78-years old grumbler Carl Fredricksen believes that he is missing out in his life. To keep a promise that he gave to his departed wife he  decides to fulfill his dream of a great adventure. He ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies away to the wilderness of South America…. However, he hardly flied even half a mile when he realized that he accidentally took an extremely talkative and cheerful 8-years-old boy Russel on a house with him…

Up Movie Review

An anniversary work from Pixar about an old man who flew in the sky on balloons can make everybody cry. Carl and Ellie meet each other as kids because they are both crazy about adventures. They have a mutual hero- Charles Muntz. Charles Muntz is a fearless explorer of new lands with his eternal motto – “Adventures are nearby!’

Carl and Ellie wed and grow old together. They put money for a journey in a big glass bottle that they have to break every time when the life interferes with the simple family routine. Flat tire, fallen tree, diseases make them save money from scratch again and again till old Ellie  becomes ill and leaves Carl forever. Lonely Carl lives his days thinking about the past. He talks to Ellie as if she is still alive, dusts a mantelpiece and watches TV in his square armchair near Ellie’s armchair striking an empty arm.

It is an unbelievably touching work. Movie-makers say that it is the funniest and the most beautiful movie Pixar has ever made. Well maybe, but to my mind this movie is the saddest movie I have ever seen. Carl is not going to travel because he planned it. He goes there because he has no other choice. He will be sent to the Retirement home. In this very day right  before the eyes of Social service workers, a house of a determined Carl  tied to thousands of balloons  flies into the clouds.

A Wilderness Explorer Russel, dreaming of a badge  for “Assisting the Elderly” finds himself on a porch of a flying house almost accidentally. I am saying ‘almost’ because Russel wanted to help Fredricksen so much that he extremely annoyed an object of his care.

The old years are filled with despair and fading. Movie-makers conveyed all this accurately . An attempt to make this movie funny was less successful, I guess. Carl does certainly perform great deeds, take part in wonderful adventures, but he doesn’t find the most important thing. He doesn’t finish his ‘dialogue with God’, he doesn’t find an internal rest, he just returns to the pleasures of life. And then when his time to pass away comes, he will be abrupt on the most interesting point again…

This movie is really beautiful, it is filled with colour and the animation is great as usual. All heroes are vivid, ‘transparent’ with clear and distinct characters.

There is a lot of fun in a final battle, for example. Carl Fredricksen spits in his opponent’s face with his false teeth. It is just charming, especially because his opponent is a hero of all his childhood.

I would like to say couple words about animals. I am not really fond of dogs and other animals unless they have a scale. However animals in this movie don’t look like  brainless creatures. Dogs are speaking and even joking (!). And what’s more, they are doing all this exactly how dogs would do it if they had a chance. A bird Kevin is sensible without doubts. They are not exactly animals anymore. They are human beings in skin and feathers.  Well, an immortal and winning device.
This movie made me recall all old people whom I met in my life, all people who passed away but left a trace in my soul. And all this was possible thanks to the observant and extremely gifted people who made this movie. As a result I am filled with emotions and thought. That’s why this movie deserves the highest grade.