Movie- Up

Up is nominated for two major Oscars---as a Best Picture nominee and as Best Animated Feature.

This animated Pixar film shows why the studio is still the leading light in animation. Up (2009) is not just an amazing animated film, (though the animation is truly great) Up (2009) is a movie written with pathos, sincerity, humor and an understanding of human regrets and love. And that is why it is nominated for Best Picture along with Best Animated Feature.

Telling the story of an old man, Carl, who just wants to live out his the rest of his life in peace, secluded in the home where he and his late wife had lived their lives in happiness. Around him are going up high rises, and the developer wants his property too, but Carl refuses to sell...there are to many memories in the house for him to let it go.

The beginning of this movie is so understanding of what a person clings to, what a person needs after a lifetime with someone, and then being left alone. Carl and his wife had known each other since childhood, and a sequence showing their life together was beautifully created. Maybe more touching to me, since Sharlynn and I have known each other all our lives, and some of the scenes reminded us of our life.

But Carl knows the time is coming where he will be forced to leave, so he takes matters into his own hands, ties thousands of balloons to his house, fills them with helium and sets off for and adventure he and his wife always wanted to take. Carl has a guest though, in Russell, a Scout who is on the front porch when the house ascends.

The story of their adventure is fun, with allies and villains. The dogs are especially funny, with the word "squirrel" distracting even the most viscous of them.

But the underlying message of them film is that life is an adventure. Even if we live it without travelling all over the world, without climbing the Alps or risking life and limb to explore the Arctic or dive from the world's highest peak. Everyday life is a sort of heroism...plodding to work to care for your family, having kids, making your moments of remembrance true and sweet, caring for each other...all this is adventure and living, and brave.

Up is a movie the works on many levels---it is funny, with great animation, an adventure and good for adults and kids. But the story, the script is what makes this movie. The human emotions are very real, very empathetic and and very true. Up is a very good movie.