Up: Review By SMRTALEC

I am so happy to finally have seen Up! Ever since that amazing teaser trailer debuted, I’ve been waiting with a ridiculous amount of anticipation. The movie did not disappoint at all. It was absolutely beautiful, with a solid story, and a great 3-D experience!

The quality of every Pixar film is always 110%. The animation is gorgeous. The character designs, movements, and color schemes create such a beautiful style for the film. The contrasts in the film worked out so well. The two main characters are both at the beginning and ends of their ages, Carl Frederickson grew up during the 1930’s when there were still mysteries in the world to discover and Russel is a young boy scout who devotes himself to the caring of natural world around him. Even the settings contrast themselves with the story starting off in a large industrial city then shifts to the exotic landscapes of south america over night.

I was also very excited to see how Pixar would do with their first 3-D feature film. I was very much impressed. This was the third 3-D film I’d seen this year. I still think I had the best 3-D experience when I saw Coraline at the CityWalk AMC theatre back in february. I’d say Up had just as good of a 3-D quality as Monsters Vs. Aliens. Plus, I did see Monsters Vs. Aliens in IMAX 3-D so that made it even more epic. But let me just say when it comes to plot, Up clearly surpasses Monsters Vs. Aliens. The IMAX 3-D experience was what kept me interested while watching Monsters Vs. Aliens...and that was about it. But anyways back to my point, Up is terrific in 3-D. I highly recommend seeing it in that format.

Up is the story of an old man, Carl Frederickson, who escapes the clutches of retirement home living and uplifts his house from the ground by using a massive amount of balloons. Russel, the young asian-american boy scout, accidentally boards the floating house as it lifts off out of the city and becomes apart of the adventure. After passing through a storm that nearly destroys the house, Carl and Russel are swept away to south america. Along the way they make friends with a rare bird speices who Russel names, Kevin, and a dog with a voice box translator named Doug. The rest of the film results in Carl and Russel trying to move the house to the top of a waterfall and keep Kevin safe from a pack of mysterious, talking, dogs and their owner.

Pixar has gotten to the point where they don’t need big, hollywood stars voicing their characters in order to promote their movies. Audiences don’t need to be lured into seeing a Pixar movie by use of big name voice actors, it’s clear now that Pixar always brings incredible stories to the screen for everybody to enjoy.

The movie kicked off pretty quickly with enough character background that it didn’t feel rushed. It was such a great story filled with charm, adventure, and great laughs. The adventure never took a break, especially when they had landed in south america. The side characters found themselves involved with Carl and Russel and everything just moved with a smooth stride.

Since last year I’ve become such a big fan of Michael Giacchino and it’s been such a treat getting to hear a second score composed by him in the same month. Not to mention this friday he has Land of the Lost coming out which he scored as well. The musical themes in Up for were soothing and adventurous. It was the perfect pace of music for an adventure story whose hero is an elderly man. The score was brilliant and I’m happy that Giachhino has become a regular composer for Pixar. This marks his third score for Pixar. He’s scored two films for Brad Bird; The Incredibles and Ratatouille.

So far, Up has been one of the most anticipated movies of the summer for me and it was everything I expected it to be. This is a movie for all the ages and you will no doubt have fun at the theater with this one. I highly recommend seeing it 3-D as well.