Pixar – the animated movie studio – has had nine consecutive hits. There is no other company that has been able to make amazing films, and only amazing films, for fourteen years. So right from the start, Pixar has something special.

But I’ve been worried about Up. You see, I grew up with the best kids movies ever. Toy Story, right when I was six. My whole childhood was in a period now known as the Disney Renaissance, when I had films like The Lion King, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Pocahontas, Hercules, Mulan, and the most important animated film to date at its time – Beauty and the Beast. It was nominated for best picture – something no other animated film has ever seen, which may be the result of the later “Best Animated Feature” category – as well as a grand total of six Academy Award nominations, something which only one film has ever done. This brings us back to Pixar, the creators of WALL•E – which received Academy Award Nominations for Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Best Animated Film.

That’s a hard act for Up to follow.

Of course, being part computer geek and part child, I love Pixar. I consider WALL•E to be one of my favorite movies of all time – so I was worried when I saw some of the trailers for Up. It looked silly – but not necessarily in a good way.

So, here’s what Pixar has done so far:

  • Toy Story
  • A Bug’s Life
  • Toy Story 2
  • Monsters, Inc.
  • Finding Nemo
  • The Incredibles
  • Cars
  • Ratatouille
  • WALL•E

And now, Up.

So now I have seen the movie, and I was surprised.

The film is heart-wrenchingly sad at moments. Within the first ten minutes, half the theatre was crying – at one moment, the theater was deathly silent. It was unimaginably emotional for what had been billed as a family action/adventure movie – and in some ways, was brutally realistic. This from a movie about a man floating his house away with balloons.

It’s also one of the most hilarious movies I have ever seen. Quite an odd combination – sad at moments, hilarious at others – but in many ways, this cartoonish animated film is very human. Even though some twists were quite predictable, they were so well presented that they were still interesting, funny, mournful, or even all of those simultaneously.

More than anything else, this movie was about growth – as a person, in maturity and wisdom. Although the ending was certainly good, it wasn’t what any of the characters were thinking of – or what the audience would originally expect. Many moments were bittersweet, and although the story itself is fairly simplistic, the extremely deep characters made the audience connect on many levels.

I had my doubts that Pixar could make another winner, for the tenth time in a row. But Up is simply an amazing movie – deep and soulful, emotional and hilarious. It’s completely worth of the Pixar name, and has lived up to my expectations and exceeded them in every way.

Although children might not understand everything going on in this film – and might be saddened at parts – people of all ages will love this movie. Despite the heart-tugging moments, the brilliant humor and deep characters will leave you looking Up.