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Up Starring Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer, Delroy Lindo, John Ratzenberger, Bob Peterson, Jordan Nagai Screenplay by Bob Peterson and Pete Docter Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson and Tom McCarthy Directed by Pete Docter and co-director Bob Peterson website: http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/up/

IN SHORT: Best family film of the year. [Rated PG for Some Peril and Action. 96 minutes]

Up is Disney/Pixar's first 3D film which, due to absolute stupidity on the part of yours Cranky, was viewed by us in good ol' 2D. Nothing to do with having to wear 3D glasses over our own prescriptions. We showed up at the right time at the wrong theater. Stupid, stupid Cranky. 'Cuz if we had made it to the correct theater to see Up in 3D, we could have watched it again a second time the next night in 2D! And it would have been worth it!

You all remember famed adventurer Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer), who returned from Paradise Falls with the skeleton of some prehisoric bird-like creature? The skeleton that, after it was said to be a fraud, sent Muntz and his dirigible "The Spirit of Adventue" back into the wild blue yonder, never to be seen again? No?

Then you probably don't know about young Carl Fredricksen (Jeremy Leary) and his childhood friend turned wife, Ellie (Elie Docter). The Fredricksen's life together was  almost perfect. In quick succession we see them meet as children, bond as adults, suffer  the loss of a child and the medical prohibition on making another one, and live an otherwise fabulous life, always dreaming of the perfect adventure in a place called Paradise Falls, somewhere in South America down Venezuela way. Ellie never lived to make that trip. Old Carl (Ed Asner) locked himself away in his house, coming out only to get the mail and yell at the construction workers, specifically the foreman Tom (John Ratzenberger), who are tearing down his neighborhood.

The widower Carl is, in fact, a cranky old man. We gotta love it!

Then there's the annoying little kidlet Russell (Jordan Nagai), trotting around in his Wildlife Explorers (kinda like the Boy Scouts) uniform, its sash filled with every merit badge save one, the "assist the elderly" badge. Russell has come pounding on Carl's door to ask the old man if he, eager Explorer kidlet, can be of any assistance. Carl sends the boy off on a hopeless mission to fina a (nonexistent) bird and retires to his castle, smile pasted smugly on his face.

Time passes and one day, instead of his usual yelling at people passing by, Carl loses control, big time. The net result is a police ticket and a forced relocation to a retirement home. The kind of place where old people go to die. Well, Carl Fredricksen isn't ready to die. When the guys from the home come to take him away, they're in for a surprise involving helium filled balloons. Lots and lots of balloons. You've probably seen images on teevee or in some of the free wallpapers you can download from this site. It's a spectacular effect and we'll say no more, lest we wreck the fun of watching it. We knew what was coming and still were impressed. So is young Russell, who had been hiding beneath the house when the big lift-off occurred. oops.

The plan is to float the house down to Paradise Falls. Old man. Young boy. A little mishap on the landing leaves the pair with at least a three days walk as captives of a talking dog called Dug (Bob Peterson), all the while lugging a floating house behind them thanks to a very long water hose.

Dug isn't a bad guy. He's just the proverbial dumb mutt trying to be the tough dog that other members of the pack, like Alpha (also Peterson), Beta (Delroy Lindo) and Gamma (Jerome Ranft) are. Yes, there is a mastermind behind the pack, as well as a living breathing prehisoric bird-like creature like the one Muntz said was there -- and we've just about said too much.

Haven't though. Up is the best film out of Disney/Pixar since Toy Story. Given that it has more serious elements than the other pair, it is more of a "film" (apologies for writing like a film student). None of that will get in the way of little kidlets loving the film. None of that will get in the way of us much older folk, either. It's a very hard task to pull off a film that works for both demos at the same time. Up accomplishes the task beautifully. BIG adventure. Lots of fun.

That's what Up is, in a nutshell. Nonstop fun from the word go.

On average, a first run movie ticket will run you Ten Bucks. Were Cranky able to set his own price to Up, he would have paid . . .

$9.00

That may be a temporary rating since we won't be able to evaluate the 3D effects until the film is released. If it holds up (meaning if I walk out happy as a camper, as I did with first view) Up will have earned its $ten.

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