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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)

Disney●Pixar’s UP has been selected as the opening night premiere of this year’s Cannes Film Festival

Edited by John Delia

This is a very prestigious honor and the first time ever that an animated film has opened Cannes. It’s also the first 3D film to ever open the Festival and Disney’s first opening night film ever. Opening night of the Cannes Film Festival is Wednesday, May 13th.

UP, is an adventure comedy about Carl Fredricksen who spent his entire life dreaming of exploring the globe and experiencing life to its fullest. But at age 78, life seems to have passed him by, until a twist of fate (and a persistent 8-year old Wilderness Explorer named Russell) gives him a new lease on life. UP takes audiences on a journey where the unlikely pair encounter wild terrain, unexpected villains and jungle creatures.

UP is directed by Pete Docter, director of Monsters, INC. who also developed the story and characters for Toy Story, Pixar’s first full length animated feature film, for which he also served as supervising animator. He served as a storyboard artist on A Bug’s Life, and wrote the initial story treatment for Toy Story 2. The film is co-directed by Bob Peterson, also a screenwriter and author of Finding Nemo

Dick Cook, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios, said, It’s a great honor for The Walt Disney Studios, and our incredibly talented cast members at Pixar Animation Studios, to have UP selected as the first animated feature to ever open the Cannes Film Festival. Adding to this historic milestone, ‘UP’ is also the first digital 3D film, and the first Disney film selected for the coveted opening night slot at Cannes. We are so proud of this terrific movie, and can’t wait to share it with the filmmaking community and festivalgoers on Wednesday, May 13, and the rest of the world starting on May 29th.

We are absolutely thrilled that the Cannes Film Festival has chosen UP to be its prestigious opening night offering. This is a huge step for animation, and further supports our belief that a great-animated film is simply a great film. Pete Docter, the director of 'UP,' and the amazing team of artists, animators, technicians, and storytellers at Pixar have worked so hard to create a great motion picture that is impressively fresh, funny, and powerfully emotional,” said John Lasseter. Lasseter is Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios and Oscar-winning director or producer of Toy Story, Toy Story 2, A Bug's Life, Monsters, INC., The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Cars, Ratatouille and Wall-E.

UP is the 10th film from Disney/Pixar, which has gone nine for nine with an unprecedented streak of hugely successful films comprising Wall-E, Ratatouille, Cars, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc., Toy Story, Toy Story 2 and A Bug's Life. Pixar now has nine of the 25 top grossing animated films of all time domestically, and all nine have been No. 1 at the box office on their opening weekends of wide release.