Last week I'm invited on a private movie preview together with some other movie critics who writes online and on print. And I was so delighted to find out that we are watching Disney Pixar's latest offering, UP.


UP is a fantasy flick that centers around a 78 year old man named Carl Fredricksen (Edward Asner). All his life, he dreams of an adventure. An adventure that will bring him to places that no one ever reached before. One day, he tied a thousand Balloons in his house instantly transforming it to a flying vessel. But before Carl even starts his journey, comes in front of his door is a young Wilderness Explorer named Russell (Jordan Nagai) who offers him help in exchange for a badge. Despite Carl's resentment, Russell joined his travel to South America to fulfill his and his wife's dreams to explore an uncharted destinations called Paradise Falls. But behind the adventure and the growing friendship between the two is Carl's difficulty to accept his wife's death and a concealed secret and danger on the hands of somebody who everybody believed to be long dead.

The movie is so entertaining. Having an old man as the film's main hero is unconventional because of the obvious limitations on elderly character. But Disney and Pixar did a very good job in designing Carl as an old man that can run, wrestle, and pilot a ship but retaining some qualities of a typical old man who suffers arthritis, resentful and grumpy.


Russell on the lighter note is one of the cutest character in the history of Disney and Pixar animations. A young naive not to mention chubby kid who dreams to be a Senior Wilderness Explorer. He is energetic, compulsive, playful and full of ambitions but you will see that in the end, he transformed in to a much matured individual and fights for what he really believes in.


Like any other animation flick I already watched, the plot is straight forward. The twist is predictable but the movie will surely touch everyone's heart. It shows the real meaning of adventure and at the same time the film teaches us the art of letting go. I recommend this film to everyone, not just to kids but also to everyone who likes adventure.


Experience the journey this coming August 19, 2009 when Disney Pixar's UP premieres in local cinemas nationwide.