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I’ve put off reviewing the newest Pixar film Up for a couple of reasons. One, it is a film that I felt I needed a few days to digest. This is not a movie you walk into and immediately forget when the lights come up. Secondly, I did not want to gush my feelings all over a page and come off as a slobbering fanboy. While I am indeed enamored with Pixar, I feel I still need to observe anything they produce with the same critical eye I would any other movie I see. Yes, I really loved this film and I am here to give you the reasons why.

Animation is a unique art form. It is truly a collaborative creation. Brad Bird is credited with saying that animation is not a genre. He’s correct, of course, but I wonder how many agree with him. Animation is a choice, much like a director choosing to shoot in black and white, or edit a movie MTV-style, or throwing in random sun flares. Unlike other stylistic choices I believe that animation is perceived to still be simple children’s entertainment. What people fail to realize is that the reason people believe that is because cartoons are what children are raised on. Walt Disney’s creations are the most popular. You would be hard pressed to find a child (in North America at least) who does not recognize Bambi, Baloo, Dumbo, or the mega-star Mickey Mouse. How quickly we forget that the reason we identified with those films as children is because the themes were universal, not just for children but adults as well. There is a reason they are regarded as classics. Uncle Walt realized that animation gave greater control to the filmmaker. Walt Disney’s team of animators tackled issues which the majority of children dread, unconsciously or not. Many of Disney’s features portrayed the fear of losing a parent and the terrible reality that everyone must grow up.

Carl Fredrickson is definitely grown up. He is the 78-year-old protagonist of Up. He was not always old, obviously. He once was a wide-eyed young kid who dreamt of going on grand adventures. He met and fell in love with a young woman named Ellie who is as outgoing as Carl is withdrawn, but somehow they just work together. They get married, buy a house, plan on going on adventures and subsequently grow old together when other life challenges step in the way of their plans. And then Ellie is not in Carl’s life anymore. All of this is obvious to anyone who has seen the trailers for the film, and is told silently in the first ten minutes which will rock you to your bones unless you have no qualities that make you a human being.

Carl is forced to leave his home, but instead of going quietly he uses his resources as a balloon salesman to strap hundreds of his wares to his house and float high into the clouds and go on that adventure that he never got to take with Ellie. By accident he takes along a junior camper by the name of Russell. Together they arrive in the wild jungles of Venezuela and hi-jinks ensue.

Up is about one’s own mortality. What makes a life? What does it mean to live? What gives it meaning? There is also a pervading felling of loneliness for much of the film. Pretty heady things to tackle in so-called children’s entertainment. That is not to say that kids cannot enjoy the film. There is everything in this film that made Disney’s so beloved. There are cute, truly funny characters with an undercurrent of real danger. Carl is always portrayed as a 78-year-old man, and therefore moves and is limited by his age. He is also accompanied by a plump kid who is limited by the mere fact that he is a kid.

The animation itself is gorgeous. Colors pop off the screen, especially the balloons and the foliage in the jungle. The script, while it appears to be simple, is much deeper as I have described already. Even the score is worthy of mention. It subtlety underscores the emotions and the actions of the film beautifully.

If there is a criticism to be leveled it is simply to say that the film is a victim of Pixar’s success. After so many great films, you have to start ranking them. Up, while a great film, is not on the level of Toy Story, Monsters, Inc. or WALL-E. However, not every movie can be, even though it seems that every movie at Pixar aspires to be.

Pixar is pushing the medium. Perhaps it will be a slow evolution, but hopefully the populace will eventually accept adult themes in animated films like the Japanese do. TV shows like Family Guy, South Park and The Simpsons have paved the way on the small screen, but the silver screen still has a barrier to cross.

I encourage everyone to see Up, if only to recall what it was like to be a child, sprawled on a rug in their living room, or crowded into a movie theatre watching drawings move and interact like real people. It takes you back to a time when life seemed simple and you only needed to worry about where you were going to get into trouble next. Kids will love it. You will be thrilled and mesmerized as an old geezer and a doughy youngster have an adventure. You will laugh, you will cry, you will gasp, and you will applaud. The only thing I am left wondering is when Pixar brings out their next movie. Not soon enough.

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