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Up


What it’s about:

Up follows the story of a 78-year-old balloon salesman, Carl Fredricksen (Ed Asner), as he sets out to have the biggest adventure of his life. After tying thousands of helium-filled balloons to his house, he sets off into the air to South America, but discovers he is not alone. Accompanying him is a hyperactive eight-year-old Wilderness Explorer named Russell (Jordan Nagai). What transpires on their crazy adventure together needs to be seen to be believed.

What we thought:

When the creators at Pixar put their minds together with the intention of blowing you away, they're incapable of disappointing. From Toy Story 2 to Finding Nemo, Pixar have proved to be the architects of the imagination, creating incredible new worlds with adorable animation that pulls at the right heartstrings.

Up is more than just a movie about an old man drifting across the sky in a house held aloft with balloons. It’s pure indulgence of the imagination. If life was as easy as floating away from our problems, the skies would be filled with billions of hot air balloons. Children will see Up as an adventure that never ends, while adults can relate to the true emotions being shared in the movie: the love Carl has for his wife, the loss he suffers, and the life he regains during his madcap adventure with Russell.

Up allows your inner child to escape as you gasp at the wondrous beauty and creativity indulging your senses. What is truly amazing is the use of colour in the film. The clarity of the palette being used is like something out of artist’s dream – we wouldn't blame you if you tried to reach out and touch the images from your cinema seat. It's that spectacular.

It's not all fun and hijinks though. There is a beautifully sombre montage that opens the movie and will reduce even the most hardened cynic to tears. Never has wordlessness been so captivating. The memorable sequence helps us reflect on how we've become so engulfed in our lives; that the simplest, most meaningful pleasures can so easily be overlooked.

But where Up succeeds best is as a rollicking, laugh-a-minute adventure shard by two mismatched boys at different, but critical points in their development – and the crazy creatures they pick up along the way. Talking dogs are nothing new to cinema, of course, but after meeting the pack of mutts in this movie, and their unique manner of communicating, you'll wonder why no one's thought of the device before.

Up is undoubtedly the funniest, most visually captivating movie in the enviable Pixar stable. Whether you're young, old, jaded or just curious, this is bound to be the movie experience that your mind will return to time and again.

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