Pixar’s new film soars up, up and away

“Up” is especially thrilling and chilling for a Pixar film, but it is also one of the most affectionate films of this summer.

This is a heart-felt film about an old man grieving over the death of his wife. In an emotional five-minute montage, we witness the childhood of Carl Frederickson and a tomboy named Ellie, who are married and lived a happy life together. But the montage comes to a tear-jerking end with Carl sitting in the church for Ellie’s funeral.

Carl, now a cranky old man, is taking every effort to save his home from the construction crew behind him, building a huge skyscraper in its place. He soon comes up with a brilliant idea — he inflates a huge cluster of helium balloons to float the house off to Paradise Cove in South America, the place Ellie dreamed of visiting.

But Carl brings along an uninvited guest, the annoying Boy Scout Russell, who somehow managed to hang onto the porch of the house. He’s also eager to get his final Boy Scout badge for helping the elderly. For the first few minutes, audiences are treated to several laugh-out-loud funny scenes while Russell aggravates Carl over whether to keep the gigantic bird and the dog he finds on the way to Paradise Cove.

But Dug the dog isn’t just any ordinary dog — it has a collar which gives him the ability to talk. Pixar should be commended for capturing all the mannerisms of dogs and birds and writing some great slapstick jokes out of them. Carl now has to deal with two chatterboxes and a bird who likes to pop the balloons on his house.

The very last half of the film covers an intense showdown with Carl’s idol, the famous explorer Christopher Muntz, who collects fossils in South America. When we least expect it, Muntz’s personality takes a complete 180 degrees, turning from a charming explorer to a cruel prehistoric bird hunter. In fact, the film almost gets too diabolical for its own good. Muntz is so excessively despicable that after he captures the bird, he sets Carl’s home on fire, destroying almost everything inside.

But the final scenes on Muntz’s blimp in the sky are some of the most exciting action sequences ever seen in a Pixar film. The director even managed to squeeze in a quick parody of Star Wars with dogs in biplanes, “dog-fighting” with Russell. It was almost too incredible, and I still really didn’t believe that Carl could actually scale the top of that blimp and swordfight with Muntz. After all, he is pretty old.

However, all the scenes hold together for a compassionate ending between Carl and Russell. In the end, Carl gradually discovers a new purpose in life in taking care of Russell.

“Up” is a visually astounding film, with bright images of a house floating on clusters of colorful helium balloons and an idealized tropical rainforest. Although the film deserves a PG rating for some of the more intense action scenes, this is a warm-hearted film about an old man out on the adventure of his life.