Balloons not included.

Another year, another offering from Pixar beloved by critics and adults and kids and whoever else has a functional heart and brain.

Somehow Pixar manages to cultivate wonderful creativity and originality in almost every film they make. Up is no different, centering the story around an old man who lifts and flies his house with the help of an insane amount of balloons. Somehow, Pixar created an engaging story from that starting point.

Up sails by at a brisk pace – clocking in at only 96 minutes – but it manages to fill that hour and a half with more than enough backstory, tender moments, comedic gags, and action.

The story begins following a little boy named Carl with dreams of grand adventure, inspired by his hero Charles F. Muntz. He soon runs into Ellie, an energeric young girl who shares the same love of adventure and Charles Muntz. It is then that Carl makes the promise to Ellie that he will help her get to Paradise Falls in South America.

The subsequent sequence is a 5-minute encapsulation of Carl and Ellie’s long-lasting marriage. It’s a totally silent collection of scenes, except for the Michael Giacchio-supplied score. It may not be the absolutely brilliant dialogue-less first act of Wall-E, but it’s quite a heartfelt and useful way to establish the backstory that sets up the heart of the film.

Carl is left alone in the house he and Ellie fixed up and truly made their own. He’s getting pushed out by building contractors, who will do or pay anything to get his old house out of the way. When Carl leaves them an opening, they take it, leaving Carl with seemingly no options – until he unleashes a massive collection of balloons that lift his house off the foundation and kick off the action of the film.

What Carl didn’t realize when lifting off was that a young boy named Russell – who he had sent off on a fool’s errand the day before – was on the deck upon liftoff. Much of the story from that point on revolves around the relationship between Carl and Russell, the old curmudgeon and the excitable, curious young kid. I found myself siding with Carl most of the time, if only because I found Russell as annoying as he did.

Once the two land in South America, there are all sorts of things going on, but for the most part, everything works flawlessly. Without giving too much away, it involves a giant colorful bird, dozens of dogs wearing speech-collars, and the reemergence of a figure from the beginning of the film. Within the universe Up establishes (one where a house can be lifted up by balloons) every whimisical and providential occurrence makes perfect sense.

The film does alternate between action and dialogue frequently, but it always handles the transition well. It helps that the relationship between Carl and Russell truly grows in their intimate scenes, and that the action setpieces are exciting, easy to follow, and carry meaning and consequence.

By the end of the film, Carl has learned to move forward by letting go of the past he can never get back. I hate to do this, but it’s pretty uplifting. See what I did there?

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To infinity and... something, something.

Disney/Pixar finally started feeding out information to retailers for the much-anticipated release of Toy Story 1 & 2 on Blu-ray, and the good news is, we’re just a few months away.

Both titles will be released with a bevy of supplemental material – and in combo packs with a standard definition DVD disc – on March 23rd to anxious US audiences. There is no release date for UK territories as of print.

Re-released earlier this year in the Disney Digital 3D format as a double feature, Toy Story 1 & 2 saw a resurgence in demand – nearly fifteen years after the original film debuted in theaters.

Arguably one of the most popular children’s series of all-time, grossing just under $1 billion worldwide, Tom Hanks and Tim Allen are set to reprise their roles as Woody and Buzz Lightyear for Toy Story 3 (due next year).

Both discs will include a sneak peek at Toy Story 3, as well as making-of featurettes, animated shorts, artist featurettes and promotional material. Most of the specs are still unconfirmed, but information generated by retailers list both titles with BD-Live support.

With the 3D Blu-ray technology likely to hit retail shelves next year, is it too early to request 3D reissues of both Toy Story movies?

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Things that go bump in the night.

As a child, I was of the erroneous but firm belief that there was a large monster living under my bed called John. He was big and green, was married to a dragon called Elizabeth and they had six “puppies”.

I’m serious. I was a strange kid.

It’s a trip down memory lane for me, then, as Monsters Inc. comes creeping out from under the four-poster of Blu-ray obscurity. Will it hit the mark, or will it make me want to put that thing back where it came from?

Let us hope it’s the former.

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WALL-E is worthy of better cover art.

STORYTELLING: ★★★★☆ 

Wall-E is what I call fun and games storytelling. There is a section of a screenplay in the second act called fun and games in which the premise of the movie comes to life in a fun way. After this series of scenes it’s back to business as usual, back to dialogue and plot. WALL-E is a movie with a three act fun and games section, due partly to its light dialogue and well defined characters. Every scene is a joy to watch, and many scenes in the first act even have their own story arc. The first thirty nine minutes of WALL-E are perfect. Absolute storytelling perfection. It’s what happens at 00:39:31 that brings the streak of immaculate movie moments.

Silent characters in a children’s film say a lot about the quality of a script, after all it’s not easy to hold a child’s interest. WALL-E and EVA have intense visual chemistry to the point of ridiculousness. What Pixar has accomplished with these characters should be worn as a badge of excellence for decades to come. I wept during this movie because I believed so strongly in the emotions two robots felt for each other. 00:59:50 is a great example of this, and 01:29:15 made my tear ducts spill over like New Orleans in a Hurricane. Immensely enjoyable, it’s hard to fault WALL-E, but not impossible. My biggest gripe is the choice to combine live action humans with bulbous cartoon humans, a major disappointment after setting the bar so high early on.

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