Up: Altas Aventuras

Carl Fredricksen (Ed Asner) as a young quiet kid idolized explorer Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer) and his discovery of Paradise Falls. Ellie is much more animated and also a great fan of Muntz. Together they would marry and live their lives together until the day she dies. Now Carl is hounded by a property developer and forced to go to a retirement home. Instead he ties a sea of helium balloons to his home and float away to Paradise Falls. Wilderness Explorer scout Russell who's trying to get an Assisting the Elderly badge gets dragged along on the adventure.

The first part of this movie is a real tear jerker. When Carl and Ellie's lives flash through the years, all the heart breaks and all the love just jump off the screen. Then there is comedy as the journey to Paradise Falls starts. The movie gets very surreal with dog translators, and a very colorful bird. The villain is a bit too villainy. The story gets too serious at times. But it ends almost as emotionally as it starts. It is one of the best of Pixar.

I was lucky enough to get a ticket to a special pre-release screening of Up at Pixar studios in Emeryville, organized by the San Francisco Film Society. After a hour-long reception in the atrium of their beautiful main building we went through some rigorous security (metal detectors!) and were treated to an hilarious short (Partly Cloudy) and Pixar's new high water mark, Up.

My favorites to date have definitely been Wall-E and the Incredibles, and Up is another slightly-left-of-center masterpiece. The emotional impact of the beautiful, wordless summation of Carl's life that opens the movie is the bass note that resonates through the whole film and is at least as affecting as the scene in Wall-E when he holds his own hands while watching Hello Dolly. The rest of the movie, of course, is breathtaking on just about every level, especially the tactile quality of all the characters and textures and the completely realized weather effects and action scenes. With no "new" technical milestones (fur in Monsters, Inc., water in Finding Nemo, realistic camera effects in Wall- E), the design is the main focus, from the hilariously stylized characters to the amazing setting of the tepui.

As the associate producer who participated in the Q&A following the movie pointed out, the past three Pixar movies have not been easy sells to their parent company Disney (they'll be back in familiar territory with Toy Story 3 and Cars 2), but Pixar's commitment to inventive, story-driven films continues to pay off here. All of the good press is true, and I can't wait to see it again. Thanks for staying true to yourselves Pixar!

This film is possibly one of the best animated films of all time as it tells an emotional moving story while being funny. As I said the emotion in this film is full of heart and even though I didn't cry it will make most people cry. The characters in this are perfect even if it is a small character like Ellie or big character like Carl everybody gets so much development even Charles Muntz the villain of the film is also given development, even more than some superhero films nowadays. Also this film has comedy some Pixar films now just want to make you cry but in the 2000s they had mix of sad and funny moments. So overall this film is as close to perfect as an animated film can get, it is has a mix of emotions it is funny and sad when it needs to be it has so much heart and the characters are perfect. This film in my opinion is the best Pixar film.

I love Pixar and feel they have been pretty consistent. True I do prefer Toy Story over Cars and Finding Nemo over Ratatouille, but I find their films amazingly animated and thrilling. I thought that after the first two Toy Story films, that Pixar wouldn't be able to make a film to top them. WALL-E, yes I loved it, came pretty close, but in my opinion Up is Pixar's masterwork. And why do I say that? Because it is widely imaginative and astonishing in its emotional range.

First of all, the animation is stupendous, beautiful backgrounds, beautifully drawn characters and stunning colours. The scenery and sights are just fantastic, down to the colour and visual detail that went into the film. Michael Giacchino's music is stunning as well, simple yet melodious and sublime. And I do have to concur with the majority about the opening montage; Finding Nemo had some beautiful moments and WALL-E's haunting isolation moved me close to tears but this opening montage was so poignant and utterly heart-breaking. It is quite simply one of the most beautiful and effective beginnings ever to an animated film.

I have heard complaints that the story meanders when the talking dogs are introduced and that they were irritating. Can I respectfully disagree? What I loved about Up was how widely imaginative it was, in short why shouldn't a dog talk? It's an animated film, why does it have to COMPLETELY realistic? Elephants don't fly, look at what Disney did with Dumbo.The story, back on target was well written, thrilling and startling with a sense of adventure with enough action and high-flying escapism for kids and adults. The script had some truly hilarious and surreal moments, while Toy Story had wonderful sophisticated dialogue, the dialogue in Up made me laugh and it made me cry.

And finally the characters, I loved them all, grumpy old widower Carl, stowaway Russell, eccentric adventurer Charles Muntz, the big bird and the hilarious Doug. Russell may be a tad annoying at first, but he grows on you. The voice acting is exceptional- Carl is voiced with real demeanour and depth by Ed Asner and Christopher Plummer, the wonderful underrated actor he is, is superb as Charles Muntz. But I do have to give mention to Bob Peterson, he is simply brilliant as Doug, he is really funny when he needs to be and never overdoes it.

Overall, this is a wonderful film. There may be controversy over how Beauty and the Beast is no longer the only animated film to be nominated for best picture. Beauty and the Beast has been and always will be my favourite animated film and one of my favourite films of all time (The Lion King is a very close second), but Up is a great film and does deserve an award of some kind. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Honestly, I found the DVD of this film in my house and decided to give it a watch as I had nothing better to do. Truth is I really should have made the time before.

Although I enjoy all the other Disney/pixar movies, I am at that teenage age where I mainly seek Violence, sex and gore. Thankfully my teenage boredom did me a big favour in helping what this fantastic masterpiece. This film was so fantastically deep, meaningful and moving beyond relief, as soon as I switched it off I rang my grandparents to tell them I love them.

It should be made necessary that everyone everywhere should see this film and I think the world would be a much better place - it really is that good.

100/10