Movie Review: Up

I haven't been a big fan of Disney movies since The Hunchback of Notre Dame. They had me with The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast, but Hunchback was a bust for me and Disney kind of lost me after that. The gradual progression towards more CG and less classic animation also helped ease the pain of the break-up. That being said, there have been a couple of decent films since then, most notably Monsters, Inc and Finding Nemo, but for the most part I remain disenchanted with Disney. When I saw the previews for Up, they had me with the talking dog. As a fan of all things dog, there was no way I was going to miss this, especially with the hilarious clips in the previews with Doug, aforementioned lingual canine.

What I expected: A light-hearted film for kids that would make me chuckle a few times with a few intentionally placed completely adult jokes that would leave the kids cold. What did I get: All of the things I expected as well as a pretty amazing film that made me laugh harder than I thought I would with an added element of sad that I was not ready for and brought tears to my eyes. Oh Disney, I had forgotten how much you loved to add the element of tragedy to your films. Shame on me for overlooking the fact that next to none of your heroines had mothers and that some of them had met a bitter and gut-wrenching end (Bambi). There aren't going to be any spoilers here, but suffice it to say that I had to choke back a few sobs. You'll see it coming early in the movie, and that's all I will say about that. To my delight, there was not only one talking dog, but a whole army of talking dogs. There can't be anything wrong with a movie filled with hilarious and witty talking dogs, can there?

I highly recommend Up for the whole family, or just for an easy-breasy date night. You don't have to have kids to go see this one and enjoy it and although Disney may not have won me over on the back of this flick, this flick certainly won me over. Go see it.