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There’s one thing you can always say for a Pixar movie.  It WILL be a box office smash.  Seriously—considering the performance of like the last eight, about the only way a Pixar movie won’t have an eight-figure opening weekend is in the event of a nationwide power outage.  Though I admit, going into this one I was a bit concerned about a possible new direction as set by the previous Pixar smash, Wall-E.

So what was new release Up going to be?  An action smash comedy in the vein of its earlier hits?  Or would I get yet another preachy monstrosity this time exhorting me to honor the elderly and be a friend to the environment (like Wall-E) and maybe even get plenty of exercise (again like Wall-E).

The answer, I’m happy to announce that the answer is the FIRST one—action smash comedy uber alles, baby.

This time around, we join Carl Frederickson, a quiet young man who falls in love with Ellie, a young firebrand dedicated to the pursuit of adventure, both of which share a common love of the tales of industrialist adventurer Charles Muntz. They marry, to Ellie’s family’s intense shotgun-firing joy and Carl’s family’s…moderate interest.  The two grow old together, sharing a common dream of one day moving the abandoned house in which they met (which they subsequently bought, fixed up, and lived in) to Paradise Falls in the same fashion as their hero Muntz.  Fast forward to the future, Carl, now a widower, finds himself in a position to realize his and his late wife’s dream…but it won’t be anywhere near as simple as he imagines.

This begins a tale of adventure and laughs that’ll easily rank Up among Pixar’s best.

That’s the tough thing about writing about Pixar movies.  You go into them expecting them to be good.  Pixar movies are like pizza—even when they’re bad (A Bug’s Life, Finding Nemo, Wall-E, I’m looking at you) they’re still pretty good.  You wind up saying much the same things about each: they look spectacular, they sound great, the voice acting is top-notch and even the plots are generally at the very least solid.  Not because you can’t think of anything else to say, mind you, but because it’s true.  Pixar movies are a standard of quality all their own.

That having been said, for a Pixar movie to distinguish itself it must do something unusual.  For instance, my current personal favorite, The Incredibles, went above and beyond in the action department.  It still brought the funny, of course, but it was an action movie unlike anything else.  Up, meanwhile, will distinguish itself too…in comedy.

I can’t remember the last time I laughed so much at a movie, even at a Pixar movie.  The fact that I can laugh this much at a movie means they’ve got a superabundance of fresh, unique jokes that can’t help but provoke laughs.  In much the same way as The Incredibles, sure, Up brought the action, but it was a comedy movie unlike anything else.  Truly, this was a movie to love, and now leaves me with an unsettling question as to just which is my FAVORITE Pixar movie.

In summary, folks…you need to see this movie.  It’s too good to miss.  There are too many laughs and too much action and too many carefully tugged heartstrings and too much sheer fun to avoid this.

Up is one movie that provides EXACTLY what it says on the box.  It is happy in a box.  It is a mood elevator like no other, and a downright chronic Up.

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