Animated, Movie Reviews

Up

Family 2009 / 96 min Rating: 9/10 Boy meets girl, they fall in love, get married, make plans for an adventurous trip, life gets in the way but it is a wonderful life nonetheless... and then the girl dies, leaving the boy alone. All of Carl and Ellie's life together is covered in the opening few minutes, quickly and beautifully. But our young ones will likely find this simply too wistful a beginning to endure without bawling – in the Dykstra household, when I first tried this with my trio, all then under 10, those first few minutes did them in, and we couldn't continue. But this is just the setup for an epic expedition – Carl, now aged, inflates hundreds of balloons to sail off, house and all, on that long-delayed adventure. He's going to do what the two of them had always planned – he's going to move to Paradise Falls, in the wilds of South America. And it's only once he's air-bound that he discovers a stowaway, a Boy Scout named Russell who happened to be on the porch when the house took off. So what we've got here is a sweet tale about a lovable but grouchy old man who finds the friend he is in need of in this eager young Scout. Cautions There's quite a lot of physical peril in this movie, including a pack of talking vicious dogs and a villain who actually wants to kill people (not just imprison them), but I'd still say the real measure of whether your children will enjoy this or even be able to handle it is that emotionally-intense opening covering Carl and Ellie's life together. If they can handle that, I think they won't get too stressed by the rest. Conclusion That said, I don't know if this is actually a kid's film, and I say that, not as an objection, but just a clarification. Sure, this is only rated PG, and lots of kids could handle it. But there's just more feels here than the littlest hearts can handle. For adults, however, there's so much beauty, and excitement, and even bravery and courage to enjoy. At the time, Up was only the second animated film to ever receive an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, and that was due to a lot of adult appreciation! So a couple could make this a great, innocent, date night film. And if they have teen kids, they can come too. Everyone agrees: this is one of the best animated movies ever made.