Up (2009)

 Isn't he fatteningly ADORABLE??!!

Up begins with a young boy, Carl meeting wildchild Ellie, the love of his life and fellow fan of Charles Muntz, a famous but disgraced explorer. We see them grow up, through the happy times and the sad, we see them living life and trying to save up for a trip to Paradise Falls, and finally, we see that Carl is only left, as Ellie succumbs to old age before they could achieve their dream.

This happens in the first 12 minutes of the film.

Frustrated with life and everything else around him, the now-crochety Carl takes to the skies, literally, as he attaches an ass-ton of helium-filled balloons to his house, to float his way to Paradise Falls (which they tell us is in South America). With stowaway wilderness scout Russell as his companion, they reach Paradise Falls, and find adventure and Charles Muntz, who's been living there all this time to bring back proof of the bird that got him disgraced in the first place, and his talking dogs.

Problem is, the bird came with the adventure, and Muntz is a bit nuts from all the exile and isolation.

Up is one of the most heartfelt movies I've ever seen.

Besides it being a Pixar movie, Russell is basically the main reason why I wanted to see Up. Voiced to perfection by Jordan Nagai (who, I'm surprised to see, isn't fat in real life, because his voice fits Russell so well), Russell is the young boy who wants to receive his last badge for Assisting The Elderly to become a Senior Wilderness Explorer, and who wants to save Kevin (the bird) from Muntz.

[In other words, he's the cause of the entire ruckus.]


I've always found Ed Asner endearing, and as Carl, he's no different. Throughout the movie, we see Carl progress from grumpy old dude to father figure, and in the end, he finds a new-found friend / son-person in Russell, who's raised by his single mother.

Like with most Pixar movies, I cried my eyes out with this one, especially during the scrapbook part in the middle of the movie. I wasn't expecting the whole Muntz part, which without it, the movie wouldn't have its adventure theme, but yeah, it was fun.

7.5/10.

[Wall-E review, coming up soon! Now, with more tears~! XP]