Up (2009) [Blu-ray] Rated:  PG  Starring: Edward Asner, Jordan Nagai, John Ratzenberger, Christopher Plummer, Bob Peterson. Director: Bob Peterson, Pete Docter Genre: Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Drama | Family | Fantasy DVD Release Date: 11/10/2009 From the revolutionary minds of Pixar Animation Studios and the acclaimed director of Monsters, Inc. comes a hilariously uplifting adventure where the sky is no longer the limit. Carl Fredricksen, a retired balloon salesman, is part rascal, part dreamer who is ready for his last chance at high-flying excitement. Tying thousands of balloons to his house, Carl sets off to the lost world of his childhood dreams. Unbeknownst to Carl, Russell, an overeager 8-year-odl Wilderness Explorer who has never ventured beyond his backyard, is in the wrong place at the wrong time - Carl's front porch! The world's most unlikely duo reach new heights and meet fantastic friends like Dug, a dog with a special collar that allows him to speak, and Kevin, the rare 13-foot tall flightless bird. Stuck together in the wilds of the jungle, Carl realizes that sometimes life's biggest adventures aren't the ones you set out looking for. Storyline: A young Carl Fredrickson meets a young adventure-spirited girl named Ellie. They both dream of going to a lost land in South America. 70 years later, Ellie has died. Carl remembers the promise he made to her. Then, when he inadvertently hits a construction worker, he is forced to go to a retirement home. But before they can take him, he and his house fly away. However, he has a stowaway aboard: an 8-year-old boy named Russell, who's trying to get an Assisting the Elderly badge. Together, they embark on an adventure, where they encounter talking dogs, an evil villain and a rare bird named Kevin. Written by Garfield2710 Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Kenneth Brown on October 30, 2009 -- I'm unashamed to admit that Up wrecked me. It didn't earn a stalwart man-tear. It didn't make my lip quiver. It didn't even assault me with the usual warm-n-fuzzies. No, dear readers, it absolutely wrecked me. It's not often that I'm reduced to a pile of thirtysomething tears and sobering sniffles, but Pixar mainstays Pete Docter and Bob Peterson created such a touching tale, such a rousing adventure, such a gorgeous masterpiece that I was completely enraptured by everything that graced the screen. From an early, heart-wrenching glimpse into an old man's dashed hopes and hardened heart to his eventual embrace of something far greater than he ever imagined, Up is as much an emotional experience as an entertaining one; as much a multi-layered character study as a rewarding animated journey; as much a stirring story of love and loss as a thoughtful, nuanced examination of friendship and devotion. It doesn't just deserve a Best Animated Picture win at the Academy Awards, it deserves a spot amongst the year's Best Picture nominees. Before I exhaust all the glowing adjectives in my vocabulary, I suppose it's best to start at the beginning. After earning critical and box office success with the help of several unlikely animated heroes -- a box of aging toys, a bumbling ant, a pair of closet-haunting monsters, a neurotic fish, a family of outlawed crime fighters, a cocky race car, and a cooking rat -- Pixar proudly introduces Carl Fredricksen (voiced by Ed Asner), a bitter widower who decides to relocate his house to a remote South American locale using tens of thousands of helium balloons. His motivation? A decades-old promise he made to his late wife, Ellie (Elie Docter), when they first fell in love. Of course, things don't quite go according to plan. Carl finds a young Wilderness Explorer named Russell (Jordan Nagai) stuck on his now-soaring front porch, inadvertently flies into a storm, lands short of his intended destination, and meets an elderly recluse named Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer) who just so happens to be his childhood role model. But before he has the chance to get his bearings, Carl finds himself at odds with the arrogant explorer, building a genuine relationship with Russell, and rediscovering the man his wife always knew him to be. Up opens with a staggering sequence that introduces Carl and Ellie, follows their budding relationship through childhood and adolescence, finds them sharing vows at the altar and, eventually, growing old together. But as heartfelt as it all is, it never grows saccharine. Carl and Ellie struggle with finances, reevaluate their dreams, learn they can't have children, and discover that Ellie has cancer. Inevitably, we watch as Carl attends the funeral of his one true love, roots himself in his house, and reacts accordingly when land developers want to take it away from him. It's in these opening scenes that Up establishes its identity, its thematic power, and its poignancy. Carl isn't merely a grumpy hermit, he's a sympathetic romantic; a lovelorn victim of circumstance whose brow furrowed the moment his cornerstone was ripped from his grasp. His whirlwind adventure doesn't reek of rip-roaring randomness or Saturday-morning silliness, it's bolstered by very real, very familiar pain that drives him forward and pushes him to be a better man. His South American quest isn't about selfish pursuits or cantankerous whimsy, it's about love; the kind of love that burrows deep and never relents; the sort of love that haunts the hearts of widows and widowers the world over. To their credit, Docter and Peterson spend just enough time with the events that lead Carl to Paradise Falls, just enough time with his wife, that everything that follows pulses with a palpable heartbeat. Carl's simple glances at a picture frame will bring tears to your eyes. His desperate attachment to his house is more about holding onto Ellie than a home. His adventure is driven by his fading memories, not a cluster of balloons or a pack of chatty dogs. Despite a great many challenges, Docter and Peterson manage to flawlessly transition Up's tragic opening into an undeniably entertaining second act. They tap into a variety of rather standard gimmicks -- an awkward kid, talking animals, midair battles, and physics-defying hilarity, among others -- but infuse each one with enough patented Pixar magic to ensure the film never falters or fails. Russell is as endearing as young characters come: his intense curiosity, short attention span, and fledgling self esteem are masterfully paired with Carl's embittered disposition, making the pair's relationship one both young and old viewers will enjoy watching unfold. The floating house is a character in its own right: a rickety incarnation of Ellie and a symbol of Carl's undying love, it's used to remarkable effect throughout the tale to evoke regret, heartache, and longing. Muntz is a complicated, believable antagonist: a washed up icon determined to prove his worth no matter the personal cost. Even Dug and Kevin, the film's oh-so-helpful animals, are welcome additions to the narrative. They provide infectious comic relief, sure, but they also highlight the mystery and wonder of Carl and Russell's jaunt through the jungle. Together, these seemingly disconnected elements work brilliantly, granting Up even more depth, spirit, and fun than it already has. As far as I'm concerned, Up is a triumph for all involved. It makes other animated films look positively childish, yet will win the hearts of kids and adults. I'm not sure how young children will handle some of the film's weightier scenes -- despite the semi-silent nature of the Carl and Ellie montage, my then-four-year-old son clearly understood everything that was happening to the couple, infertility and all -- but it has plenty to offer families and animation fans alike. While I certainly won't guarantee you'll adore Up as much as I did, I can safely say the film will be remembered for quite some time. More than an animated adventure, more than a heartwarming story, more than a colorful trek, it's the best animated film of the year, one of my favorite animated films of all time and, hands down, one of the best films of 2009. It's a must-see classic in every regard. What more can I possibly say? Up isn't just an exceptional animated film, it's one of the best films of the year. Pixar continues to prove its filmmakers thoroughly understand character, story, humor, and sentiment, and are able to wield them as effortlessly as their animators wield magnificent design and animation. I cannot recommend Up enough. As for its 4-disc Blu-ray release, Disney has pulled out all the stops to produce a perfect... let that sink in... perfect audio/video presentation. And even though the set's captivating supplemental package falls a bit short of Disney's best, it still delivers the goods, providing fans with a bounty of high-quality bonus material worthy of the film's instant-classic status. Like the film itself, I cannot recommend this release enough. Frankly, it deserves a hallowed spot on every Blu family's shelves. Cast Notes: Edward Asner (Carl Fredricksen [voice] [as Ed Asner]), Christopher Plummer (Charles Muntz [voice]), Jordan Nagai (Russell [voice]), Bob Peterson (Dug / Alpha [voice]), Delroy Lindo (Beta [voice]), Jerome Ranft (Gamma [voice]), John Ratzenberger (Construction Foreman Tom [voice]), David Kaye (Newsreel Announcer [voice]), Elie Docter (Young Ellie [voice]), Jeremy Leary (Young Carl [voice]), Mickie McGowan (Police Officer Edith [voice]), Danny Mann (Construction Worker Steve [voice]), Donald Fullilove (Nurse George [voice]), Jess Harnell (Nurse AJ [voice]), Josh Cooley (Omega [voice]). IMDb Rating (12/10/18): 7.9/10 from 146,776 users Additional information Copyright:  2009,  Disney (Pixar) / Buena Vista Features:  • Includes both Blu-ray and DVD discs • Party Cloudy (HD, 5:49) This charming animated short, directed by Pete Sohn (who served as inspiration for rambunctious Wilderness Explorer Russell), we see how babies are made - by a bunch of cute cloud spirits. They make all sorts of babies - but it seems that one unfortunate cloud can only produce scary, sharp, stingy creatures. This gives his stork a lot of grief (since he's the one that has to carry the babies down to earth), and at the center of this short is the relationship between the cloud and the stork. Pixar has honed the amount of time it takes for you to fall in love with a character to around 30 seconds. • Dug's Special Mission (HD, 4:42) This is an all new animated short that follows talking dog Dug, right before he meets up with Carl and Russell. I really don't want to give away anything else, but this might be the best new-short-for-home-video since "Jack Jack Attack" from 'The Incredibles.' • Adventure is Out There! (HD, 22:18) A lot of times on these Pixar discs, they'll talk about the research trip they went on to get information for a project. Like the brief trip the 'Ratatouille' gang spent racing around Paris trying to soak up the atmosphere. But this is the first time I've seen an honest-to-god documentary solely about one of these research expeditions, and the results are truly spectacular. They went down to the South American jungles with a guy named Adrian Warren, who has written and documented these plateau-type mountains you see in the film. Very few humans have ever set foot on the top of the mountain, so it was a real coup for a half dozen or so animators, technical guys, and the film's directors, to get to do it. (Most of them talk about how otherworldly it was.) This documentary mixes footage they actually shot of the journey, with interviews with the guys that went down there, and it's just spellbinding. • The Many Endings of Muntz (HD, 4:56) The villain Muntz was a real tough nut to crack. I remember a friend of mine was talking to somebody involved with Pixar, and they were telling him that they struggled with the Muntz character until the last possible minute. This brief but fascinating documentary showcases some of the possible deaths of Muntz, and how director Pete Docter had a fundamental opposition to even having a villain in the movie, but felt it necessary in a thematic context. (Also, without Muntz, you wouldn't have had a hilarious old man fight.) One of the best bits in here is a kind of 'Shining'-esque moment where Muntz gets lost in a labyrinth of rock formations; chilling stuff. (I'll talk more about this in a minute.) • Documentaries About 45 minutes worth of documentaries reside under the simple heading of "Documentaries." Each one is essential viewing. Here is where you will find the following: Geriatric Hero (HD, 6:24), in which the various animators and behind-the-scenes elves talk about going to an old folks home and studying the wrinkles and pores of old people. They also talk about the thematic, emotional resonance of old age, and co-director Bob Peterson talks about a video he took of his grandparents' house in the early 1990's, and how they drew from that heavily. Wonderful stuff. Canine Companions (HD, 8:26) showcases the amount of study that went into crafting the dogs in the film - both the loveable Dug, and the villainous pack. There are interviews with prominent dog behaviorist Ian Dunbar, and footage of lectures he gave the Pixar animation crew about dog psychology. Russell: Wilderness Explorer (HD, 6) is all about the evolution of Russell, both from a design point and from a character point of view. A lot of it focuses on the similarities between Russell and animator Pete Sohn, who also provided Russell's voice on the scratch track (he's the voice of Emile in 'Ratatouille'). Our Flightless Friend Kevin (HD, 5:04) is about the achingly painful process of figuring out what, exactly, Kevin is, from a biological standpoint but (again) from a thematic one. At one point he was a kind of mythological bird god who breathed fire, in another incarnation his feathers were made out of gold, in yet another, he was a missing link between man and dinosaur. But what they settled on was an ostrich-like bird with a beautiful, iridescent coat of feathers. It shows the animators interacting with live ostriches, which is also very amusing. It's weird that they don't mention the innate power of having a flightless bird be central to a story about the imaginative power of air travel, but I guess they left it to geeks like me to discuss. Homemakers of Pixar (HD, 4:38) is all about bringing Carl's home to life. They actually made a perfect model of Carl's house and photographed it with different light sources, took it outside and put it up to the sky, and it's an amazingly real, tactile version of the animated house. Balloons and Flight (HD, 6:25) talks about the physics of the balloons, and this was probably the least interesting because it was the most technical based. Still, I'd recommend watching it. Lastly, there's Composing for Characters (HD, 7:37) which, if you bought the film's score on iTunes, you've already seen. Still, I hadn't seen it for a while and it was amazing. This is mostly about Michael Giacchino's amazing score, and I tell you what, just listening to him play the main theme on a piano, tears welled up. It's really that great. • Alternate Scene: Married Life (HD, 9:13) This is a really great piece. The first half talks about the power and importance of the opening "Married Life" sequence, which charts the marriage of Ellie and Carl, wordlessly (it was inspired by Pete Docter looking at old 16 mm footage from his childhood and being taken aback by how much more power there was without sound). This bit of the movie is one of just incredible power, and to have something like a miscarriage appear in the opening of a children's film is ballsy and truly unique. So they talk about how that all came together, and then they show us, via storyboards, an earlier draft of the same sequence. (With Michael Giacchino's music, I could have watched a werewolf attacking a nun and found it moving.) The differences are interesting - this one is way longer and has some bizarre subplot about a Muntz museum opening up in Carl and Ellie's town, complete with a display of a bird that looks as lot like Kevin. The finished product is much better, but this, like virtually every other special feature, needs to be seen. • 'Up' Promo Montage (HD, 6) I don't know if this stuff was shown on the Disney Channel or on the internet or what, but it's these brief character moments, like Kevin holding onto a bunch of balloons and floating upwards, or Russell trying to set a trap. All of them were animated by Pixar and look gorgeous and are brief and hilarious and really satisfying. They are so short I’m not sure where they would fit, exactly, but I loved watching this little reel. Great stuff. • Worldwide Trailers This is sort of weird. For one, they don't have the charming teaser trailer (you can pop in your 'Wall-E' Blu-ray for that one), and because, well, even though it says 'Worldwide Trailers,' it's really just the two theatrical trailers (which are presented in HD and run 1:48 and 2:29 respectively). Oh well. • There are a couple of HD exclusives on here! Hurrah! • Cinexplore with Pete Docter and Bob Peterson This is a commentary track with a wonderful array of visual aid. While 'Wall-E's' disc had TWO commentary tracks, one with a bunch of giggling geeky animators, this has one. This is a slight disappointment, as the geek track was one of the highlights of that disc. But this isn't the same kind of movie, where some tech nerd can shout out about how a piece of debris was modeled after something from 'Aliens.' The track we are given is truly wonderful - just as warm and weird and heartfelt as the movie. You can tell these two guys love each other and had a wonderful professional relationship on this movie, and the insight and anecdotes they share are priceless. Even though it covers some of the same ground that you see in the various documentaries, this is a must-listen track, and the artwork that appears on screen as they discuss things is perfectly timed and absolutely illuminating. Wonderfully done. • Global Guardian Board Game This is a board game that requires connecting to BD-Live (I love how BD-Live on Disney titles is in the squiggly Disney font). I played this for a couple of seconds and seems more interesting for the knee-high-to-a-grasshopper set. Subtitles:  English SDH, French, Spanish Video:  Widescreen 1.78:1 Color Screen Resolution: 1080p Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1 Audio:  ENGLISH: DTS-HD 5.1 ENGLISH: DTS-HD Stereo SPANISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 FRENCH: Dolby Digital 5.1 Time:  1:36 DVD:  # Discs: 4 -- # Shows: 1 UPC:  786936791068 Coding:  [V5.0-A5.0] AVC MPEG-4 D-Box:  Yes Other:  Directors: Pete Docter, Bob Peterson (co-director); Producers: Andrew Stanton, John Lasseter, Jonas Rivera; Writers: Bob Peterson (screenplay) and Pete Docter (screenplay), Thomas McCarthy; running time of 96 minutes; Packaging: HD Case. Rated PG for some peril and action.