cute little kid, and to be the child from a broken home who has problems. These characters contrast so perfectly and have excellent chemistry, and are just well written in themselves.
In many ways this is a touching film. Lot's of character development is featured, mainly from Carl, but from others too. Carl is such a tragic hero, and all he wants to do is set his house down where he and his wife dreamed. Carl's wants and needs should click with anybody who has nostalgia and just wants to live their past. He's a broken man, trying to redeem himself, for himself and for the memory of his deceased wife. It's really a sad tale in itself, but with the normal Pixar magic, it's also an uplifting, funny, entertaining film that will definitely be remembered as a classic.
Pixar has yet again raised their bar even higher. Up is a beautiful adventure film filled with rich characters, great animation and very real emotion. Possibly Pixar's best picture yet, and that's including the amazing Wall-E. Best picture thus far of 2009!
My rating: **** out of ****. 99 mins. PG for some tragic scenes.