*Highlights* - UP Up and AWAY! Afterwards...

UP!
It was almost a full house when I went to go see it in 3D! Man, those tickets are EXPENSIVE. My wallet is in SHOCK right now.

But anyway...UP was a REALLY cute movie. Now, I don't know how much of a children's movie it is though. It's a little heavy for young kids. I see the appeal for children. Flying house. Zillions of balloons. Talking dogs. Funny birds.

But dreams and dealing with dashed dreams...it's a little much for the yung'uns. The whole movie jumped back and forth between cute and melancholy pretty consistently. Jerkin tears from lots of folks around me.

Overall, it wasn't what I expected. I expected more slap sticky kiddie fun. Definitely had that element but doesn't seem to be what it's aiming for. People have told me it's a sad movie but I was thinking "Ok, so like at the end?" No. That cloud was lurking at every corner. (Speaking of clouds, the short at the beginning, "Partly Cloudy," was so awww sweet!) The 3D parts...I was expecting like ZOOM! POW! ZIP!!! PEW!!! Not a lot of that actually. Makes me wonder if it was really worth paying $16.50 for it instead of the $12.50 for the regular screen. But the graphics were still visually amazing, especially the shots of the photos.



I still liked the movie a lot because, taking away all the hype and all the pretenses, the movie was genuinely a really strong movie. I can empathize with some of the characters and the realness of the stories while still maintaining a certain purity and innocence that allows for a happy ending. Who doesn't love happy endings?!

I can go a little deeper in the analysis, too. I mean the movie is called UP but the whole time, they're racing against time and running into obstacles that keep the house from staying up. Old, young. Childhood dreams, old age missions. Holding on, letting go. Living in the past, starting anew. Disappointments, heros. Duality and parallelism! I love it!

My final rating for the movie: