Up - An Exciting, Tear-jerking Adventure

After seeing this online, due to impatience on having to unnecessarily wait until October to see it here in the UK, my verdict is this: it's an exciting, heartfelt adventure. While isn't one of Pixar's best (Toy Story can still take pride of place on it's throne, for me), It's themes of obsession, grief, acceptance among maybe some more I missed make it more family friendly than Disney's Bolt, which was obviously firmly aimed at the under tens, with little for an older audience.

What Pixar do best is create real, living and breathing characters. The main two: the old widower and the young boy develop throughout the film. I was in tears as the old man had to learn to move on with his grief of his late wife, and touched by scenes with the boy talking about his father.
It's a testament to these compelling characters that make the film what it is.

I wasn't fond of the dog with the 'speaking' collar, but the antagonist was really quite sinister and obsessive - really unsettled me in a couple of scenes.

Speaking of obsession, that is one of the themes in the plot: the old man's obsessed with his house and the boy's obsessed with getting his badge for helping the elderly. There are montage scenes that work so well, especially showing the old man's past. No dialogue, yet it's so enchanting.
Good old-fashioned storytelling, pathos and a some quite consistent, witty laughs make this adventure-cum-self discovery tale work.

Unfortunately, the version I saw was horribly pixilated, so I couldn't completely make out some dark scenes. I'm sure the animation was superb, though, as the faces of the main duo were so expressive.

The score really drives the action scenes and lifts the flying scenes to heights where it soars.

Overall: A very good film, with top notch characterisation, simple and solid storytelling and a believability that sells it for me. Up, while not perfection, ascends to heights that other animation companies could only wistfully dream of - 8/10.