What is viewed as the most beloved Pixar movie? Many would reach for the Toy Story franchise and how it started off Pixar altogether, some have targeted movies like Inside Out or Coco as being one hit wonders that have taken the world by storm with ingenious ideas and heartfelt emotions, but one that always seems to be that old-fashioned gem that everyone remembers, yet rarely goes back to, is Up. Out of all of Pixar’s films, Up seems to be that subtle one hidden in the background that is often adored by everyone yet is rarely talked about outside of a few specific moments. So, the question is how does this movie connect with so many people even if it’s not constantly re-watched? In the 1940s, young love sparks as Carl and Ellie discover their love for adventure and vow to take each other to Paradise Falls, a waterfall in South America. Once they wed, real life gets in the way of their exploration and it keeps being put off until they grow old and Ellie tragically dies. A now elderly Carl (voiced by Edward Asner) is being evicted from his house and, to avoid being sent to a nursing home, ties thousands upon thousands of balloons to his house and sets course for Paradise Falls. Unknowingly picking up a young wilderness explorer named Russell (voiced by Jordan Nagai), the two land at their destination and come across some colorful characters, like an ostrich like bird later named Kevin, a talking dog named Dug (voiced by Bob Peterson)  and Carl and Ellie’s old explorer idol, Charles Muntz (voiced by Christopher Plummer) who has gone insane over the years trying to track down Kevin, and now will kill anyone to get to her. Being the second animated movie ever to be nominated for Best Picture, Up was highly praised by both critics and audience when it came out and it’s hard to see why not. The film is packed with fantastic emotion moments, loveable characters, beautiful environments, some great funny and surreal jokes, and a great original story that does wonders at being both tear-jerking and entertaining at the same time.

The concept for the film is both refreshingly original while also calling back to a nice variety of films, with examples like The Wizard of Oz, The Muppets, Disney movies like Dumbo and Peter Pan,  and several Hayao Miyazaki  movies. These elements inspired the films charming, light hearted and slightly bizarre atmosphere, while examples like A  Christmas Carol, Casablanca, The Mission, and Fitzcarraldo gave the film its surprising maturity. The image of a house lifted up by millions of balloons makes for a easily memorable image, but thankfully the film worked wonderfully past its initial idea. The opening segment of this film has gone down in infamy not only as easily the most memorable and amazing moment of the movie, but it’s also considered one of the best scenes ever created in an animated film period. It’s almost staggering to describe the emotional roller coaster that these opening minutes do to the audience, causing them to break down in tears so quickly into the film’s length. The segment is done entirely in silent, relying on the visuals and edits to portray this couple’s entire life together and it’s beautiful. It’s just showing the entire life of this couple in complete silence and it is a clear staple of the power of animation. There’s an honest adultness that comes with it which will possibly make kids upset but will absolutely hit harder with adults. This was the moment that people will remember from this movie forever, and while incredibly ironic, also made people find the rest of the film less wowing. Since they showed off their A material so early, the rest of the film is not mentioned as strongly. Thankfully, the rest of the film still has a lot of great moments throughout that make it worth continuing. The journey is paced remarkably well and features enough turns and deviations to keep from being dull, the climax on a blimp is pretty entertaining, and there’s still some nice emotional moments throughout that, while not as strong, still work fantastically for the film.

All the characters are super likeable and memorable mainly because of the limited cast of characters and the wide variety that each bring. Carl could easily come across as an unlikeable grouchy man, but through good voice acting and a clearly established backstory that easily gets people on his side, gives him a leeway to do things that are not always nice. Russell’s a pretty likeable kid, managing to avoid the trend of annoying kid characters due to a great kid voice actor, and the relationship between him and the old man is also pretty nice and given enough dedicated time that the audience will care about it. Even though the bird doesn’t talk, the animation allows it to have a lot of character in how she moves and acts. The way that they perfectly mimic the personality of a dog is especially priceless; everything from the voice, to the mannerisms matching the dialogue perfectly to the wonderfully emotive animation, it gives an extra layer to having a dog as part of your movie’s cast that even works wonderfully for the side villains, which gets a really fun laugh in regards to his voice. The main villain isn’t particularly memorable overall, but does work pretty well in context with the film; having him be the past hero to the main couple makes things more bittersweet, and even tying the two together in a nice way showing the toxic nature of obsession and what it can create.

The animation is very colorful and does a great job at creating this brand-new environment that feels otherworldly yet still realistic enough that it feels believable. The stuff down in the real world feels appropriately standard and matches the mood of the character’s in question, mainly with the grey tone after the opening segment, and the stuff within Paradise Falls features a lot of jungle aesthetic which comes with its own wonderful colors; with the blue open sky and the rich green jungles contrasting with the bronze stone ground, the orange glowing fires in the night time and especially the rainbow color palette of the bird really pops throughout, to the point where it never gets repetitive to look at even when its only stone being looked at. Despite all the sweet heartfelt and emotional moments throughout, the movie is still largely pretty funny with a lot of great jokes that work on a typical delivery/pay-off direction that is pretty easy to follow, and even on a completely random manner that is absurdly funny. The tone is set up so well that the climax can feature dogs literally dog fighting in planes and its doesn’t seem too strange. The music, composed by Michael Giacchino, does a great job at re-using pieces as character themes to create an almost operatic element where the themes can have different meanings depending on their pitch, speed, and instrumentals. It can make the main theme feel adventurous and high-spirited one moment and sombre and poetically beautiful the next.

Up’s greatest weakness was ironically the its opening moments blew people away so massively that many did not view the rest of the film as highly and that is a pretty big shame. The film does not quite match the emotional powerhouse that it started with, but it follows it up with great characters, funny material, pretty visuals, and not as strong, but still very effective emotional moments. The movie arguably could affect adults more due to its adult nature and beautifully poignant message, but kids will still get some fun adventurous stuff along the way. Although you’ve definitely already seen the movie, Up is one that deserves to be watched all the way through to experience the true wonders that it has to offer. An adventure worth checking out, absolutely worth a viewing.