Its great but lets not call it the best Pixar because its not

Rating: 7/10 (25 August 2015)

I am certainly not as enamoured by this film as the rest of the free world seems to be. Its funny, touching and good, but its nary a patch on Finding Nemo or Toy Story or Monsters Inc.
The story of Carl and Ellie's was beautiful and poignant. I loved that Ellie's family were gun- toting nuts and Carl's were stiff straight shooters, so that Ellie's sense of adventure was both a positive influence and a point of attraction to young Carl. One little scene in the montage of Carl finding their dream jar was absolutely wrenching. After she goes, Ellie remains a delightful influence on the story, especially one final scene where Carl opens her dream adventure book and finds that she has filled it with her life with him - showing us that Ellie was happier with the adventure she did have than the adventure Carl thinks she missed. The closure given to Carl was really beautiful.
However, these beautiful scenes happen in the midst of a rather dull and conventional adventure (certainly by Pixar standards). Carl's desire to move his house to Paradise Falls, yes, but his and Russell's side quest to save the world's most annoying bird is more of the preachy environmentalism I saw and found irritating in WALL-E. Christopher Plummer pops up to voice the villain Charles Muntz, who just wants to capture the bird and save his reputation that was "Gary Webb"ed sixty years prior. Without the classy and honest Pixar execution, I'd probably have been rooting for Muntz to get that stupid bird back home.
I found Carl and Russell an adequate Pixar team - good to root for but I found myself not particularly caring about their falling out later in the film, which is a far cry from Woody-Buzz or Mike-Sully. The best character of the film is the lovable Dug, a gentle outcast from Muntz's pack of talking dogs, who steals the entire movie with his dopey optimism and beautifully written dog dialogue.
Up is colourful (I never get sick of looking at the ballooned house), funny (see one hilarious scene where Carl imagines lowering Russell down to the buildings below) and touching (oh Ellie), but if I have to choose between Up and one of Pixar's early 2000's films, I know where my heart will always lie.