Definitely "up" my alley.

Rating: 8/10 (21 June 2009)

After having a long time of not watching animation movies, I pretty much thought that my love for animation was over.
But then came Up and that love sparked back up.
In Pixar's tenth featured film, we start off with Carl Fredricksen as a child who adores Charles Muntz, a famous explorer. He is inspired by Muntz and wants to become an explorer like him one day. Then after walking through his town, he meets a girl, Ellie, that has the same passion for adventure in the wildlife as Carl does. They get married and go through a happy marriage for a long time. Now I do not know if this is a spoiler or not, but I am being safe by saying this may be a spoiler to some of you. Eventually, Carl's wife dies in the first ten minutes of the movie from old age. Carl is very depressed about his wife's passing because the two of them wanted to travel over to South America and plant a house on top of a mountain there for the two to live in. So one day, the day before Carl is about to be sent over to a retirement home, Carl ties thousands of balloons to his house which lifts him in the air, away from his town and towards South America. Everything is perfect for Carl, except he gets a knock on his door and finds out a boy scout, Russell, was on the porch at the time of the take off. Now Carl must deal with Russell and a series of other misadventures while in South America with a talking dog and a exotic bird.
Up really stood out to me as being one of Pixar's finest films ever made. For one thing, the story is very unique and original. Also, (if you really study this film) the movie talks about complex themes that is simplified for children to understand such as aging, struggles and feelings after the death of a loved one, and the eagerness to go out of your normal life. The cast for the voices were perfect; Edward Asner being Carl and Christopher Plummer being Muntz. And like every Pixar film, the sound editing was great and very detailed.
I have a rating system that I use to judge movies. 1 being the worse and 10 being the best. Then I have low, middle, and high within the 1-10 range. So an okay movie would receive a mid or low 6, but a really good movie like Up would get a mid or high 8 for me. And that is what I would give this film, a mid 8. If you thought this comment was useful, do not press "yes" but instead, use this as an impetus to watch Up and have a great time because that is what this movie does; gives you the 96 minutes to focus your mind away from your life and into this wonderful movie.