Up

Up
Voiced by Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai, Bob Peterson & John Ratzenberger

The tenth film released by Disney/Pixar with its minimalistic title, "Up" does just that - brings a simple, ordinary life into the unbeleivable. Carl Fredricksen (Edward Asner) is a lonely, grumpy, and sad old man who has kept his property the same for decades, even though the contemporary, skyscraping battles unconditionally against him. He - like every human being - has a story, and his story is told in a ten to fifteen minute montage of his life and his amazing, exuberant wife, Ellie. This chonological mostly-silent section of "Up" takes the audience on a roller coaster of ups and downs. Carl and Ellie were in love the second they met, when they were kids, and always had high hopes of living a beautiful life together, a life of adventure. Yet, all doesn't go as planned, which is life, but Ellie and Carl make the best of what they have. Now a widow, Carl has nothing. Or so he thought.

Pete Docter's script is full of heart and soul, while we watch a grandiose adventure of a lifetime with the hero being a box-shaped senior citizen. Carl's life reaches new heights as he escapes the city in search of Ellie's dream land - South America. And he doesn't take a plane; Carl flies by the only thing he's ever known: balloons. Thousands and thousands of balloons. However, when a pudgy boy scout named Russell (Jordan Nagai) accidentally comes along the ride, Carl is forced to face the facts that this persona of the grumpy old guy is just that - a persona.

Talking dogs, crazy species of birds, and Carl & Ellie's life long hero ensue our story, but the heart of it remains through all the craziness, which is why I will forgive Pixar for selling out a bit with their dog dogfight just to gain membership in the 3-D club. "Up" is another of Pixars amazing line-ups teaching children and adults that life's too short, to love, and to live.

Grade: B+

And just for fun, I'm ranking the 10 films produced by Pixar starting with my favorite:
1. Toy Story
2. Finding Nemo
3. Ratatouille
4. Wall-E
5. A Bug's Life
6. Monster's, Inc.
7. Up
8. The Incredibles
9. Toy Story 2
10. Cars

Ratatouille

Ratatouille
Voiced by Patton Oswalt, Lou Romano, Peter O'Toole, Ian Holm & Janeane Garofalo

In "Ratatouille" (pronounced rata-too-ee), we are introduced to Remy, voiced by Patton Oswalt. Remy is a rat. But not just an ordinary, garbage-theiving, will-eat-anything rat. Remy has a keen sense of smell. This may seem useless for a rat, but not for Remy: he detects poisonous food, or at least he is forced to by his rat-proud father. Like a rat, Remy loves food, but not the garbage his pals eat - he wants cuisine and top cheeses and things that make his tiny belly growl with hunger. He can read too. He reads Chef Gusteau's Anyone Can Cook book, and believes that he too can cook... if he were only a little bit bigger. One day, as he's scrounging up some rosemary and freshly plucked mushrooms, Remy sees on an old woman's television that Gusteau, his true chef hero, has died. Then the old woman finds Remy and, with a shotgun, unleashes all of Remy's ratty friends. He is separated from his family and must begin a life alone in the beautiful city of Paris.

As a Pixar animation, "Ratatouille" is exceptionally above anything they have created previously. It is the only Pixar film to bring together the human world with the world of the unknown successfully and passionately. Remy meets a dish dog, Linguini (Lou Romano), who works at Gusteau's restaurant, and they discover a way to make food together - by the rat pulling Linguini's hair, thus controlling every move he makes.

There are two fun love stories in between, with Linguini and the talented and very bossy Chef Colette (Jeneane Garofalo), and with Remy the rat and his love for food. But when Remy and Linguini make an amazing soup by accident, the people of Paris - and the food critics - are all coming back to Gusteau's. With perfect plot complications like this and many others, "Ratatouille" feels like a great PG-13 movie, but plays like it's made for the kids.

But unlike it's predecessors (Toy Story 1 & 2, A Bug's Life, Monster's Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Cars), "Ratatouille" is not the best Pixar for children, for much of its dialogue consist of ingredients and criticism - something that bored most of the kids in the theatre but amazed the adults. Yet, this film is nearly the best Pixar installment yet.

Grade: A