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Up in Disney Digital 3D

Buzz says:   MPAA Rating: PG
Current Showtimes: No showtimes available

Every year, Pixar releases a new movie, and every year, they turn out phenomenal. At this point it’s tiresome to point out that Pixar is the best movie studio working today, because now it’s an objective fact. Even the movies that are considered misses (Cars, A Bug’s Life) are still better than any other animated offering out there. While the studio’s latest offering, Up, isn’t there best work (that honor still goes to Wall-E for me), it’s a wonderfully fun adventure movie that’s filled with heart and laughs.

Carl Fredricksen (voiced by Ed Asner) is a 78-year-old widow who’s wanted to go on an adventure all his life. Carl’s dream is to travel to Paradise Falls, a spot in South America that he saw on a newsreel at a movie theater when he was a boy. When Carl is forced to move out of his house and into a retirement home, he decides it’s a perfect time to take his adventure. By connecting thousands of balloons to his house, Carl lifts his house off the ground. What Carl doesn’t expect is that a young Wilderness Explorer (akin to a Boy Scout) Russell was on Carl’s porch and is now stuck traveling with him.

This synopsis only explains the first fifteen minutes of the movie, but to give away any more would ruin the fun. The characters in this film are as strong as any Pixar has created. The visuals are astounding, especially if you drop the extra $3 and see the movie in 3D. I just love how much Pixar makes me care for all the characters in there films. Each action sequence in Up had me way more entertained than anything in Terminator: Salvation or X-Men Origins: Wolverine. You know why? Because when these characters get in trouble, I’m actually worried about them, unlike the previous two films where more time is spent on action than character development.

I really have no idea how Pixar does it. Every year, my expectations for their films get higher, and they always meet or exceed said expectations. So where does Up rank amongst there other nine films? I’d put it comfortably in the middle, right by Finding Nemo and Toy Story, which isn’t bad company at all.