Random Movie Review - Up

As with WALL-E, I wasn't sure what to expect with Up. The film title is a little bit off putting I have to say, but like with WALL-E, it's surprisingly good. Who would've thought that an old man would have something to get him away from an old folks home. I didn't, that's for sure. Anyway let's dig into Pixar's 10th feature film and Pixar's first 3D film:

The film follows the story of an old man called Carl Fredricksen (voiced by Edward Asner) who as a child, looked up to his hero, the renowned explorer Charles F. Muntz (voiced by Christopher Plummer). Carl has always dreamed of going to and living in Paradise Falls (where Charles is looking for a rare bird which he was accused of fabricating a skeleton of and has made it his life's work to find the real deal) and with the help of his partner in crime and his future wife Ellie (also a Muntz), try to get the right amount of money to do so. But during a long montage of events, a lot of disasters happen which cause thier adventure to forever be put aside. Years later, Carl is a grumpy and stubborn old man who's wife has passed away, but calls his house Ellie as a way to pretend that she is still there. He and his house are in the way of a construction site and he refuses to move. Along comes a scout called Russell (voiced by Jordan Nagai) who needs a badge for helping the elderly and decides to help Carl which to begin with, Carl declines. As such, Carl's dream becomes a reality when he releases some balloons that are inside the house to get the house in the air so that he can go to Paradise Falls. Eventually he reluctantly allows Russell to help him on his expedition as it were, but it isn't long before the 2 of them get caught in Muntz's quest and it's then a matter of making a choice: continue to Paradise Falls or put an end to Muntz's lifelong quest which has deadly consequences for anyone who gets in his way.

Overall, this is another one of Pixar's best films that is full of laughs, adventure, emotions and action. It being Pixar's first 3D film, they put the 3D effects to good use here and it never wears out unlike some of the more recent 3D films. I think after this and Toy Story 3, this pretty much ended the golden age of Pixar when Cars 2 came out, but here's me hoping that the great films like this, keep on coming. 9/10

The review of the many Pixar shorts will be on later today as my anniversary special will be next Monday.