One blog. Two opinions. One zillion films.

Tough choice, Tam.

Drag Me to Hell or Up?

Gomorrah or Up?

Terminator: Interminable or Up?

I chose Up, much to the chagrin of two other adults who accompanied K and me. They thought it’d be, you know, a kiddie film.

They were thrilled with it. We all were. Pixar films are never just kiddie films. No studio has ever had such a run a high-quality storytelling; Pixar is 10-for-10 in box office and critical hits.

Pixar’s secret? No secret. They challenge themselves. They made Finding Nemo so they could master the animation of water, an especially difficult illusion. The challenge of Up: can we take a story about a lonely old man and make it fly?

They succeed by making lots of things fly. Halfway through the movie I chuckled to myself, “This is a movie about a house floating to South America on balloons. I am okay with this.”

However much they put into stories and character and utterly charming detail, Pixar has a singular passion about art. Although I thought Cars was — for Pixar — merely okay, their images of ribboned highways crossing the great American southwest are pure rhapsody.

Of course, Up is one of the best movies so far this year, and it’s among Pixar’s funniest. Jackson is a dog-loving town; Up leans heavily on how-dogs-think humor. However, its first few minutes are among the most romantic and touching moments ever put to the big screen. It’s not a matter of whether one sees Up, but how many times.