"I have just met you and I love you"

Rating: 10/10 (1 June 2009)

Talking dog Dug's greeting--"I have just met you and I love you"--to lonely widower Carl Fredricksen (Ed Asner) applies just as much to the world's reception for UP, if its current rating as the 151st most-loved movie of all time is any indication. UP tugs harder on the heart-strings during its first 10 minutes than any cartoon in history (for adult viewers, at least). Though this film may give pause to wise and\or precocious kids, such children should have no trouble adding this to their daily dose of doom and gloom. The opening chapter to this story parallels one of the best-loved baby boomer picture books, Virginia Lee Burton's 1942 THE LITTLE HOUSE. However, it uses Asner as a stand-in for actor Frank Morgan's gruff WIZARD OF OZ (1939), whisking an elderly city man rather than a Kansan girl to a cross between LAND OF THE LOST and the current TV show LOST (as in, will this whole bizarre episode turn out just to be Carl's post-traumatic-stress-induced dream, making him a geriatric version of Dorothy Gale?). Carl's chance companion for this trip, would-be boy camper Russell, shares enough of the spirit of young Carl in the movie's opening sequence to shade the rest of the film with a sense of deep irony. Though poignant and bittersweet, this cartoon is fresh, fun, and human enough to merit a projection of its future as a classic with staying power, along the lines of Bambi or Pinocchio.
P.S.--This does NOT seem to be a cartoon that requires the 3-D premium price to get most of the enjoyment. We had free passes to see this in 3-D, but it appeared at least half to two-thirds of the film was virtually undistorted WITHOUT the glasses. So if you're bringing a lot of children and must choose between 2-D with refreshments or 3-D without, it's okay to go for the snacks!