"Up"-lifted

For as long as I can remember, my test for an exceedingly awesome movie has been this: if I lay awake at night because I'm still thinking about it, then the film has that elusive x-factor that takes it from great to out-of-this-world fantastic.

Last night, I laid awake thinking about Up.

I don't even know where to begin. I suppose the most fitting word - on so many levels - is BEAUTIFUL.

I'm not just talking about the animation, though that's a good place to start. The animation was fantastic, of course, but then this is PIXAR we're talking about, the computer animation geniuses/wizards/magicians who routinely set the bar for technical brilliance and then sail far above it on their next film. Honestly, it's redundant to even say "Pixar" and "incredible animation" in the same sentence. I can't think of a single moment in this movie that wasn't a visual wonder.

But with Up, "beautiful" goes way beyond just the visual aspects of the film. The people at Pixar are MASTERS at the art of storytelling, and once again they have created wonderful, relatable characters that you just can't help but feel for. You laugh with them, you cry with them, you gasp audibly when they are in danger.

On the point of characters: A lot of speculation went on before this movie came out about whether or not people would be able to relate to the protagonist, a 78-year-old curmudgeon named Carl. Well, let me answer with this: after the 4 1/2 minute montage of Carl and his wife Ellie, my heart was with Carl completely. I cried at the end of that montage; I seriously believe that if your heart doesn't break a little at that point, you're not truly human.

As with any storytelling, the power of the story comes from the heart that is put into it, the moments the audience gasps and thinks "Yes, that is absolutely real. I've felt that, I understand that." There were so many moments like that in Up, but there were a few that still come immediately to my mind, and they are especially incredible because they are done completely without words. At one point in the montage, Carl and Ellie learn that they can't have children, and we see an image of the couple silhouetted in a doctor's office, Ellie's head bowed in despair. In the very next shot, Ellie sits in front of her house, her eyes closed, her face upturned, the wind blowing her hair. In that one moment, I could see such pain and sadness but also such radiant strength that my breath was taken away. I'm getting tears in my eyes right now as I write this.

I could go on and on about Up, but I think you'd all be better served by just going out and seeing this amazing movie for yourselves. I'll just leave you with my final word: Up is storytelling at its finest, a film in which the technical brilliance is only outshone by the radiance of the story's heart.