Life is the adventure - though dreams never die, nor should they.

Rating: 10/10 (8 March 2012)

It's always a delight to find a completely original film. Often animation tries too hard to ape gritty realism or trite cartoonishness to be tediously impactful or overly cute, respectively. This film does neither. Pixar seems fated to produce (for the most part) great films and they should be very proud of this one.
The human observation (with, I felt, a vaguely Tati-esque feel) and the soundtrack complement the charm and comedy. From the opening scenes, through the montage of Carl's life to this point - a mere 10 minutes of run time - I was already quietly mopping my peepers. I moved easily from that to laughter as Carl began his day as a tired old curmudgeon. If this film doesn't move you several times from laughter to tears and back again then, lucky you: some great living and loving lie ahead.
The quality of the animation; the lushly realistic textures, the incredible lighting, the wryness of character movements all multiply the feel and atmosphere. The look has a satisfyingly retrograde feel reminiscent of "The Incredibles" with some "Triplets of Belleville" and "Ratatouille". Clearly it will only be a decade or two before animation can be indistinguishable from reality if the film makers wish it so. This is not really a children's film; adults past thirty will easily appreciate the rich sadness and comic redemption. Perhaps the children need to wait a bit to see it.
Deserving of its high rating, this is easily the best animation feature .. SQUIRREL!! ... I've ever seen.