Quickcard Review Up - Disney Digital 3D

Directed by: Pete Docter Cast: (Voices) Ed Asner, Jordan Nagai, Christopher Plummer Running Time: 1 hr 35 mins Rating: PG Release Date: May 29, 2009

Click here For Megan Lehar's complete Scorecard Review of Up

Click here for the He Said - She Said of Up

Plot: Carl Fredricksen (Asner) is a widower about to lose his home to developers, so instead of giving it away, he takes off (literally) with thousands of balloons attached to his house. He attemps to go to South America, but a wilderness scout named Russell (Nagai) accidentally comes along.

Who’s It For? Who doesn't love Pixar? This is a perfect family film, and the elderly have another character to fall in love with since Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino.

OVERALL

Perfection is easy to spot. You just know it when you see it, and then you're able to explain why later. The opening sequence of Up that sits in silence, telling the story of Carl and Ellie is so heart-warming and so overfilled with emotion. Tears fell at the end, and I almost guarantee it will do the same for you. I say almost, because my wife didn't shed a tear. I know. I know.

After the beginning it's a great ride filled with ups and downs. Ruseell is perfect as the slightly overweight sidekick who is eager to help Carl so he can get a scout badge. If he wasn't a cartoon, I'd think it's a shame that he's got the extra weight, but animation lends it's to make him lovable. And speaking of animation, I saw this in Disney Digital 3D and was once again pleasantly surprised they are using this technology for good (adding depth and dimension to the film) and not evil (pies being thrown in your face). It's worth the extra $3.50 ... unless of course you're bringing a family of four and then you can save your money.

Carl's adventure serves purpose whenever he remembers Ellie, but I have to admit his old curmudgeon attitude took me a while to appreciate. Ellie is sweetness personified, and that's the way these two were as a couple, so why has Carl lost all signs of that? Plus Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer) is not a good enough bad guy for this flick, even with the technology he created (but never explained) of making dogs talk. While talking dogs is a funny idea, the one-liners were hit and miss and they went to the "squirrel" well one to many times. I say all of this because during these moments I realized the entire movie isn't perfection (like the beginning), but it is still great fun and something everyone should see in the theater. It's one of the year's best so far.

Final Score: 8/10