When our brood were small some of the regular stars of story time were Dr Seuss's books . Designed to combat the rising tide of illiteracy with only 250 words in their vocabulary they grabbed the imagination of even the tiniest and most timid fledgling reader with their fantastic illustrations and barmy humour .They are full of fun. Kids like fun and generally speaking they are good at it too and can find it in the most unexpected places.
The great advantage that children have over us mere adults is the ability to see things that are everyday and boring as something magical and wondrous, the ability as Seuss put it to look at the world through the wrong end of a telescope and laugh at life's realities. It is something I think that Disney Pixar have turned into an art which is why perhaps they have produced such amazingly captivating characters in their feature animations.
There is a lot in this film that reminds me of Dr Seuss stories, they share the endearing eccentricities of plot, the wonderful wit , the zanny illustrations , characters like the rather odd bird called Kevin and other idiosyncratic beasts like Dug the talking dog .Seuss's books were brimming with get up and go-ishness without making any moral obvious they oozed encouragement for kids to follow their dreams and be themselves no matter how weird others may find them and generally they did not pussy foot over the nasty bits nor lie and say life is always going to be fun. Kids can spot that sort of untruth a mile off.
The Movie "UP" does not pussy foot over the nasty bits either. It is a film about about fallen heros lost dreams and finding love and happiness in unlikley places. I do not want to ruin the plot for you nor uncover too many of the little comic treats it holds therein but let me say that Not for nothing did this movie win 2 academy awards including best animated feature. So if you have children or want something to keep your inner child happy then I can think of no better way to do that than for you to go and get yourself your own copy of "Up", and if you need even more encouragement then click on the clickable links in this review above and watch the trailers.
On a technical note of course one of the joys of blu-ray is that all the extra space it has for bonus features like the making of the movie which you don't get on an ordinary dvd and which to visual thinkers and must know how its done freaks like youngest and I is better than popcorn as a movie watchers treat! So if you do not have a Blu-ray player then its about time you got one because you are missing out on lots of fun.
ps you may also want to buy a box of tissues just incase that inner child needs a good wail at some of the sad bits not to mention laughign till you cry at the funny bits too.
Enjoy!
