One of My Favorite Films of All Time!

Rating: 10/10 (20 June 2009)

Okay so listen ... I went into this film with lower expectations than I do most Pixar films. I had heard the rumblings of reviewers that it was a fantastic film, but speaking honestly the previews did nothing for me. I couldn't figure out who I was supposed to root for! The kid looked annoying, the old man looked like a grump, and for some bizarre reason his house was floating on a bunch of balloons! On top of that, I thought Wall-E just totally SUCKED and, while I thought Ratatouille was a little bit better than that, I didn't really like that one much either. So to me, Pixar was on a slide and the previews for Up did nothing to disabuse me of the notion that the slide was continuing.
Wow, was I wrong! Pixar has produced an absolute MASTERPIECE of an animated feature. Up has not only become my favorite Pixar film, but also one of my favorite films of any genre, animated or live action.
Anyone who can walk out of that theater and claim not to have been touched by Carl and Ellie's story is either lying or dead inside. And for me, a guy who's about to turn 40, the underlying theme of life being what happens while you're busy doing other things just resonated with me tremendously. I could all-too-easily envision myself as Carl one day and it touched me deeply.
Prior to this film, I could count on one hand the number of films that had made me cry ... and all of them were typical "guy cries" ... Field of Dreams, Brian's Song, Saving Private Ryan.
Well after Up, I've had to engage a 2nd hand. Not only did I cry, but I cried multiple times! Pixar does an AMAZING job of making you truly care about Carl. How they can inspire those emotions in people with nothing more than a bunch of dots moving on a screen I have no clue, but they do it and they do it in spades.
Run ... don't walk ... to see this film. See it two, three, or four times. But do yourself a favor ... skip the 3D. It takes away from the true beauty of this film, which is not the visuals, but the story.