Review
Up: (A+) - A year ago, when I walked out of theater for Wall-E, I thought what I had just seen the zenith of what Pixar could do. I thought it was their ultimate triumph. Something they would never be able to top. I was completely wrong. Up is not only the best film pixar has done, it is also one of the best films I have ever seen in my life, period. On the surface, from all the trailers, this appears to be just a simple movie about an old man getting away from it all by tying thousands of balloons to his house and floating away to who knows where. What the trailers fail to show you, is just how deep and emotional this story is. The reason why he is taking his house and heading off to South America is both touching and heartbreaking. There is a montage, right at the very beginning of the film which shows the old man's and his wife's life, and how he has come to be where he is now, that is so stunning, so heart wrenching, so amazingly well done, it, in the 5 minutes of screen time it occupies, contains more emotional depth then 99% of the live action movies you will see this year. It is a montage that literally brought tears to my eyes. This is Pixars most deeply emotional film. Both the old man, and the little child that comes along for the ride have deep emotional stories which are completely grounded in reality, so the point where they could almost be actually seen as quite serious. It is Pixar's ability to throw a constant amount of wit and charm to their films which keep them from ever becoming more serious then they ever need to be. Up is an enchanting, heartbreaking, and yet completely joyful film about love, life and friendship. It is nothing short of a beautiful movie which brought tears to me eyes more then once. I can't decide which is the better film between this one and Star Trek. It's gonna take some repeat viewing's of both for me to finally decide by years end. All I know is, movies rarely get better then Up.
Next weekend, we got comedy! Two for one deal: Sam Raimi's return to Evil Dead style horror/comedy Drag Me To Hell, and The Hangover. I will post times as I get them, so keep an eye out.