Up

I said in my review of Coraline back in February that it would be tough to top as this year's best animated film. The first film to truly put those words to the test year is Pixar's latest: Up.

I'll tell you right now, Up doesn't "up" Coraline, although it comes dangerously close.

Up is a delightful film, and while it doesn't rank amongst Pixar's best, it is an easy film to recommend. Up showcases some magnificent production values as usual and proves yet again that the talented folks at Pixar just won't run out of ideas, as this film's greatest strength is it's cleverness.

The characters are really just cardboard cutouts. We've seen "grumpy old man" characters like Carl before and hyperactive little boys like Russell before as well. We've also seen characters like Ellie before as well and the borderline insane villain also doesn't provide much of anything new. But! I'll say again: the film's cleverness and heartfelt sentiment negates all. The dialogue-free portions of the prologue were heartwarming and heartrending all at the same time, as it was expertly paced and executed. The witty script also provides for plenty of laughter and other clever ideas (like the dog-piloted fighter planes) almost never failed to put a smile on my face. Not to mention Alpha's voice as it is first heard through the talking collar had me laughing uproariously for at least a minute. Pixar perhaps had a little too much fun with the dogs though, as the collar gimmick became tiresome after a while.

Who ended up being the villain didn't surprise me all (I realized who it would be far in advance) and it felt like he was thrown in there just to create some semblance of a "good versus evil" plot for the kiddies, and Russell's absence of the father figure is also nothing new (although it served it's purpose well enough, since Carl ended up with the son he never had). Sometimes the film also gets maybe a little too sentimental for its own good, but really the flaws are quite minimal. Pixar certainly knows how to make a quality film.

(out of 5)

Still, despite the fact that Up is definitely a winner of a movie, I'm probably going to end up disappointed come Oscar season next year. Up will most likely win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, even though it doesn't deserve it. Coraline was unfortunate to be released in the same year as the Pixar film despite being the better picture.