Step 1: Hold onto your seats as Pixar takes you on yet another delightful adventure Up, up and away.
Step 2: Truly marvel Pixar’s innate ability to tell a wonderful story again and again and again. Up comes from the brilliant mind of Bob Peterson, a Pixar veteran who also wrote the endearing Finding Nemo. He mixes the bittersweet, excitement and hilarity all into one compelling tale of Carl — a man who, at 78-years-old, decides to go on an adventure of a lifetime by tying several thousand balloons to his house and floating to South America. It had always been a lifelong dream of his and his dearly departed wife to travel there – and now he’s finally doing it before it’s too late. Except Carl gets an unexpected stowaway in the form of an 8-year-old wilderness explorer named Russell, who is desperate to get his final badge: helping an elderly person in need. Not like Carl needs any help.
Step 3: Also be wowed by the visuals once again. I mean, we almost take Pixar’s innovative animation for granted at this point. But once Carl and Russell make it to South America, to this weirdly remote place with lush tropical forests, expansive canyons with gorgeous cascading waterfalls – and a giant, colorful bird with a penchant for chocolate bars – things get very imaginative. There’s also a bitter once famous adventurer there, trying to reclaim his former glory by hunting the bird down. He has his pack of dogs, with collars that allow them to talk, do all the dirty work – except one dog, Dug, is just too nice a mutt and latches onto Carl and Russell instead. Yes, Carl’s eyes roll a lot in the movie.
Step 4: Realize you might be getting a little tired of the whole 3D thing. Those glasses are just not the most comfortable and honestly, with a Pixar movie, is the technology really necessary?
Step 5: A-list vocal ensemble not required. Although Pixar has employed a few top-tiered actors to voice their characters through the years (Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Holly Hunter, Ellen DeGeneres, to name a few), they’ve never made that a priority as some of the other animated films have. No, I truly believe the Pixar folk look for the best person to bring their characters to life, regardless of status. Last year’s Wall-E hardly had any talking at all, for heaven’s sakes. So with Up, veteran Ed Asner is absolutely spot-on as Carl, while newcomer Jordan Nagai is annoyingly adorable as the persistent Russell. Another veteran actor, Christopher Plummer, gives voice to the hardened explorer Charles Muntz – and writer/co-director Peterson multitasks as the faithful Dug.
Level of difficulty in watching Up: Easy peasy. Those Pixar guys never get it wrong.