by Rebecca Hawkins

Created on: June 04, 2010   Last Updated: June 05, 2010

78 year old Carl Fredrickson is a retired balloon salesman and living alone in the home he shared with his late wife. With no children and no job Carl has little to do but remember the good days with his deceased wife Ellie. Remembering the dreams of adventure they shared, but never fulfilled. With time passing him by he decides to make a last ditch attempt to visit Paradise Falls and follow in his and Ellie's hero's footsteps and visit the undiscovered tropical land he and his wife always dreamed of visiting together. 

From start to finish this film is engrossing and fascinating with the simple but lovely story. Carl as a character is fantastic, the feisty and seemingly grumpy old man, who really has a heart of gold and a sad back story to the way he is. The film begins with a flash back sequence of how Carl met Ellie and then flicks through their entire lives together which is a bit sad. After this initial downer, we are introduced to Russell who is a sweet and slightly simple little boy who accidentally ends up joining Carl on his adventure.

The pair is great together, the young and caring Russell is a great counterpart to Carl's initially grumpy character and it's great to see them grow closer as the adventure gets wilder and Carl and Russell start to care about each other.

The land of Paradise Falls where the unlikely pair end up is fantastically thought out and as well as being beautiful, it is full of native wildlife that is key to the story later on, but also looks wonderful with the colourful and vibrant animation that Pixar are known for.

The best thing about the film is the humour. In keeping with typical Disney/Pixar traits again, the film has another level of humour which manages to reach parents and adults as well as children. There are no double meaning innuendos here however like some films attempt to do, just good clean family fun that somehow manages to appeal to a wide audience. 

This is a key aspects of a "family" film, the ability for all ages and genders to really enjoy it. When someone says "family film", most will think of a kid's film that an adult might not hate sitting through, but "UP" truly is a family film. Everyone from small children (who will love the colours and animals and adventure) right up to parents and grandparents will enjoy watching this film. It has a very decent story that is engaging and thoroughly interesting, although some of it may be a little much for a small child to take in, they can still enjoy it on a more basic level without it being overly complicated.

The characters are lovable and funny, although not very famous people, the voice actors in the film get each character spot on and they are played very well.

It was just a well balanced and enjoyable film to watch. It has every aspect people expect from a Disney/Pixar collaboration. There is that feel good feeling that Disney are known for a lot of good lessons and messages put in as well; you are never too old to chase your dreams, loving and remembering someone can give you strength, being good to animals is rewarding and of course trying to be a nice and helpful person is a good thing to do. Very Disney...but still very true.

It runs for 96mins, so is a good length for a feature film.

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