loses its way at times but endearing in large part

Rating: 7/10 (27 July 2009)

For a few perilous moments in the middle of "Up," I began to suspect that the folks at Pixar just might be about to register their first major stumble in the studio's hitherto flawless reign as "king" of the computer-animated film (a reign which began with "Toy Story" all the way back in 1995). But, like the airborne house that floats at the center of the story, the movie eventually righted itself and sailed off smoothly into the wild blue yonder.
This generally wistful and enchanting film tells the tale of Carl Fredricksen, a grumpy old man whose beloved wife, Ellie, has recently died, taking their dream - of traveling to South America, to a place called Paradise Falls, and setting up home there - to the grave with her. When Carl is threatened with eviction, he hatches a fantastical scheme of attaching hundreds of helium-filled balloons to the house and flying to South America on sheer wind power alone. This he does, accompanied by an adorable little tyke named Russell, who just happens to be caught under the porch at the moment of liftoff.
So far, so good, as "Up" captivates us completely with its imagination, its lyricism and its charm, along with its visual homage to such earlier classics as "The Red Balloon," "The Wizard of Oz" and "Around the World in 80 Days." There's also a stunning montage sequence which chronicles - without narration or dialogue - the complete married life of the Fredricksens, starting with their wedding and ending in Ellie's eventual death.
The trouble for "Up" begins to rear its ugly head only after Carl and Russell have arrived at their intended destination. Here they are confronted by a number of strange and exotic creatures, including a hitherto unclassified species of bird and a bunch of dogs who've been given the ability to speak by some sort of shadowy mad scientist who's clearly up to no good in this remote corner of the world. At times, we begin to suspect that once the writers, Bob Petersen and Pete Docter, came up with the idea of launching an old Victorian house into the stratosphere, they never really figured out what to do with it once they got it up there. But the messy mixture of science fiction and jungle melodrama they've come up with is unworthy of all the quality work that has come before it.
Yet, what eventually saves "Up" from crashing and burning in its second half is the wonderful voice work by Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer and Jordan Nagai, the soaring and sweetly romantic score by Michael Giacchino, and the theme that sometimes our yearning for adventure can make us so myopic that we fail to perceive the "adventure" that's happening right in front of our eyes on a day-by-wonderful-day basis (more shades of "The Wizard of Oz"). These alone are enough to compensate for the occasional narrative misfires, a made-to-order villain, and an overabundance of drooling, snarling pooches that feel strangely out-of-place in a tender and lyrical fable such as this one.
The animation and backgrounds aren't quite as rich and compelling as they were in Pixar's previous two ventures, "Ratatoille" and "Wall-E," but the less spectacular look actually makes "Up" a more contemplative, relaxing work to sit through.