UP

Has anyone ever had one of those weird weekends when everything somehow seems connected like going to the circus on Friday, watching Operation Dumbo Drop on Saturday, and seeing a clown be arrested on the news for kidnapping on Sunday? Well, my weekend wasn't as spectacular as that, in fact, nothing actually connected. I did, however, watch UP on Friday and then had chowder with my grandparents on Sunday. Saturday was eventful.

UP is a PIXAR animated film that tells the story of Carl (Ed Asner) and his quest to bring his balloon-flying home to the top of Paradise Falls in South America. Along the way, he encounters an annoying Boy Scout, a mythical bird, talking dogs, and an aging adventurer.

Reviewing UP is a bittersweet experience. I can't remember the last time I held back tears while watching a digitally animated movie...oh wait, now I do...it was this movie. UP made me cry, plain and simple like John Boehner addressing the Senate. What is it about PIXAR that forces my tear ducts open. Finding Nemo's opening got the water works going. Toy Story's music just makes me weep like a girl. But UP ripped me a new one on a whole other level. UP made me feel bad for old people, it made me want to break into a senior center and steal all the elderly and bring them to a farm where we could all play together.

The animation in this film and the creation of character appearances is so well done, every crevice and every curve defines the personality of the person who wears it. Carl's face is square and gaunt, his scruff is visible and his brow line protrudes. His loneliness and sadness is evident in his looks. His story is ever present in the expressions on his face. Even little Russell's detailing (Jordan Nagai) proclaimed a small innocent boy whose only goals in life are to complete the present tasks. It is that relationship that makes for such a unique movie. Carl and Russell are polar opposites in their beliefs, but their will to accomplish whatever task is handed to them unites them.

I went to get chowder with my grandparents today, not because I wanted chowder, but because I hadn't seen them in awhile and UP made me appreciate them more. Carl and his late wife, Ellie, were so happy together in the beginning of the movie. Everything was done together and when Ellie began getting sick, Carl stuck by her. Thank God, my grandparents are in good health.

Look at me going off on a tangent trying to get emotional. The power of the film really hit me when Carl, on his last nerve, sits on his chair and opens his wife's adventure book. Upon seeing photographs of the two of them, he flips to the last page that says, "Thanks for the adventure, now go have your own." Get a mop cause the floors in my house got wet...that doesn't sound right. UP is driven by intelligent design, meaningful plot, excellent morals, and witty dialogue. And Carl is a tank; he is carrying his house by a hose for half the movie and climbing up Zepplins. All of this from a man who uses a walker!