Up! The Must See Family Movie of the Summer

If you have not seen this movie yet, trust me, you should. When you do, prepare to be entertained. Prime your funny bone because it will be working overtime.

I saw it last night with my brother and did not have one iota of regret for the $10 it cost me. It had all the wit, excitement and heart I have come to expect from a Pixar movie.

Directors Peter Doctor and Bob Peterson who also collaborated with Thomas McCarthy, created a rich screenplay full of colorful and very likeable characters. The story carries within it not only a story of adventure, but one of friendship. There is also a story of love and the promises we make and try to keep.

It begins with the main character as a little boy watching the newsreels of his hero Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer) who claims to have found an exotic and rare bird in a place that he calls Paradise Falls and swears to not return until he has captured it. We see in this boy all the awe and wonder we have all had towards our own heroes as children. We watch as he finds a friend named Ellie (Elie Docter) who shares in his admiration of Charles Muntz and has a great passion for adventure. It is this bright personality with whom Young Carl (Jeremy Leary) falls in love and makes the promise to take her to Paradise Falls one day.

The

Image via Wikipedia

re is a tender, heart warming montage of Ellie and Carl as they travel through life and its triumphs and let downs until we finally rest on present day Carl (Ed Asner) who, because of that promise he made as a child, embarks on a fun filled adventure to Paradise Falls with his house which he has made into a makeshift hot air balloon using...well...balloons!

He is joined on this grand adventure by Russel (Jordan Nagai), a Wilderness Explorer who is determined to get his Assisting the Elderly badge and has picked Carl as his candidate. The two of them are eventually are joined by Dug (Bob Peterson)a loyal and ardent retriever who instantly adopts Carl as his master.

The jokes in this film are abundant. During numerous scenes the entire audience was laughing. Not just short bursts of amused chuckles, but outright jovial belly laughs that would make Santa Clause proud. I for one would have thought my own laughing would fill the room if not for my brother sitting next to me guffawing and blasting in delight.

Sight gags and witty lines are not the only entertainment this story has to offer though. There is a story of a man adamantly doing all he can to keep the promise he made to the girl he loves, of a boy who desires to fulfill his potential, a dog who wants nothing more than to prove his loyalty, and another man who has thrown his life away in pursuit of absolution.

In short, Up is a film that pulls all the right punches and does it with percision. I laughed, felt heartache and was thrilled. Yet the most important message this film had for me is that life itself is the greatest adventure we can have and as one character often exclaims, "Adventure is out there!"