A bit too sporadic for my tastes, but still a really good film

Rating: Null/10 (10 January 2014)

For me, Pixar has always been at their best when they don't try to tell you anything, they simply allow the animation to tell its own story. Likewise with this film. The early silent montage of Carl (voiced by Edward Asner) and Ellie (Elie Docter) getting married and just growing old together is... it's unbelievable. Beautiful, touching, heart-breaking, it's one of the most potent scenes I've seen in a long time. Had the rest of the film been equally as good, this film would be in my Top Five.
Alas, for me this film's downfall are its characters. I honestly really like Carl alone. He has this wonderful curmudgeon thing down pat, yet he's still extremely likable and you feel for the guy. Especially because you've just seen a few minutes ago what a great guy and husband he was, and now he has to struggle with both the loss of his wife and the loss of his dreams. Great, great character.
The rest... are okay, for the most part. I never formed any connection with them like I've done with many other Pixar characters. Russell (Jordan Nagai) strays between being annoying and being sympathetic, Charles Muntz's (Christopher Plummer) presence in the film is just bawling, the bird just elicited a bored "huh" out of me and the dogs... well, the dogs were actually okay in a good way. They got a few laughs out of me and they were both cute and menacing as the story demanded.
I have nothing bad to say about the story, which is a sweet and interesting romp through various situations, all of which look great and keep up your interest. But even a great story is built on top of its characters and if you don't feel for those characters, the story is really nothing more than a series of scenes, locations and actions strung together.
I feel like I'm being too negative here. This is a good film. It's great for kids and adults alike, it has one great character in it and the rest are up to the task as well, it looks amazing and has some wonderfully imaginative scenes in it. For some reason I personally don't care too much for it, but that's just me and pretty much everyone else I know loves this film. I'm sure you will as well.