An amusing and unusual group of adventurers

Rating: 8/10 (15 June 2012)

In the beginning of the animated film, Up, we are introduced to two young, enthusiastic and very different children who share a passion for traveling and their hero, renowned traveler and explorer Charles Muntz. This connection leads Carl Fredricksen, voiced by Ed Asner, and Ellie to become best friends as well as husband and wife. Their passion for travel never abates and they spend their life saving money to travel to Paradise Falls. Unfortunately, as it often does, life gets in the way and their dream is never reached.
Fast forward many years and we find an old, stubborn, grouchy Carl as the world has changed rapidly and left him disgruntled and refusing to change with it, reminiscent of Walter Mathau and Jack Lemmon in Grumpier Old Men. Refusing to sell his house he mistakenly causes harm to someone, which gets him in trouble with the law and he is forced to live in a retirement community. Refusing to let this get in his way, he manages to inflate thousands of balloons tied to his house, which causes his how to rise up and float away. His destination: Paradise Falls. It's at this point that the theme of the movie really begins to pick up: no matter what happens, life goes on and you should enjoy every minute of it because you don't know what will happen next.
While flying to Paradise Falls, he hears a knock on his door, and unbeknownst to him, a local member of the "Wilderness Explorers", Russell has accidentally been brought along. Having no choice but to bring Russell along, he navigates them safely through a massive thunderstorm and almost arrived at his destination. Many balloons were lost in the storm and although still floating, it is not able to fly at high altitudes so Carl and Russell must drag the house to its final location.
On the trek across the mountainous terrain Carl and Russell encounter an exotic bird and a talking dog that is trying to capture the bird and return it to his master. During this trip the exotic bird runs away because they encounter many other talking dogs and they are escorted to a remote cave where Carl is united with his idol, Charles Muntz, who has spent the better part of his life searching for the elusive exotic bird that has befriend the group. Upon learning this Carl finally shows some emotion and spends the remainder of the film trying to prevent Charles from harming the bird.
This film used amazing computer graphics and enhanced colors to bring a mesmerizing setting to the viewer's eye. The focal point of this movie was the balloons that Carl used to float his house away and you can tell special attention was given to the creation and design to create an impressive display on the screen. The vividness they used also translated into Carl and his grumpy face and the transformation he goes through and without this superior artwork, they would have been unable to truly capture the essence of Up and the central theme of the film of how life goes on and to not waste a minute of it.