This is not just an animated film, calling it so would be an unforgivable crime. This is art, this is heart and this is pure soul.

Rating: 10/10 (14 December 2013)

Calling Up an animated film would be a vile insult for Up transcends this common ordinary denomination to stand as a beacon of hope for Hollywood and film making in general. Pixar created a masterpiece of art, they created the definition of cinematic magic. Never has there been a more enchanting, a more fascinating, a more spellbinding animated feature than Up. As i said this is not animation, it is something much more special. Up feels like a Newbery or Carnegie medal winning children's book that comes alive and captures the imagination and soul but this time instead of doing so with text it happens to do so on the silver screen. It feels more like these timeless, enduring and unfading works of pure literary imagination than just being a movie. Movies pale in comparison to Up. Yes i am comparing this film to award winning, timeless, generation spanning and magical literature because comparing Up to other films would be a far more severe insult than calling it an animated film. Up has the magical enchantment only found in books. Up takes all these great qualities that only books have to an even more extraordinary level. Do you want to know what that is? Pure unadulterated emotion. Emotion so profound and philosophical, so startling and deep. Emotion like nothing i have ever seen in animated films nor in almost all of the live action fare that has ever been created for that matter. The humanity in Up slays me. Humanity that is devoid in box office blockbusters and especially lacking in pretentious and fake independent artsy fartsy critics award winning fare.
What exactly is Up? I shall tell you. It is whimsy and imagination, it is unlike anything you have ever seen or experienced before. Is that it? No it is also an emotional and heart breaking roller coaster of a ride about a man who was always socially withdrawn from boyhood. It is about a young boy whose spirit was brought out by a young, quirky, vivacious and beyond special young girl who had a zeal for life. A girl who was his soul-mate. I have never found it apropos to use the word 'soul-mate' in my life as it is too a powerful and misused word. Though it is the perfect definition for what Carl and Ellie were to each other. She was a young budding naturalist who had a sense of adventure and discovery in her, something she and Carl so amazingly shared. Carl fell in love with Ellie, married her and had a life that was so beautiful and fulfilling, a true love that is so human and pure unlike anything ever depicted in the movies. These days these Indie flicks and their sterile, pretentious portrayals of soulless and bitter relationships, showing them to be the reality and order of the day, have raped the meaning of love. They brainwash spurned youths and empower the cynical fake artsy fartsy crowd to spread their pretentiousness and lack of life. I'm sorry cynics but pure love exists and i feel sorry for all of you who have never experienced it. It took an animated film to portray real love. Through heartache and pain they trudged on and never let a second of life or love slip them by.
Up is about the loss of a loved one, coping in an ever changing world that is becoming cold and sterile by the second. It is about social isolation and losing ones reason to live. It painfully portrays the loss of hope, deftly portraying the excruciating heartache of loneliness while illustrating the poetic beauty of courage and strength. Sounds profound and beautiful for a kids film huh?! Well it is certainly that and even more. Up is about love's enduring promise, the fulfillment of a dream. It is about keeping your dearly departed close to your soul and holding on to your one and only reason for living, your true love and best friend. It is about honoring the departed and never losing ones zeal and passion for life. It is about love beyond the afterlife. It is about soul searching adventure unlike anything you have ever experienced, finding the purest of friendships, recognizing innocence and letting it flourish and being there for someone so pure and impressionable. It is about kindred spirits. It is about love and friendship finding a way to heal broken hearts. Most of all it is about letting go for memories of love will always persist. Material items may come and go but emotions endured will never die. Up is mesmeric and perspicacious. It is about laughter and life. It says never let sadness take you away from this vast adventure we call life, live and cherish every second. When one adventure ends, it is not the end for another will begin, a new chapter. Up is about love. Love that will never die, never end for it exists in the heart. An invincible and unconquerable love that will never be extinguished and will motivate and inspire with courage, hope and strength unlike any ever know. It is about the end and also about the beginning.
This film is everything i have said and countless other beautiful things that words cannot portray. Carl, Ellie, Russell and Dug feel like family and not just characters. Up concentrates on the personal, on different relationships, with different meanings but at the end it is all about love.
Pixar delved deep into the soul to create an awe inspiring masterpiece that has and will always move me, inspire me and warm my heart, stir my soul and emotions in the most beautiful and touching ways possible. Up is Pixar's greatest triumph, it is the greatest animated film of all time. Even the word 'great' feels like too small a word to describe Up. Up may very well be the greatest film of all time.