Pixar’s “Up”

Pixar releases have turned into events. I think that each one has consistently been at least as good or better than the film that preceded it. I loved last year’s Wall-E, thought it was one of the best movies the entire year, and while my expectations for Up were as high as for any Pixar release, it still blew me away.

Up tells the story of Carl Fredricksen, who floats his house to South America on a network of balloons to keep an adventuring promise to his late wife. The strength of the narrative comes from Pixar’s consistent ability to blend humor and action with heart and pathos. They are craftsmen who are able to evoke myriad emotions with their tight, inventive writing and incredible animation.

Unlike other animation studios, Pixar puts the emphasis on the story first, and let’s technological advances follow that, but along with being narratively excellent, Up is also the studio’s best looking film to date. And in Disney Digital 3-D, it’s also one of the most fun to watch.

There’s a lot more I could say about the movie, but I don’t want to spoil anything. All I’ll say is this: go see it. Sit next to a little kid if you can. I can’t recommend it enough to anyone who loves good stories. Pixar obviously do, and each movie seems like a passion project. And the fact that they are so consistently good and so prolific is great news to movie lovers. Star Trek had been my favorite movie of the summer until today, and Up is going to be hard to beat, not only for the summer, but for the rest of the year to follow.