As of May, Best Picture of the Year

"Up," the visually inventive, emotionally compelling comedy-adventure, is the 10th feature from the brilliant Pixar company, but it's their first film in 3-D.  Festival director Thierry Fremaux has made a courageous move in selecting an animation as opening night of the 62nd edition of the Cannes Film Festival, still the queen of world's festivals; few major festivals kick off with animation.

Pixar now has nine of the 25 top- grossing animated films of all time, and all nine have been No. 1 at the box office on their opening weekends of wide release.  Expect the same when "Up," the latest jewel in Pixar's crown, opens in the U.S. (and other territories) May 29.

The protagonist of "Up," not to mention his particular age and profession, is rather unusual, an grumpy 78-year-old balloon salesman named Carl Fredricksen, splendidly voiced by Ed Asner.  A widower, Carl fulfills his lifelong dream of experiencing a great adventure, when he ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies away to the wilderness of South America; we later find out why this region and not another. 

However, complications arise when Carl discovers, rather too late, that his "nightmare" has stowed away on the trip, Russell, an optimistic (to say the least) 8-year-old Junior Wilderness Explorer.  Jordan Nagai makes his acting debut as the voice of the determined, eager-to-assist Russell.

Together, Carl and Russell form one of the strangest but also most charming "Odd Couples" to be seen in an American picture, animated or live action, embarking on a hilarious yet poignant journey into what could be described as the "Lost World."

Carl, a lovable grouch in the vein of Walter Matthau, is forced to leave the house he built together with Ellie. But instead of moving into a home, he takes action—he's one senior citizen unwilling to give up. By setting off toward South America, he fulfills the promise he made to his wife--and sets a role model of how to age gracefully and excitingly in a culture obssessed with youth.

Armed with backpack camping gear, Russell thinks he's ready for the wilderness though he’s never left the city; his knowledge of the outdoors comes from books and his imagination, and his sole camping experience was in his living room. He’s just one Assisting-the-Elderly badge shy of achieving his goal of getting the coveted rank of Senior Wilderness Explorer. Targeting Carl as the elder to assist, Russell was an unwitting stowaway on Carl's porch when the house takes flight.

It's noteworthy that all the characters in this engrossing tale are eccentric, but without calling too much attention to their idiosyncrasies.  Christopher Plummer gives a textured performance as Charles Muntz, a faded hero, obsessed with restoring his good name. Once clever and handsome, Muntz inspired folks like Carl and Ellie to adopt his mantra, “Adventure is out there!” Traveling the globe in his self-designed airship, he discovers historic relics, and exotic creatures.  Indeed, when he brings home the skeleton of a 13-foot-tall creature, he's discredited by the scientific establishment. Vowing to prove them wrong, Muntz returns to South America to bring back a live specimen.

Equally appealing and special is a vivid girl named Ellie, played by the helmer's daughter Elizabeth "Elie" Docter, who shares a similar fantasy with Carl's of visiting the utopian place, Paradise Falls.  As Carl’s childhood playmate and soul mate, who later becomes his wife, she dreams of traveling to the desirable site, and Carl’s promise to take her is the motivation for his magnificent journey years later.

A rare 13-foot-tall flightless bird is hidden in its remote Paradise Falls habitat. With iridescent-colored feathers and a long flexible neck, Kevin is a fast bird that gets into curious and impossible positions.  Few know that this invaluable creature exists, but Carl and Russell stumble upon the bird, which Russell names Kevin after he discovers they share a sweet tooth. Kevin bonds with Russell instantly, joining the jungle’s unlikely click of explorers along with Carl, Russell, and others.

"Up" unfolds as an adventure, in which humans and creatures join forces, among them Dug, a lovable, if simple-minded golden mutt living in Paradise Falls as part of the dog pack. Though outfitted with a remarkable high-tech collar that translates his thoughts into speech, Dug is mocked as the nerd of the pack. Sent into the jungle on a “special” mission, Dug accidentally succeeds when he discovers the bird, thus facing a dilemma: Pursued by his own cohort, he must decide to which pack he belongs.

Muntz’s dog pack, each with its own personality, is sent on a mission to capture the rare bird their master is obsessed with finding.  Just like their rejected comrade Dug, they have high-tech collars with unusual abilities designed for sinister hunting expeditions, including GPS tracking and translating their thoughts into speech. Alpha (Bob Peterson), the leader of the pack, is a menacing-looking, black Doberman Pinscher entrusted with authority. Beta (Delroy Lindo), a tough Rottweiler, is Alpha’s lieutenant, and Alpha’s hench-dog, Gamma (Jerome Ranft), is a rough-and-tumble Bulldog.

John Ratzenberger, Pixar’s “lucky charm,” the only actor to lend his voice to all of the Studio’s feature films, provides the voice of a construction foreman named Tom, who tries to encourage Carl to sell his home. 

In the production notes, Peter Docter says that "Up" was inspired by a universal escapist fantasy, the kind of which will make fans of "Peter Pan" proud, that "you could just float away and take anything what you want with you."  In this particular story, it just happens that Carl wants to take with him the house he has shared most of his life happily with Elly.  Observes Docter: “We came up with this image of a floating house held aloft by balloons, and it just seemed to capture what we were after in terms of escaping the world.  We quickly realized that the world is really about relationships, and that’s what Carl comes to discover.”

"Wall-E," Oixar's previous highlight, may be more brilliant technically and more original thematically than "Up," though the two features share some similarities.  However, when it comes to emotions, it's safe to observe that the story of "Up" is more resonant and its characters, both young and old, more touching.  Along with the humor, the picture exhibits a big, warm heart, exemplifying the motto of studio founder Walt Disney, who believed that, "For every laugh, there should be a tear." 

Amazingly, "Up" is by turns serious and funny, poignant and frivolous (when it needs to be), but also highly and unexpectedly romantic.  In a short poetic, bittersweet montage, we get to experience with Carl the love he and his late wife shared for over half a century, from their very first meeting through their work at the zoo all the way to her death.

Carl gets to travel the world in a flying machine of his own design and still has dinner at 3:30 in the afternoon. An unlikely screen hero, he is a man who continues to grow and mature, learning along the way that the real, big adventures in our existence are the "small things" that happen in our everyday (often mundane) life, such as "routine" family bonds and friends we too often take for granted. 

Despite differences in age, background, and culture, the protags of this consistently engaging saga, which actually gets better as it goes along, light up the screen, resulting in a genuinely upbeat and uplifting picture that should make you happy while you watch it, and perhaps even happier long after the screening.

All of this is done smoothly in record time of 90 minutes, which may make this outstanding "Up" the shortest of the summer season, and one in which every minute counts.  Here is a picture that integrates CGI, production design, and music into an effective story, which has something to say to its wide audience of kids, teens, adults, and really older viewers in a subtle, understated mode without resorting to sentimentality and overkill sensory manipulation.
 

The gifted Docter made his directorial debut with Disney-Pixar‘s smash hit “Monsters, Inc.,” in 2001, which was nominated for Best Animated Feature Oscar. Along with John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton, Docter developed the story and characters for “Toy Story,” Disney-Pixar‘s first full-length animation, for which he also served as supervising animator. He served as a storyboard artist on “A Bug’s Life” and wrote the initial story for “Toy Story 2.” As one of Pixar Animation Studios’ key creative contributors, Docter garnered an Oscar nomination for his original story on Disney-Pixar’s “WALL-E,” which deservedly won the Best Animation Oscar this year.

Examining the historical record of Disney-Pixar is like browsing through the highlights of American cinema of the last decade or so.  Prior to "Up," there has been an unprecedented streak of hugely successful films—nine to be exact--including “WALL-E,” “Ratatouille,” “Cars,” “The Incredibles,” “Finding Nemo,” “Monsters, Inc.,” “Toy Story,” “Toy Story 2” and “A Bug’s Life.”