Oben (2009)

Oben: Directed by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson. With Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai, Bob Peterson. 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen travels to Paradise Falls in his house equipped with balloons, inadvertently taking a young stowaway.

“I was lucky enough to get a ticket to a special pre-release screening of Up at Pixar studios in Emeryville, organized by the San Francisco Film Society. After a hour-long reception in the atrium of their beautiful main building we went through some rigorous security (metal detectors!) and were treated to an hilarious short (Partly Cloudy) and Pixaru0026#39;s new high water mark, Up.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMy favorites to date have definitely been Wall-E and the Incredibles, and Up is another slightly-left-of-center masterpiece. The emotional impact of the beautiful, wordless summation of Carlu0026#39;s life that opens the movie is the bass note that resonates through the whole film and is at least as affecting as the scene in Wall-E when he holds his own hands while watching Hello Dolly. The rest of the movie, of course, is breathtaking on just about every level, especially the tactile quality of all the characters and textures and the completely realized weather effects and action scenes. With no u0026quot;newu0026quot; technical milestones (fur in Monsters, Inc., water in Finding Nemo, realistic camera effects in Wall- E), the design is the main focus, from the hilariously stylized characters to the amazing setting of the tepui.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs the associate producer who participated in the Qu0026amp;A following the movie pointed out, the past three Pixar movies have not been easy sells to their parent company Disney (theyu0026#39;ll be back in familiar territory with Toy Story 3 and Cars 2), but Pixaru0026#39;s commitment to inventive, story-driven films continues to pay off here. All of the good press is true, and I canu0026#39;t wait to see it again. Thanks for staying true to yourselves Pixar!”