Up

Pixar’s latest is another charming, all-ages fantasy, this time about an old curmudgeon who floats his house to the wilds of South America via toy balloons, with a cute Wilderness Explorer kid accidentally in tow. The burgeoning relationship between the lonely old man and the similarly neglected kid is sweet but overdetermined, and the boring villain is hardly one for the Disney pantheon. Fortunately, the supporting players, especially an eager talking dog named Dug, steal the show once the house lands in Venezuela (although in typical Disney fashion, the “good” dog is a golden retriever, while the “bad” dog is a black Rottweiler). Up is a triumph of visual design and imagination, with an emotionally gripping montage at the beginning, and one of the most charming musical refrains in recent memory (courtesy of Michael Giacchino) playing throughout.