Lovely story of 'Up' transcends usual kiddie fare

"Up” may not quite rank as Pixar’s finest film (I lean toward “Ratatouille”), but it is certainly the animation studio’s oddest and bravest picture, and possibly its most beautiful.

Beauty is impossible to measure by most standards, but the computer-animation wizards of Pixar have been making it especially difficult these last few years. They have leaped quantum after quantum after quantum since the shiny plastic stars and flat backdrops of “Toy Story.”

Lately the animators have been creating images that belong in a virtual Louvre, from the oil painterly Paris of “Ratatouille” to the incongruously serene desolation at the start of “Wall-E.”

Shortly after the plot literally launches, “Up” offers its most unforgettable image: A creaky old Victorian home, held aloft by thousands of common helium balloons, floats past and above the glass skyscrapers of an impersonal city. The moment owes much of its astonishing beauty to sheer audacity. This sight of the old transcending the modern is as absurd as it is inspiring.

The man piloting the floating house is 78-year-old Carl Frederickson (voiced by Edward Asner). With his white hair, bushy white eyebrows and black horn-rimmed glasses, Carl might look like the elderly Cary Grant if his head weren’t a near-perfect cube.

Carl is sailing his house to South America to fulfill a promise he made to his late wife, Ellie, when they were children. Shortly after they met in the late 1930s, Carl and Ellie pledged they would one day visit Paradise Falls, located high in the Andes, where their idol, dashing explorer Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer), was last spotted. All this is explained during the extended prologue that begins with a black and white newsreel (just as “The Incredibles” did) then segues into childhood games where boisterous Ellie bowls over shy Carl.

Their relationship is very much in the Peppermint Patty-Charlie Brown mode.
One extended prologue begets another, a dialogue-free montage set to composer Michael Giacchino’s loveliest piano melody yet that traces

Carl and Ellie’s marriage from the wedding ceremony to Ellie’s funeral.

Just as heartrending as that ending is the moment the couple realizes they cannot have children. They sublimate their parental yearning by taking jobs at the local zoo, Ellie as curator of the South America exhibit and Carl as balloon peddler.

This carries us back to the moment when Carl, to avoid being sent to a retirement home, sends his house skyward. And with this comes the realization why “Up” will be such an odd, brave and special film: Director Pete Docter, in charge of his first Pixar project since “Monsters Inc.,” has made a cartoon about an old man grieving his dead wife. We have come a long way indeed from talking toys and bugs.

Pixar has always made family entertainment in the fullest sense of the term, films that appeal to parents and children alike. But as far back as “Toy Story 2” (and with the possible exception of “Cars”), the studio has shifted the balance from material that appeals to children to material that appeals to adults. With themes of marriage and loss embedded in script, which is credited to Docter’s co-director Bob Peterson, “Up” is Pixar’s most grown-up movie.

Yet “Up” is still more kid-friendly than “Ratatouille.” Carl’s arrival in the South American peaks opens up a pulp adventure subplot when he discovers his boyhood idol Muntz is alive and now a megalomaniac served by a pack of dogs that speak with electronic vocal chords strapped to their throats.

Before Muntz appears, Carl picks up a trio of comic traveling companions beginning with stowaway Russell (Jordan Nagai), a Wilderness Scout seeking his “assisting the elderly” merit badge. Poor Russell steps onto Carl’s front porch as the house goes airborne. After touching down, Carl and Russell meet a bizarre jungle bird and silly dog Dug, the runt of Muntz’s pack who rivals Russell in haplessness.

Even with the pathos and sadness at the heart of the story, “Up” is one of Pixar’s funniest films. One gag involving an evil dog’s voice had me laughing harder at a movie than I have in years. The odd-couple pairing of grumpy Carl and chatty Russell provides most of the humor, but this relationship becomes touching, too, once Carl realizes why Russell seeks his father’s approval so desperately.

Pixar creators, particularly studio boss John Lasseter, often have professed their admiration for Japan’s master animator Hayao Miyazaki (“Spirited Away,” “Howl’s Moving Castle”). Miyazaki’s influence on “Up” is profound, particularly in the story’s refusal to follow a formula, instead frequently branching into strange directions. Who would guess that a story that begins with an old man being pressured to move into a retirement home would lead to the most rousing zeppelin climax since “The Rocketeer”? OK, no other movie since “The Rocketeer” has had a rousing zeppelin climax, but you get my point.

If only the story’s emotional arc were as unpredictable. The heart-tugging moments, particularly toward the end, are easy to guess. As Carl nears his moment of crisis, I had a strong idea what he would discover in his house, and when.

The sentiment remains sincere, but not as powerful as advertised. The wild plot and gut-busting jokes are a perhaps a hair too distracting. “Up” falls just short of Pixar’s echelon, but it still offers more wonders, delights and undisputed artistry than anything else to hit theaters this year.

P.S. “Up” is also the first Pixar film to be released in 3D. If you see it in 3D, as I did, you will find its wonders and delights enhanced by the process, especially the action scenes near the end. However, the 3D effects are employed so subtly you may be just as happy seeing “Up” in old-fashioned (less expensive) 2D.

3-1/2 stars
Rated PG for some peril and action
Running time: 1 hour, 36 minutes
Written by Bob Peterson
Directed by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson
Starring the voices of Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai