A touching tale with a strong underlying message

Rating: 10/10 (28 August 2015)

Pixar laid the foundation of passionate animated film-making. This company clearly knows how to communicate with the audience and they have become experts in creating intelligent and multi-faceted movies. What makes their movies unique is the fact that they are able to entertain different ages with different tools. Furthermore, they always smuggle some sort of moral message into their films. From year to year they raised the bar and after Wall-e i wasn't sure they can make another animated miracle. They did.
The story was wondrous and imaginative at the same time. From the beginning till the end it completely captivated me and every event was spiced with an indescribable charm. The creators divorced from reality and they approached Up from another direction. A year earlier, the story of Wall-e tried to stick to reality, but now the main focus was on creating a some sort of tale image. I felt like i am reading a tale to my kids and that's the evidence of success.
Without doubt characters are the highlights of the show. Our two main hero are unique in their own way and they earned my sympathy pretty quickly. The bond that slowly grew between Carl and Russel was well structured and watching their relationship was a heartwarming feeling.
Carl was a quite and shy boy during his childhood, but the appearance of Ellie in his life gave a completely new meaning to everything. They perfectly completed each other and this proved to be the key of a lifelong relationship. We see their love story from the beginning till the end, even (for us) it only lasts a few minutes. This short montage is the perfect example of Pixar's success, they can picture emotions very gently with moments that don't require dialogs at all.
Enough hint was given to understand Russel's passion about the whole wilderness explorer thing. Child of divorced parents, a father who is too busy to be a part of his son's life, a kid who would like to have more attention and recognition from his father. He desperately tries to find a connection, a common point. A well-know sample, but it works.
Even the villain's actions were reasonable and understandable. A man who was tossed out by the explorer society looking for a chance to earn his respect back. An insuppressible rage that slowly consumed him and made him "blind". This huge obsession and the many years of loneliness affect his mind and made him what he is.
Without doubt my personal favorite was Doug. Besides Russel he was responsible for the most fun. He wasn't tried to be funny, but whatever he said always ended in something hilarious or cute. Even the fact, that creators tried to imagine what thoughts a dog may have was a brave and smart move.
As usual, both sides (kids and adults) receive the perfect amount of fun. The chemistry between the characters ensures funny situations and many other things (e.g.: dogs as assistants) serve as a great source of humor as well. My favorite line was: "We're gonna walk to the falls quickly and quietly with no rap music or flash dancing", but the "smail mailman" description was also hilarious and creative at the same time.
There is no Pixar movie without some moral message, this is their strongest feature and during the years they were able to develop this skill to perfection. The best thing is that Pixar doesn't directly throw these messages in your face. These are hidden among the events and can only be felt in tiny manifestations. This time, we face the importance of moving forward and finding a new purpose. This is a very important lesson that many people ignore to realize or refuse to face.
A movie's ending is always a critical point, closing can add or take away from the overall experience. Up handled this point very well. The moral message unfolds here, the final scene reminds us how important to move on and you must let new things happen to you. I am so thankful that i live in an era where smart and talented people are capable of dreaming and creating such beautiful and heartwarming movies like this.