UP

Wow! What a difference 5 years can make!

I didn’t like Up the first time I saw it. But recently, I was craving a good animation. Tired of all my Disney Pixar regulars like Inside Out and Monster’s Inc., I decided to give Up a second chance. To my surprise, I really enjoyed it.

UP tells the story of an elderly man, Carl Fredricksen, who spirals into depression and bitterness upon the death of his wife, Ellie. Ellie and Carl dreamed of and went on many adventures over the course of their marriage. However, there was one adventure they never took, and that was Ellie’s dream trip to Paradise Falls. Feeling as if he failed his wife, Carl resolves to take Ellie, even if only in spirit, to Paradise Falls. Spurred to action by the threat of entering a retirement home, he attaches balloons to his house, causing it to rip from the ground and sail away.

Unbeknownst to Carl, one of the neighborhood kids, Russell, is on his porch when the house is ripped from the earth. Now, not only is Carl on a journey to South America, Russell is joining him. Russell’s enthusiasm and incessant chatter are not exactly what Carl had in mind when he set-off on this adventure. Russell is annoying, an obstacle in Carl’s path to fulfilling his wife’s dream. It is not until the end that Carl realizes dreams change, and sometimes, living with the one you love is the greatest adventure of all.