Way Up!

Rating: 8/10 (15 June 2015)

Up (2009): Dir: Pete Docter / Voices: Edward Asner, Jordan Nagai, Bob Petersen, Christopher Plummer, Pete Docter: Adventurous animation regarding living life to the fullest. Elderly Carl Fredricksen descends to the air bound for South American Paradise Falls via thousands of balloons lifting his house. He is accompanied by an eight year old kid out for adventure. While third act is ridiculous with dogs flying planes, director Pete Docter is backed with extraordinary visual images. He previously made another inventive Pixar animation called Monsters Inc. Edward Asner voices Carl whose back story is the emotional core. It is a sad yet detailed account of how his childhood love gradually became his wife but their planned trip to Paradise Falls was always prevented. He will now make the trip with Russell and become the father figure he never was. Jordan Nagai voices the enthusiastic Russell whose meaning is obvious. Bob Petersen voices Dug the dog with a voice collar and a better route in life in mind. Christopher Plummer voices the villain whose story is depressing considering his humiliation. His ability to render dogs in flight with speech collars is insane, and his defeat is at the mercy of his accusers. Pete Docter provides the noises of the rare bird in edition to directing this epic animation. The film teaches our potential regardless of our age. Score: 8 / 10