UP

US, 2009, 90 minutes, Colour.
Voices of: Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai, Bob Robertson, Delroy Lindo.
Directed by Pete Docter and Bob Robertson.

A cinema delight. The American lady next to me broke into laughter many times and declared at the end that it was 'adorable'. A great choice to open the 2009 Cannes Festival in a time of recession. Money does not make the world go round!

Why a delight? An endearing plot that leads to many zany developments. Sympathetic characters: a grandfather-figure and a boy who needs a male role model. A hiss-the-villain. Bright Pixar animation and excellent voices for the characters. Some birds and animals that can take their place amongst the best of animated creatures. A thoughtful and funny screenplay with plenty of verbal and sound jokes as well as its deeper human feelings. There is 3D but, as Pete Docter noted, it is meant to be a window on to the events, not a 'lion in your lap', objects 'comin' at ya' exploitation of the technique. This is beginning to sound like a rave review – and, well, why not?

A warning. While there are some smiles in the first 20 minutes with an introduction of a 40s-style Movietown News and an introduction to two gawky kids, silent bespectacled Carl and chattering, gap-teeth, spiky hair Ellie who want to live lives of adventure when they grow up, one begins to think that this won't be a funny Pixar film at all and, we might wonder, how will the kiddies react? There follows a most moving collage of episodes in Carl's and Ellie's marriage and how they were not able to live their childhood dreams (which is reprised beautifully towards the end as Carl looks at the album of photos of their lives, the adventure of their marriage). And now that Carl is old, is it the nursing home ('Shady Oaks') for him and will the developers be able to take possession of his old house which is in the centre of a building site?

At this point, the film literally takes off, or at least Carl's house does, in the vein of The Wizard of Oz, with the myriad balloons he had sold to children over the years wafting him away. But, he is not alone. Russell, aged eight from down the street, needs another badge to become a senior in his cub-like organisation. He needs to help someone elderly. Carl has sent him on a wild goose (rather snipe) chase to get rid of him. But, Russell is hanging on to the verandah wall for dear life. He joins and shares Carl's adventure, to go to South America where Carl and Ellie wanted to go but never did.

The laugh quotient now begins to intensify. Carl has become a curmudgeon with the voice of Ed Asner. Russell is an earnest tubby little boy, voiced by Jordan Nagai. Together, they become an engaging odd couple in their flying, getting through a storm, landing in South America and dragging the house through the jungle and over rocks to get to the water fall, the hoped-for destination of the house.

And the laughs increase as we find a huge, colourful bird which Russell befriends and calls Kevin. This doesn't matter when he discovers, Kevin has chicks. Kevin is in the tradition of the Road Runner (and later could get a cartoon series of his/her own). Then there are the dogs, the funniest crowd of dogs for a long time, all able to speak, all doing the bid of the old explorer we saw in the Movietown News who now lives in his dirigible – and has been stalking Kevin for years, the villain (Christopher Plummer).

If this has not tempted you to see Up, then just take it on faith. It is a fine blend of the sweet and the funny and shows a great deal about friendship, family, helping others, and that material things, finally, are far less important than relationships. Of course, we know that, but here is a delightful reinforcement of those views.
1.The strong record of Pixar animation? Awards, popularity? This film as a delight, inventive, humour in their tradition?

2.The target audience: grandparents, grandchildren? Children with humour and action? The plot? Adults with themes and humour?

3.The quality of the animation: brightness, colour, the black and white Movietown News, the city, the aerial sequences, South America, the jungle, the mountains and waterfalls? The action sequences and fights? The animals? The humour, the timing? The musical score? The quality of the character voices?

4.The screenplay and its blend of tenderness, sweetness, humour, jokes and timing, adventure, urban development, children and their needs and affirmation, the elderly, dreams and memories, the true adventures of life? Helping others?

5.The Movietown News and its parody of the old newsreels? Carl and his eager watching, goggles and helmet, an awkward boy, shy, admiration for Charles Munce and his story, the exploration of South America, finding the hidden lands, the skeletons of the creatures, the adventure? Carl and his disappointment when Munce was revealed as a fraudster? Carl as accident-prone, fearful, the sudden meeting with Ellie, her teeth and hair, her chatter, her discussing adventure, giving him the badge, in the club? Their shared adventures together? The lost balloon, urging him across the bridge, its breaking and his falling in?

6.Ellie and Carl grown up, the beautiful collage of their married life, the wedding, looking at the clouds and seeing animals and babies, the pathos of the scene where Ellie knows she cannot have children, the pennies saved for the adventure, the flat tyre, hospital, taking the expenses? Growing old together, the ticket for Venezuela? Their going up the hill? Ellie’s book of adventures? Her death, the funeral parlour, Carl’s grief, alone? Their changing appearance – but ever-present in the pictures in the house?

7.The theme of the developers, the boss, his suit, the mail arriving, the brochure for Shady Oaks? The offers for buying the house? The letterbox hit by the truck, the discussions, Carl and his hitting the official, going to court? The prospect of Shady Oaks, the assistants and their arrival?

8.Russell knocking on the door, tubby, aged eight, reading his speech, beginning again, having to help the old, the badges for service, Carl sending him on a quest for the snipe?

9.The takeoff of the house, the balloons and the helium, Carl and his selling balloons to the children in the past? Going over the city, through the buildings, the knock on the door? Russell hanging on? Getting him in, the discussions, getting through the storm, the location finder and it going out the window? Going to South America? The hard trip, the breakages, steering? The waterfall and the vision where the house should be?

10.The landing, pulling the house through the jungle? Kevin, the attraction of chocolate, his hostile squawk to Carl? The comedy routines with Kevin? Discovering that Kevin had chicks? Dug and the friendly dog, talking, seeing Carl as the master? Carl’s resistance? Helping? The games with the balls – and his pointing?

11.All the dogs, the growling and snarling, the pursuit of Kevin, the leader and the broken voice, the other dogs laughing, the pursuit, the jokes about the dogs, Dug and the bonnet of shame? Dug as good, pointing, helping?

12.Munce, his story, in South America, hidden away, living in the dirigible, living in luxury? His exhibits, wanting Kevin? The welcome, suspicions, the threats? Munce as a fraud, the meal, the dogs doing the cooking and serving, the visual jokes of their waiting at table? Munce and his wanting to find the bird, ousting them? His becoming the villain?

13.The conflict between Carl and Munce? Munce setting the house on fire, Carl putting it out? Russell tied up, wanting to help Kevin, Carl being unwilling? Dug and his intervention? The pursuit of the dirigible, Carl wanting to rescue Russell?

14.The rescue, the fight with Munce, his falling off the dirigible? Saving Kevin? Meeting the chicks – and their behaviour? The leader and his shame, the other dogs’ reaction?

15.Kevin, the chicks, the balls? The farewell?

16.Russell, the line-up, the speeches, getting his badge, Carl as his sponsor, his mother present, his wishing his father was there, the memory of the sitting on the kerb and looking at the red and blue cars passing? Carl giving him Ellie’s badge? Seeing them sitting on the kerb, talking, grandfather and grandson?

17.The humour and the pathos of the selection of photos during the photos?

18.A satisfying animation film, human values film – and one that got increasingly funnier?