UP

Kat and I had visitors this weekend--Brielle's grandparents came to see the girl, and since they had her Friday night, Kat and I decided to go see a movie.

We saw Up, the new release from Disney/Pixar. It's the story of Carl Fredricksen, a blocky 78 year old balloon salesman with one great adventure left to be attempted. It's also the story of Russell, a pre-teen Wilderness Explorer; Doug the Dog; and Kevin, an improbable denizen of Paradise Falls in South America.

It's a really wonderful movie, with dazzling (and entirely appropriate) 3-D effects--by all means, see this in 3-D if you can!!--but what it has in spades is heart. Carl's story begins in great sadness; I dare anyone watching it not to cry at least four times, and that's possibly in the first fifteen minutes.

The way the story unfolds will not tax those who like to anticipate plot points... but it should delight and impress regardless, as the characters (and the actors behind them) make the story come alive. Doug, in particular, has a host of delightful and quotable lines.

Being a Pixar movie comes with very high expectations. Up, very happily, lives up to all of them.
Strongly recommended.

Ratatouille

What a great movie!

Saw it yesterday with Sherin, Devon and Jon (no name necessary!) B. Probably the best animation Pixar has ever done, with unbelievable rain, water and fur effects, plus dazzing photo-realistic images of Paris. It's a beautiful city but in Pixar's hands, its magic really comes through.

Remy is an amazingly realized character, with some of the most expressive facial features and body language in a CGI movie to date; Patton Oswalt does a terrific job of grounding this blue-gray furred marvel with a matter-of-fact voice that aspires to greatness even as his heritage is garbage dumps and slop.

The supporting cast is fantastic as well. Brad Garrett in particular stood out to me as the voice of deceased master chef Auguste Gusteau--his vocal flexibility is astounding! Janeane Garofalo was likewise great as Collette, the hard-edged girl in a world of overbearing chauvinists, and Lou Romano brought something special to the film as Linguini, the hapless kid who opens the door for Remy to realize his dreams.

The film pulled in $47M this weekend, which is real good. I don't doubt it'll be a creative steamroller and do huge numbers, as well as big DVD sales. Luckily, this is one movie that deserves the great press it's getting.