Greetings again from the darkness. Another crackling collaboration of Pixar and Disney, and as expected, it is touching, funny, thrilling and amazing to look at and watch. Only a step below Toy Story just because it is not quite as ground-breaking, though the story is even better.

While I love technology and effects, I am first and foremost a story guy when it comes to movies. This has as good of story as any film you will see. My only caution is that it seems geared towards grown-ups, not kids. The montage of Carl and Ellie growing old together is without dialogue and will probably bore some kids. Their parents certainly won't be bored; however, as it will resonate with most anyone over age 40 who hasn't taken the time to chase their childhood dreams.

No question, this film is a barrage of color and eccentric characters, and can even be a bit frightening at times. Still, the key to this one are the stories and quests of the elderly Mr. Fredrickson and the young Russell, trying to earn his badge of honor. From the beginning, Disney has always had a finger on the pulse of youngsters. Here, we aren't given the usual Hollywood garbage of brainiac kids who make the adults look stupid. Instead we are given a pudgy, slightly goofy kid just trying to get his parents to take note.

Special kudos to Ed Asner for bringing Mr. Fredrickson to life ... in good times and bad. He never goes overboard and is quite often absolutely perfect. Christopher Plummer has a limited role as bad guy Charles Muntz. Or is he really so bad? Cast aside by society, he has spent his life searching for redemption.

I am not saying the kids won't enjoy, but I am saying make sure parents and grandparents tag along. You will be entertained, delighted and moved.

As I am much more hesitant to give a movie a score of 10 than most reviewers, take my score of 9 as a ringing endorsement for this sweet CGI film from Pixar. In addition, the film is the first 3-D film by the studio and it looked lovely.

The film begins with a sweet but VERY emotionally draining prologue. You see Carl Fredricksen as a very young boy along with his first two loves--the adventures of the explorer, Charles Muntz, and his meeting and falling in love with Ellie. All this is done with a minimum of dialog and it is one of the sweetest segments I've seen in years--and is a first for something this deep and emotional from a computer generated film. Keep a few Kleenex nearby--you'll likely need it.

Then, the film jumps ahead to the present day. Carl is now elderly and alone. His life is quite sad and he dwells on the recent loss of Ellie. Fortunately, the film doesn't dwell on this too long or become maudlin--though it did come a bit close at times. Now, with nothing in his life other than memories AND the court pushing him into a retirement home against his will, Carl comes up with a crazy plan--to float his home away with a bazillion balloons and take it to South America!! Unfortunately, while the plan works, Carl also gets an unwelcome passenger (Russell). Now Russell is an absolutely adorable character--wonderfully rendered and with a fittingly cute voice. You cannot help but love him. But, since Carl is alone and childless and grumpy, he is less than enthralled with this hitchhiker.

Eventually, they arrive in South America and meet some new friends--a bizarre giant bird and Dug, the dog. But, being a family film, you KNOW that there must be some villain and sure enough, along comes a very, very, very elderly Muntz who seems a tad..."touched". This sets off some very hair-raising adventures and you'll just need to tune it to see what happens next.

Technically speaking, this film was incredible and shows that the same old software is NOT being used but a newer generation with greater clarity and richness. I loved how through the course of the film, for instance, Carl's beard stubble starts to slowly grow in as well as the lovely shading and colors. While I loved RATATOUILLE and WALL-E for their animation, this looked a lot better--plus came in 3-D. I just saw Dreamworks' latest film the week before (MONSTERS VS. ALIENS) and frankly UP looked immensely better--there was just no comparison.

As for the story, it was highly imaginative and strange--in a good way. I can only think of one other film that is like UP at all, and that is the wonderful French live action film, LE PAPILLON. It, too, is about an elderly single man who has an adorable child dumped in his lap and like UP, by the end of the film the old man has essentially been adopted by the kid. Both are rather predictable in that sense, but both also make it work due to brilliant writing, adorable kids and plot elements that are very unique and magical. Heck, in UP, the many dogs in the film can talk AND are excellent chefs--where have you ever seen that before?!

Overall, it's a great film for almost all ages. I did notice in the theater that one kid (about 4) got very, very, very upset when the cute bird was captured--and he screamed and cried for some time. Keep this in mind if you do take young kids to see it--it may elicit come tears though there is no dirty language and the violence is mostly mild. For Pixar, this is among their best.

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