I found myself laughing and giggling with my wife Tina and our son Gabby; at times, saddened at some scenes while watching the latest animation offering of Disney & Pixar in Gateway Mall this afternoon. Up took us to a roller coaster of emotions; humor was very effective -we definitely enjoyed it from beginning to end.
It’s totally different from most cartoons we’ve seen on screen. We had fun watching Finding Nemo, Incredibles, Ratatouille, and Toy Story 1 & 2 (Toy story 3 is scheduled to be released 2010) that Gabby even has played several reruns in DVD at home. The story, characters, and Up’s general appeal are all inspiring!
It’s a story of an old man, Carl who tried to fulfill his wife’s life long fancy of building their house on top of a mountain where Paradise Falls in South America is located. But since Carl’s wife, Ellie passed away without experiencing her childhood dream with her husband and a lot of hassles came in succession as their house is about to be demolished as part of community upgrading; he was sentenced by the court to be in a retirement home after hitting a member of the demolishing team in the head, Carl had finally decided to go on with the adventure of flying to Paradise Falls by tying thousands of colorful balloons to their house. Our imagination soared limitless with the plot. 
In the course of the flight, a boy named Russel who only wished to complete his explorer’s award with an elderly assistance badge surprisingly joined Carl in his undertaking. The rest of the story led to unexpected twists and turns that levelled down to a heart warming end.
There’s this one scene when Carl finally browsed a page in Ellie’s photo album where she wrote the lines to him, “Thank you for the adventure, go find a new one.” That was really sweet. As a family man, I can relate. It’s a running joke between me and my wife that I feel that I will die first before she does which is actually opposite with Carl and Ellie’s story. I usually tell her my wishes just in case it happens. I always want to see her reactions everytime I tease her about this.
And when the movie showed that Carl finally let go of the things that would remind him of his wife and their dreams as he had fulfilled his promise to Ellie to bring their home to Paradise Falls, it reminded me that beyond material things, our memories and feelings we shared with our love ones remain to be the most important.
And did I mention that Up’s first 20 minutes are the most moving scenes?
Two thumbs up, for Up!
OPINION COUNTS…