Jun 04, 2009 - 04:30 AM

By John Foote

UP

in theatres

(*****)

The latest film from the geniuses at Pixar animation is Up, a breathtaking, wondrous tale of an old man who believes all the adventure is gone from his life and a little boy who is seeking to belong.

They are more alike than they imagine. The film opens with a heartbreaking montage of that old man, Carl, as a child, watching his hero on the big screen be reduced to a fraud and vowing never to return without proof of his discovery in South America of a giant prehistoric bird. On his way home. he meets Ellie, an extroverted little girl who becomes first his best friend and then the love of his life. They marry, buy a rickety old house and turn it into a warm home, find they cannot have children, but grow old loving each other. They promise to have an adventure in South America and save for it, but something always comes up and, by the time they are elderly, he a retired balloon salesman, their dreams have passed them by. When Ellie dies, he is left alone to mourn her loss and the fact they did not have the adventures she had so wanted.

Into the old Carl's life comes Russell, an over-eager Adventure scout seeking to get his last badge by "assisting the elderly." Carl manages (he thinks) to shoo Russell away in time to make his great escape. When forced to abandon his beloved home, he fills hundreds of thousands of balloons with helium and launches the house for South America on one last adventure. When he discovers Russell has inadvertently been included in the adventure, he panics. A storm hits and Carl spends the time gathering his keepsakes, making sure they are not damaged, exhausting himself. When he wakes up he discovers the boy has gotten them to South America, not far from Ellie's beloved waterfall. As they try to get the house closer, they encounter a massive bird the boy names Kevin and a talking dog named Doug (speaking with the aid of a device). Carl is stunned to find his hero from his childhood, not aged and slightly off his rocker, still trying to clear his name by capturing the beautiful bird, Kevin. The adventure becomes about saving Kevin and keeping Russell safe, though the little boy proves more resourceful than Carl imagined. Along the way they find they are one another's best friend and Russell becomes the child that Carl never had.

Ed Asner voices Carl and brings to the character the most full-bodied performance in an animated film since Ellen Degeneres in Finding Nemo (2003). There is a great warmth in his deep voice and genuine heartache at losing Ellie. Equally good is Christopher Plummer as the hero turned villain, driven to madness by his years in the jungle and the failure to clear his name.

The animation is perfect, perfectly bringing to life the South American landscape. The sequences high in the air aboard an ancient blimp are stunning and more than a bit frightening. In fact, a warning: as good as the film is for the wee ones, those little movie watchers under six may struggle with Ellie's demise and some of the film's more frightening moments.

At this point in the year Up is without question the best film of the year.

John Foote, director of the Toronto Film School, is a nationally known film historian/critic and a Port Perry resident. Get more reviews at www.footeonfilm.com. Contact him at jhfoote@xplornet.com.