76 of 80 people found the following review helpful:
An outstanding Blu...4 discs filled with more than a day's watch
I had no expectations of being disappointed with a Disney/Pixar BD, and being that it took me a whole dedicated day to get through everything, I now feel it was worth every penny. The film was enjoyable, funny, sad, and scary filled with some nice messages about life and loss. I can understand why the majority of my customers loved it.
31 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
Don't buy this if you watch on a computer!
"Up" is a great movie, I highly recommend it. Unfortunately they've crippled the DVD with some new form of DRM that prevents it being played on many computers. I have bought and returned three DVDs so far and every one fails to play because Disney locks the movie up with a DRM. Think about this for a moment. I pay for the DVD, I now own the DVD, but because Disney has...
I had no expectations of being disappointed with a Disney/Pixar BD, and being that it took me a whole dedicated day to get through everything, I now feel it was worth every penny. The film was enjoyable, funny, sad, and scary filled with some nice messages about life and loss. I can understand why the majority of my customers loved it.
The Blu clarity is outstanding, and the amount of reference points are extensive, but one that stands out the most for contrast lines would have to be when the house is entering the lair (balloons against the dark cavern). The sound is selectable between 5.1 DTS, 2.0 DTS and Descriptive English. The 5.1 was beautiful with tons of reference points, sometimes excruciating (that bird screeching) but thorough nonetheless. Now for the supplements (all times in minutes):
DISC 1: (BD)
* 5:46 Partly Cloudy short film. Was hilarious. A great depth test for your display with the clouds. Nice little message of tolerance no matter how difficult someone might be.
* 4:40 Dug's Mission. An almost lo-def looking short take on our main dog dealing with the main three baddies on a chase.
* 22:17 Adventure Out There. A must see documentary about the crew taking the actual trip to the Tepui location in South America. A beautiful travel infomercial in itself. Loved how their guide only wore sandles for the ascent and hikes.
* 4:56 Alternate Scenes Ending of Muntz. Sketches and interviews regarding different endings for that bad guy that they had come up with.
* 1:00 How-to on using the Digital Copy.
* Cine Explore option while watching the film. The two directors give their commentary with multiple pop-up screens showing art, ideas, etc.
* Screen Saver. Allows you to set a time period for your screen saver to activate.
* Maximize Your Home Theater. The standard Pixar multi-step process for setting all of your theater capabilities.
DISC 2: (BD)
Documentaries
* 6:24 Geriatric Hero. History behind the creation of our old guy. All of these documentaries are interview oriented with sketches and film clips to supplement.
* 8:26 Canine Companions. In depth analysis on the breed choices, training and dog behavior studied to get the dogs in the film to be more - dog like.
* 9:00 Russel Wild Explorer. Covers the reasons for his character to have the loss and why he was "egg" shaped as opposed to other sketch ideas.
* 5:04 Kevin (bird). Nice reference to the Swiss Family Robinson ostrich; covered the hardest part of any of these animation films - the feathers.
* 4:38 Homemakers Pixar. Enjoyed the work that went into them studying sub-floors and lighting options in making this look so real in the house.
* 6:25 Balloons and Flight. Tells the now famous number of balloons used; some interesting dirigible history; shows the Pixar group using that local Bay Area air service I keep seeing fly around here (research stuff).
* 7:37 Composing for Characters. Have to be into the musical/scoring stuff for this one.
Extras
* Global Guardian Badge Game. After the initial setup of name, difficulty levels and tutorial material, the game has an extensive amount of country/geography material. Customers grouped around and we did fine for the United States section, but we randomly tried Africa and we bombed (some of the countries they were asking for I hadn't heard of in years) - good learning tool though.
* 9:15 Alternate Scene - Married Life. Another sketch/interview piece about more material being removed/added into that section of the film. The scene itself would have been only a minute longer.
* 6:00 montage. A mix of characters doing funny things - will make the kids laugh.
* Screen Saver option.
DISC 3 (DVD)
* Film, plus special features from disc 1. Essentially the single disc cut of Up (Single Disc Widescreen).
DISC 4 (Digital Copy).
* Code both unlocks the copy and gets you the usual points at the Disney site.
Overall, an excellent product no matter how you look at it. The case has that new single hinge, multi-page off center chassis that has proven to be less than durable, but it should suffice for low usage storage. Enjoy.
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Here's a movie for dog lovers, the elderly, children of divorce, FOBs (Friends of Birds), former Boy Scouts, people yearning for adventure, and anyone who has ever loved... and lost. Up is for everyone. It made me laugh out loud, and it made me cry.
I thought it would be tough for Up to match the emotional power of Wall-E. The two Pixar films are similar in their lack of dialogue in the first act, which helps deepen the emotional impact. Up begins with Carl, a shy young boy star-struck by a famous explorer; and kookie Ellie, who has a similar obsession. The two kids become fast friends, and vow to one day travel to Venezuela's Paradise Falls. After getting married, they buy their dream home and fix it up, hoping to fill it with children. Carl and Ellie's life together from childhood through old age is depicted, silently, with delicacy and subtlety. The first 15 minutes is like a celebration of a happy marriage, and you truly feel Carl's pain when he is left alone. He sits slumped in his chair, talking to the house as if it is the missing Ellie.
When developers close in on Carl's beloved home, he decides to fulfill his promise to Ellie and travel to Paradise Falls. A former balloon vendor, Carl lifts his home with hundreds of colorful balloons. Stowing away on the porch is Russell, a plump, plucky kid trying to earn a scouting badge.
After landing in Paradise Falls, the old man and the little boy are joined by a golden retriever named Dug who can talk with his collar, and a huge rare bird that bonds with Russell (he names her "Kevin"). Dug is priceless: spot-on for every dog that ever lived, including an obsession with squirrels. Through a series of close calls and adventures, the quartet vanquishes a villain, saving the day. And Russell earns his scouting badge.
In the process, Carl learns to let go of his sad mourning for Ellie, and live life again. When this happens, a truly magical thing happens. Before, Carl's craggy face is gray and monochromatic. At the moment of his transformation, Carl's face is awash in color, and he is surrounded by beautiful hues. It reminded me of The Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy steps out of her gray world and into a candy-colored Munchkinland. Carl, too, enters a whole new world.
Up is a deeply emotional film, full of truth. It's the year's best film. Score another triumph for Pixar.
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Someday, Pixar is going to do it -- they're going to create an emotionally uninspiring, lackluster animated movie. But in the meantime, they're still putting out delightful animated movies like "Up," which defies the usual kid-movie conventions by starring a crotchety old man. It's a charming, fun little adventure story with flying dogs and balloon-powered houses, but underlying it is a bittersweet little story about loss and love.
As a child, the shy Carl Fredricksen bonded with the oddball Ellie over their shared love of adventure, the explorer Charles Muntz, and Paradise Falls. They later married, move into their "clubhouse" together, and lived a long, sadly childless life together. When Ellie died, she had never fulfilled her dream of going to Paradise Falls.
Now crotchety, alone and harassed by a real estate developer, Carl (Ed Asner) is finally ordered to a retirement home. But he isn't going quietly -- instead he attaches thousands of balloons to his house and floats it away toward South America. But he accidentally takes an enthusiastic, naive Wilderness Explorer (a thinly-veiled Boy Scout) named Russell (Jordan Nagai) along for the ride. Poor kid was just trying to earn an "assisting the elderly" badge.
And the jungle trek to Paradise Falls turns out to have some surprising obstacles: a big emulike bird that Russell names Kevin, a talking dog named Dug ("I am jumping on you, bird!"), and a mysterious old man who lives deep in the heart of the jungle. Turns out the old guy is very familiar to Carl -- and to capture Kevin, he's willing to sacrifice Carl and Russell.
Industry experts were babbling about how "Up" wouldn't be as popular as the previous Pixar movies, because the protagonist is basically a crusty old coot. Well, shows what they know. It ended up becoming one of those classic movies that somehow appeals to all ages -- while the humor and action appeal to children, adults can appreciate Carl's love for his lost wife, and his slow realization that he's clinging to the past.
In fact, the first ten minutes are some of the most heart-tugging, quietly bittersweet scenes I've seen in a long time. Without a word, they show all the ups and downs of a realistic marriage -- joys, sorrows (Ellie's inability to have children), growing old together, and finally loss.
But it's not a depressing movie by any stretch -- in fact, it's like a childhood fantasy come to life, complete with a floating house suspended on hundreds of balloons, and biplanes piloted by a talking dog army.. Plenty of great dialogue ("Do you want to play a game? It's called See Who Can Go the Longest Without Saying Anything." "Cool! My mom loves that game!") and an action-packed climax in an aged airship.
Ed Asner is absolutely perfect as ubergrouch Carl -- crotchety, grumpy, and determined to fulfill his wife's lifelong dream, but gradually realizing he's clinging to the past. Nagai is equally perfect as Carl's polar opposite: a naive, chattery Scout who is determined to reunite Kevin with her baby chicks. And the utterly adorable Dug and the other dogs deserve special notice. These creatures are utterly hilarious -- they talk ("I hid under your porch because I love you") and act the way dogs would if they talked. Three words: cone of shame.
The two-disc edition is going to have some very nice extras, but once again people with regular-def DVDs are going to get shafted because the Blu-ray edition will have a bunch of exclusive stuff. Grr. As for this one, there's a digital copy, the director's audio commentary, kinda-alternate-ending "The Many Endings of Muntz," and the documentary "Adventure Is Out There" about the research for this movie.
There are also a pair of adorable animated shorts. "Partly Cloudy" has a much-abused stork having to deliver potentially harmful baby creatures from a kind but clueless cloud. And "Dug's Special Mission" is a sort of backstory for the adorable Dug, explaining what the heck he was doing before he met up with Carl and Russell.
"Up" continues Pixar's running tally of gloriously animated, emotionally layered movies that the entire family can enjoy. With that, I have only one more thing to say... SQUIRREL!
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No, I'm not talking about the quality of the animation or the effects. This movie is a huge fantasy that begins at the end of a life that just didn't turn out the way someone wanted it to. He wanted adventure, he got a home and a job. He wanted kids, and his wife couldn't have them. And now, just as he's crossed the line and it about to get hauled off to the rest home to run out the clock, the adventure begins! And, what adventure!
Without giving away the detail, I belive this picure will be an enduring classic right up there with Toy Story. I even like it better than the brilliant Wall-E, because it's more real. The envirnomental message resonates with some, but I think many more can relate to life just not working out the way it was planned, of hopes and dreams being crushed, at the looming end of everything. But still, adventure is out there!
And, actually getting to meet one's hero can turn out in a way you don't expect, and not necessarily good.
This is an animated movie with a mind and a soul, when so many seem to have neither. And dogs are always funny, right? Woof!
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"Up" is a great movie, I highly recommend it. Unfortunately they've crippled the DVD with some new form of DRM that prevents it being played on many computers. I have bought and returned three DVDs so far and every one fails to play because Disney locks the movie up with a DRM. Think about this for a moment. I pay for the DVD, I now own the DVD, but because Disney has convinced themselves that I, the customer, can not be trusted they rig up the DVD, which I bought, so I can't watch it.
I am not alone in this. When I was in the store returning one of the non-playing DVDs there were four other customers doing the same and all with the same complaint: it will not play on a computer.
Again I recommend "Up," it's a great movie. Too bad I can't buy a DVD and watch it.
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It has been well over a decade since Pixar hit the animation world like a block of ice on a hot day. They have changed the way we watch movies and the way we tend to think of "kid's movies" In that time They have produced hit after hit after hit. There has, to date, not been a Pixar film I did not like.
In all that time however, there have only been Three which affected me on an emotional level. They are Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and now Up
In Finding Nemo, When Harold first lost his son, blinded and disoriented, Chasing Frantically after the Boat, I was there, Right there with him, I could feel his panic and loss.
In The Incredibles, When the missiles are headed for the Plane and Helen (Elastigirl) Is Pleading with the tower "Abort! Abort! Abort!" even after having seen it a hundred times I still find myself gripping the arms of my chair.
And In Up..... I Don't want to give it away for those who have not seen it. But the first act left me in tears. I am a Grown Man and it left me in tears. That is not something I admit to lightly, and it would be embarrassing if the film had not been so beautifully done.
I Truly Cannot Think of Praise High Enough to give this Film.
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Pixar keeps raising the bar - and this time it's Up. This joyous fantasy creates a very odd couple indeed. An iconic grumpy old man and a congenitally cheerful and sincere little boy launch onto an adventure blended from equal parts past (the old guy's) and future (the kid's). There's bit of an eco-fable in there, with the big bad urban developers and the rapacious hunter, but that never becomes annoying. Instead, Up keeps delivering wild sight gags layered on appealing interactions between the characters. Speaking of characters (and speaking of them speaking), Dug the dog is way up on my list of favorites. If you never learned to love dog-drool as a child, he might not hit a heart-string - but that's your problem, not mine.
I'm sure others will tell you about the rest of the movie, but two parts really stood out for me: the first five minutes, and the ten minutes (or so) before that. Those first few minutes of the movie create a charming back-story with more plot and heart than a lot of movies manage in an hour or two. They define The Quest that the rest of the movie pursues, so effectively that you'll never question any silliness in pursuing it. But, before the first minutes of this movie, Pixar presents one of their signature short features. This time - well, it would take longer to tell than to watch. It's about the stork who delivers the babies. It carries an affectionate reminder that some are harder to love than others, but that just makes the job that much more important.
-- wiredweird
(PS: Note how much more limber and energetic the old guy gets as he spends more time with that earnest little boy - that part of the movie is absolute non-fiction. Young kinds make you younger.)
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My family and I are HUGE disney fans and when it comes to the animated films, we've pretty much seen them all. The problem is that as of late, with some exceptions including Bridge To Terabithia, the disney films have seemed to be lacking alot in what made them special to begin with. Up was able to bring back those heartfelt moments that had been gone for a fair amount time and for me, it was a complete throwback to movies like the little mermaid,tarzan and even the most depressing disney film, the fox and the hound, all of which had scenes of sadness,joy,family,loss...that are important for everyone to see and that bring the magic to us. I loved UP, I recommend it to everyone who's a disney fan or even if you're not, go out and buy it,rent, check it out at the library if you to because it's worth and it has quite a bunch of themes in it that you can talk about with your family once it's over.
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I really like the Pixar movies, as does my son. He seems to go back and forth as to which one he likes the most. Right now it is between WALLE and the Incredibles. This was great movie to add to the pixar collection as it was really funny and dramatic. I like story telling, and this gave us a great story and an adventure to go on. My wife and I both told each other after we watched it that we couldn't wait until this one came out on DVD so our son could watch it as he is still too young to go the theater. This will tide me over until Toy Story 3 comes out next year, which I am sure will be another great addition to the Toy Story saga. I wish Dreamworks would take their cues from pixar and give us more meanful movies instead of the low end stuff they usually send us, with the exception of a couple of movies. Not all of their movies are safe for young kids like Pixar movies are.
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With their 10th theatrical release 'Up' Pixar continues to prove that they are the best film production studio out there today. Continually improving their animating abilities (no matter what Pixar movie it is I am awestruck at the quality) and writing ORIGINAL (sans the very average Cars) stories, the geniuses out west could take the easy route but that is not the Pixar way.
If you have seen the trailers you are no doubt focused on the balloons that carry the lead role away in his house but the main focus is that this is a LOVE STORY. The first 10 minutes are some of Pixar's best work ever which is very analogous to the first 30 minutes of WALL-E which is brought down by a very average 2nd and 3rd act (WALL-E). We learn of Carl Fredricksen falling in love with Elle, are quickly shown highlights of their happy life together and their continual goal to go on a great adventure in South America. A great adventure that they never were able to take together due to lack of money and Elle's death (this is a deeper movie than other Pixar productions so be prepared to talk to your kids).
After Elle is gone, Carl decides that he must take action to go on that adventure they never got to do. Along the way he meets up with a young boy, talking dog(s), crazy bird and an antagonist that Karl must defeat.
The animation in Up is of course top notch. The story is creative and original, and it's a joy to watch. The only thing that hurts this movie is it's not very kid-friendly in my opinion. I took my 4 1/2 year old daughter and 30 minutes in she wanted to leave (we stayed for the whole thing). I feel the main audience for this movie is adults and senior citizens (yes I am serious) with children and teenagers second this time around. Kids will probably like it but not like Toy Story, Monsters or Nemo.
For fun I will rank the Pixar movies according to me but this is completely subjective. If you search the web about the only constant you will find is that Cars is the weakest movie, as for the rest, everyone has their favorites.
#01 The Incredibles
#02 Monsters, Inc.
#03 Finding Nemo
#04 Ratatouille
#05 WALL-E
#06 Up
#07 Toy Story 2
#08 Toy Story
#09 A Bug's Life
#10 Cars
***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
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