Perfection

Rating: 10/10 (14 October 2009)

Up finally arrives in the UK and, just when I thought Pixar couldn't do better than WALL-E, it turns out they can.
It's not often that I find myself thinking that a film is pretty much perfect, but this is one of them. The core story of Carl's adventure in his balloon-powered house together with stowaway Russell is exciting, involving, moral, funny (very funny!), and visually stunning.
The 3D is used wonderfully effectively, but without being so in-your-face that you are always having your nose rubbed in it.
But I must put my name down as one of those who was stunned by the opening sequence running from the newsreel footage of Muntz' initial exploration through Carl and Ellie meeting and then the montage of their life together. This exquisite sequence wasn't just great animation, it was - in my view - one of the all time great cinematic sequences, on a par with any of the classic sequences since the birth of cinema. In 10 short minutes it not only provided the exposition, it also conveyed a huge amount of information which paid off later in the film, and did both of these without you ever feeling that you were being spoonfed. And I can't recall the last time something moved me so deeply in the cinema.
This movie is, simply, a work of genius.