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UP

Starring: Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer, Elie Doctor, John Ratzenberger, Delroy Lindo, Jordan Nagai

Directed by: Pete Docter

Rated PG for some peril and action

By John Delia

An animated adventure comedy bursts on the screen from Disney-Pixar; it’s called Up and the touching high flyer is excellent for the whole family. The Disney-Pixar formula of making a film that is spirited and interesting with the ability to warm your heart has not changed here, only the storyline and the characters.

Up centers around balloon salesman Carl Fredrickson (Azner) who marries Ellie (Elie Doctor) his childhood sweetheart and they make plans to fulfill one of their dreams, going to South America. They grow old together and when Ellie dies before they could make the dream come true, Carl finds himself lonely in a big city, which has grown around him.

But, like in life, we all have a bad day and Carl is about to have one. Pestered by Russell (Nagai) a Wilderness Scout and due to an accident involving a bulldozer that strikes his mailbox, Carl finds being evicted and his life crumbling. So he inflates thousands of balloons, attaches them to his house and floats away to South America for one last adventure. Little does he know; Russell has inadvertently hitched a ride.

The fun of this film is the way it opens, taking you back to the early years of Carl and Ellie, how they met and their subsequent life together. It’s the scrapbook that ties the threads of this film together and there in lays the tenderness of hopes and dreams. If the film gets a little sentimental, it is meant to be as I found it a wake up call to make one of my possible dreams come true.

Pete Doctor does a superb job of directing the free wheeling plot. But the champions here are the artists and the computer geniuses that bring the characters to life. After a few minutes into the movie my imagination took flight and instead of animation I had the feeling that I was watching a live action movie.

The film is rated PG for some peril, action and a scene where Carl Fredrickson looses his cool. The film was not reviewed in 3D, but it is available in that format.

FINAL ANALYSIS: An excellent film for the whole family (5 of 5 Palm Trees)

DRAG ME TO HELL

Starring: Lorna Raver, Dioleep Rao, Alison Lohman, Justin Long, and David Paymer

Directed by: Sam Raimi

Rated PG-13 for sequences of horror violence, terror, disturbing images and language

By John Delia

Hold on to your seat or the person next to you when you go to see Drag Me To Hell, a scary horror flick that had me jumping during nearly every scene. The film is Sam Raimi’s best horror effort with a lot of frightening images; disgusting excretions, evil demons, hideous faces and other things that make you want to cringe or vomit. If I haven’t made you ill from my description of the film, then you want to run to see Drag Me To Hell.

Christine Brown (Lohman) is an ambitious L.A. loan officer with a charming boyfriend, professor Clay Dalton (Long). Life is good until the mysterious Mrs. Ganush (R

aver) arrives at the bank to beg for an extension on her home loan. Should Christine follow her instincts and give the old woman a break? Or should she deny the extension to impress her boss, Mr. Jacks (Paymer), and get a leg-up on a promotion? Christine fatefully chooses the latter, shaming Mrs. Ganush and dispossessing her of her home.

In retaliation, the old woman places the powerful curse of the Lamia on Christine, transforming her life into a living hell. Haunted by an evil spirit and misunderstood by a skeptical boyfriend, she seeks the aid of seer Rham Jas (Rao) to save her soul from eternal damnation. To help the shattered Christine return her life to normal, the psychic sets her on a frantic course to reverse the spell. As evil forces close in, Christine must face the unthinkable: how far will she go to break free of the curse?

The movie plays out like a typical Grind House film and Raimi pulls no punches when it comes to satisfying horror fans that have a fetish for the bizarre. Although predictable in many ways, it’s the getting there that makes this film good. Packed with some great CGI in all the right places, Raimi spins his magic taking the simple storyline to a fiery conclusion.

Lohman does a great job of playing the hapless loan office ladder climber. Raimi pushes her envelope from innocence to damning as he progresses her character from cute to curse. I loved the graveyard scene with Christine drenched in the mire of death and bones.

The film is rated PG-13 for sequences of horror violence, terror, disturbing images and language among other yucky things.

FINAL ANAYSIS: A gory story from a very good director or horror. (3.5 of 5 Palm Trees)