Up - Blu-ray Review

By Dana Rae Nov 16, 2009, 17:00 GMT

Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios take moviegoers up, up and away on one of the funniest adventures of all time with their latest comedy-fantasy. Up follows the uplifting tale of 78-year-old balloon salesman Carl Fredricksen, who finally fulfills his lifelong dream of a great adventure when he ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies away to the wilds of South America. But he discovers all too ...more

Up is the tale of a balloon salesman (voiced by Ed Asner) named Carl Fredricksen and his aviation-adventure dreams. It soars into your heart, makes you laugh and warms you at the same time. It is also a bit sad.

I have to say that it is one of the best animated films I have seen in awhile. My children loved it as well, as we watched it together for a family movie night. It will delight both adults and children, of that I am certain.

The first part of this Disney/Pixar animated movie is about Carl and Ellie as children, how they met, and then it goes into silent movie-mode with a musical over-lay---and we just get to see the actions of Carl and Ellie as adults.

And if you watch closely, it really makes you want to cry! They build the house of their dreams (actually redo the house that Carl broke his arm in as a kid), which is a Victorian-style done in an eye-catching array of colors that really pop on Blu-ray. They have wonderful marriage, but lose a child (a real tear-jerked, I had tears in my eyes).

All the while their dreams are on hold. Their “paradise fund” is used to fix things: a broken chimney, their car. Adults will nod and sympathize. And then, all of the sudden, they are old. And Ellie dies. Another tear-jerker, as we see her climbing a hill and then she is in the hospital with IV drips.

The movie does not really start until Ellie dies. That is sad to say, because their days were filled with happiness and routine, even though they never traveled as they planned. But Carl is left alone, and what a grump! The classic grumpy old man, he doesn’t much appreciate children and sticks to his day-to-day routines.

But, it seems, you are never too old to dream. Even if the dream is a bit dusty, you dust it off and continue where you left off. And the dream he and Ellie had was to travel, to have adventure.

The house that Carl clings to is part of the dream, almost a character in itself. It begins to symbolize Ellie: her chair stays beside his, her oval picture stays on the wall. Carl goes a little ballistic when a workman tries to touch the mail box that has his and Ellie’s handprints.

This gets Carl in trouble, as the neighborhood that surrounds his house is in development. His house is the only house of the pretty Victorians that once stood in a quiet and charming cul-de-sac.

He is being forced to sell his house so that it can be torn down, but he is not going quietly! Well, maybe a little quietly. He hooks his house up to thousands of helium balloons and the adventure begins. 

This played out like a Roald Dahl book. I kept thinking of James and the Giant Peach. It really well could have been from the mind of Dahl (one of my favorite children’s authors). It has all of the charm---part happiness wrapped in some misery as the characters wait for life to start, part grand adventure, and a little magic mixed-in.

Someone called this a swan song of Edward Asner, as he voiced the character of Carl. Other voice talents include Christopher Plummer as the aviator Charles Munez (think of a psychotropic Lindbergh type), Jordan Nagai as Russell (the kid who shows up on Carl’s door and seems to never stop talking), and Bob Peterson as the talking dog Dug (who finds his ‘alpha’ amidst much mayhem).

The set comes with both discs for Blu-ray and DVD plus a digital copy. There are plenty of special features to make fans happy, including two shorts, a making of, and alternate scenes, plus 8 documentaries and an expanded character back story.

The animation on Blu-ray is another wow-factor. Just an example: Carl carries one of those four-legged walking sticks with tennis balls stuck on the end. In the close ups of the tennis balls, you could see the fuzz on them.

Charming and heart-warming, Up is bittersweet and seems to ask: what is important in life? As Russell says, “It’s the boring things I remember most.” The true adventures are found in daily life, in being with the ones you love. It is also about letting go, as Carl, who clings to his house the whole movie (and the memory of his wife), finally lets go when he says, “It’s just a house.”

It is about friendship and love, and becoming important to someone who needs a friend. It will make you laugh, but it will also make your heart ache. Highly recommended, a truly uplifting movie.

Up (4 Disc Combo Pack with Digital Copy and DVD) [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon. Visit the DVD database for more information.