Pixar has completely established themselves as THE animated powerhouse. Year after year, they churn out monster hits. It is also great to see that they don't play it safe. Their scripts are greatly varied and keep getting better and better. I would argue that they no longer make "kid's movies", they just make great films. Although I was less enamored than most with "Wall-E", it was a very intelligent script that could almost be enjoyed more by adults than kids. "Up" follows that new direction and kicks it up a notch. While this is definitely more kid-friendly than "Wall-E", it is an equally intelligent script. In the first 20 minutes alone, they tackle some major adult themes. You probably know the basic story by now: Karl Frederickson (Ed Asner) decides to attach a large amount of helium balloons to his house to travel to South America. After his wife dies, he realizes their dream of going to South America to "Paradise Falls" was never realized, so he plans to land his house right there at the top. What he doesn't plan is the presence of Russell (Jordan Nagai), a member of the Junior World Explorers, who is hiding under the porch when he launches. The two of them travel to South America together where they meet Dug (Bob Peterson), a dog who can talk with the help of a special collar that translates "dog-speak", and a tropical bird who has never been seen by humans. It becomes their mission to protect this bird from one of the great villains in movie history (voiced by Christopher Plummer), who has no problem putting the young boy in great peril (it is very clear that he would not mind killing the boy), as long as he gets what he is looking for. There are some great action sequences in the last third of the movie when they are embroiled in an all-out battle for the bird's safety. This movie is brilliantly funny at times and heart-wrenchingly sad at others. Some of the sadder themes are aimed directly at the adult audience as they are presented in such a way that they would easily go over the children's heads. With such a great stable of films from "Toy Story" to "Finding Nemo", it is hard to believe Pixar can continue to outdo themselves, but this is right up there with any of their best films, if not THE best. If you have not gone yet, no matter what your age, go. This one is not "just for the kiddies" (although that can be said of most of Pixar's films).
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