A love story told from a man's point of view

Rating: 10/10 (17 June 2010)

Most reviewers who are "guys" in the true sense of the word will probably mention GPS, boy scouts or say "SQUIRREL!" or something like that about this movie. While those things are certainly in this movie and are funny plot devices, UP is, in it's essence, a love story told from a man's point of view. What a refreshing turn. In the first 3 minutes, every man with a shred of testicular fortitude is holding back a flood of tears. What transpires after that is wondrous.
Carl Fredricksen has turned into a crotchety old man because he has lost the love of his life, his wife Ellie. Throughout their marriage, life's most common problems has prevented the completion of what brought them together as children: building a home near a falls in South America. His grumpiness is confounded by the necessity of moving out of his; of their; home which is in the way of the wreckers ball. His undying love for her inspires him to finish what he believes is her life's desire. Along the way, near tragedy strikes, and in the process of choosing between what he believes SHE would want and what HE should do, he discovers that what she had wanted the most all along was what she had: a life with him.
He discovers inside himself, once again, what it was that fueled their love all those years: A good man, who can choose right over desire and not look away when what is before him doesn't fit his conceptions. He saves the day, of course (this is Disney, after all) but then the movie becomes even more magical and it even carries on into the credits: He takes his legacy of love for his wife and uses it to build a new life with a young boy who needs a grandfatherly figure.
I have not been so moved by a movie since "Lion King", which still rates as my # 1 animated movie ever and may be my favorite movie of all time. "UP" is a close second.