‘Up’ is sugary sweet, visual

Disney-Pixar’s latest animated venture, “Up,” is a great adventure and their first voyage into the 3-D world.

It’s also a very sweet story tying together the older and younger generations with a need for love and acceptance and that ageless quest for excitement.

The action takes place up here in the sky in a house elevated by thousands of balloons. It is the home of a 70-something old man Carl (Ed Asner) who’s slightly grumpy and mostly lonely, but all in all, has a great big heart.

A recent widower, Carl dreams of escaping the racket of big city construction sandwiching him in and exploring the wilds of South America like his wife Ellie always dreamed. He gets his chance too when the nursing home police show up to cart him away — up goes his colorful defense, carrying him away to a place where the elderly are free to do as they like.

Carl points his compass south for Paradise Falls and seems down for anything. Uh, until he discovers that little 8-year-old Russell (Jordan Nagai), an insecure, chubby, boy scout is along for the ride as well, trapped, terrified, on the front porch.

Little Russell has just one more scout patch to earn, and it involves helping a senior. Carl is less than excited about the company, but learns to adapt. And before he can help it, he starts to care for the boy who doesn’t have much of a male figure around otherwise.

The two arrive at their destination in time, and the Pixar-Disney portrayal of the tall falls is quite stunning. But the real truth and beauty here is in the voyage, the exchange between young and old, the achievement of impossible dreams in spite of great obstacles.

The South American wild turns out to be a pretty wild place complete with talking dogs (?), a sinister explorer (Christopher Plummer) and a lovely mother bird named Kevin.

“Up” proves satisfying enough, though not as enjoyable as “Wall-E” or even “Ratatouille.”

The 3-D glasses were more arduous than they were worth, but I’m down with “Up.”

‘Up’Rated: PG
Directors: Peter Docter and Bob Peterson
Starring: (the voices of): Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai and Bob Peterson
One hour and 36 minutes

***
Three stars on a scale
of five stars