Up, up and away!
The story of Up is nothing short of touching. Sure you have several, if not all, Pixar movies that have that flavor of ‘goodness’ in it that makes you walk away saying, “Let’s live life to its fullest because you never know.”, but this one shows you that it’s never to old to do that.
The film begins with Charles Fredricksen, a young boy who falls in love with the girl of his dreams. Both want to go out and adventure, but thanks to a series of mishaps there adventuring dreams never come true. The dream of moving their house to a place in South America called Paradise Falls doesn’t happen because of a constantly used savings (thanks to a few blown tires and mishaps). What is even worse is their chance to settle down and have kids is cut short because Mrs. Fredricksen cannot have babies. In the end, the dreams that the Fredricksen’s had seem lost when Mrs. Fredricksen passes away.
At this point if you’re not in tears, you’re just plain heartless.
Moving along, Charles’ life becomes pretty dull, as he just becomes lonelier and more bitter as each day passes. He lives in the same house, on the same street and still does the same thing. One day, he comes home and finds that someone has issued a court ordered abandonment of his house (so they can build large buildings on the property) and he has to look for a retirement home to ‘finish’ his life in. Fed up with the world, and determined not to go that direction, he pulls a fast one on the city and attaches thousands of balloons to his house and floats away. The only problem? He floated away with a boy scout-esque kid named Russell, who only wanted to get a badge for helping an elderly man. Anyway, both Charles and Russell go on adventure of a lifetime in hopes of landing in Paradise Falls and completing the dream that Charles’ wife wanted so many years ago. Along the way they find exotic animals, a dog that can talk (with other talking dogs as well) named Dug and a very deranged adventurer trying to right the wrong put on his name… no matter the cost.
Generally, I type shorter descriptions of a movie’s storyline, but felt like Up really deserved far more attention. The movie is nothing short of touching. It’s something that many people need to see this time of year. Around the holiday times it gets lonely for people who have no one to go to; be it a family, a loved one or children. This movie’s strongest point is that it really wants you to be happy and understand the importance of living your life to the fullest. I can’t think of any bigger, better message than that. What’s even better is how they take that message and mix it in with comedy and animation. You have some pretty funny looking characters mixed in with a very seriously established tone. I can’t remember the last time you saw two people live out their lives, lose a child and have one of the characters die all in the same Pixar film. That’s some pretty heavy stuff for kids to see and for adults as well. Pixar did this all tastefully as the even balance between serious drama and cute comedy definitely worked out. The movie itself is very much divided between those two genres, as the first part (the introduction, if you will) has all the serious, establishing reasons why Charles needs to leave where he is. The second part of the film is merely a great combination of action, adventure and a dog named Dug. Dug truly is one of the cutest Pixar characters ever made. Not only is his character there for comedy relief, but also he is a perfect compliment to Charles and a good fit for him by the end of the film. The role of Russell is nothing to sneeze at to, as he fits perfectly in the story as Charles’ younger, more adventurer self. Charles looks at Russell as someone who has accomplished all the things that Charles wanted to, but couldn’t seem to do. Having Russell there pushing Charles through this wild tale makes a lot of sense.
Anyway, I’ll stop rambling on, everything that you love about Pixar films is given to you doubly-so in Up. It’s a family film that will touch the hearts of everyone watching it; young and old alike.
The real treat for me as a reviewer is getting to experience this film in high-definition through blu-ray. The visuals on a 1080 or 720p screen are simply unrivaled. Years ago I thought that animation would be hurt because of the transition to HD, but thanks to some smart studio production, the picture quality on animated material actually looks much sharper than what you can get from a live-action film. I would credit some great artificial lighting and coloring, plus as detailed as you want to get, methods to the studio and to animation in general. Simply put, Up is a step-up on blu-ray. Both visually and on the audio side of things this is about as perfect as you can get with this format. It truly shines on blu-ray.
As for features, you’re in for a huge treat. Here’s what you’re getting:
– Dug’s Special Mission
– Partly Cloudy (Digital short)
– Cine-Explore
– The Many Endings of Muntz
– Adventure is Out There
– Geriatric Hero
– Canine Companions
– Russell: Wilderness Explorer
– Our Giant Flightless Friend, Kevin
– Homemakers of Pixar
– Balloons and Flight
– Composing for Characters
– Married Life
– Global Guardian Badge Game
– Commentary
– Digital Copy
– DVD Copy
Yeah, as you can see, the four-disc set is packed with entertainment! You get almost every aspect of the film, plus the cute short film that was in theaters, plus a short film about Dug and what seems like an endless amount of featurettes that will keep you interested way beyond the film. This is why I love Pixar releases, as they’re always top-notch with both film and features. The blu-ray version of this movie does have more than the DVD, so if that doesn’t give you motivation to purchase a blu-ray player I’m not sure anything will.