Timothy Stoner

UP (The Pixar movie)

Posted on 19. Jun, 2009 by Tim Stoner in Movie Recommendations, Tim Recommends

I don’t usually rave about “cartoon” movies which is my old-school classification for films that don’t have human actors. Pixars fit under that rubric. Well, my wife, Patty and I went to see Up and we found ourselves walking out of the theater raving about it to each other. It is, hands down, my favorite Pixar. Better even than Toy Story which set the standard but lacks the poignancy of Up. To put it bluntly, Toy Story did not make me cry. Up did–twice. It helps if you’re married but it is not essential. One of my sons who shall remain nameless for obvious reasons, said he nearly wept–twice. It is that affecting.

There is everything that a good story needs: a hero, a villain, a love affair, death, conflict, development (growth) of character, profound struggle, failure and redemption. And humor. The female lead as a child is just delightful. She is spot-on as a whimsical tom-boy with heroic dreams but manages to retain just the slightest feminine charms to lure the geeky, overweight protagonist with heroic dreams of his own. But after the romance there is reality, life sets in and dreams are foregone. Toward the end of that segement the genuises of Pixar had me hunting for a non existent handkerchief.

That merely sets the stage for the rest of the story. Which I shall not give away. But is worth every minute.

See it.

I give it:

Five carrots.

Tags: "Up", Pixar