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41
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84
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69
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53
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xx
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43
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31
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57
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83
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63
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43
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76
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52
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67
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65
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84
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83
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21
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57
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61
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68
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xx
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64
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72
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85
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61
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70
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69
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47
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52
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76
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47
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51
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71
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73
Me and Orson Welles
77
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xx
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57
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76
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
77
Mother
50
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xx
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49
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67
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64
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67
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52
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40
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49
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49
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74
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xx
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89
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76
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xx
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32
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83
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69
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36
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56
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63
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77
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76
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51
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74
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74
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47
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19
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63
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69
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54
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60
Videocracy
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66
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45
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82
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xx
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43
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xx
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64
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64
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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Up
EMAILPRINTWalt Disney Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios

Universal acclaim
Based on 37 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 338 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Action | Adventure | Animation | Comedy | Family/Kids
Written by: Bob Peterson
Directed by:
Pete Docter
Bob Peterson
Release Date:
Theatrical: May 29, 2009
DVD: November 10, 2009
Running Time: 96 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG for some peril and action
Starring Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer, John Ratzenberger, Delroy Lindo, and Jordan Nagai
Up is a comedy adventure about 78-year-old balloon salesman Carl Fredricksen, who finally fulfills his lifelong dream of a great adventure when he ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies away to the wilds of South America. But he discovers all too late that his biggest nightmare has stowed away on the trip: an overly optimistic 9-year-old Wilderness Explorer named Russell. (Walt Disney Pictures)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: A Bug's Life Finding Nemo Monsters, Inc. Ratatouille The Iron Giant Toy Story Toy Story 2 WALL-E
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen
Winsome, touching and arguably the funniest Pixar effort ever, the gorgeously rendered, high-flying adventure is a tidy 90-minute distillation of all the signature touches that came before it.
Read Full Review >Variety Todd McCarthy
A captivating odd-couple adventure that becomes funnier and more exciting as it flies along.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Robert Wilonsky
The first 10 minutes of Up are flawless; the final 80 minutes, close enough. (Though, note this: Do not see Up in 3-D. It's inessential to the tale and altogether distracting.)
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
A lovely, thoughtful, and yes, uplifting adventure.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Corliss
Extending the patented Pixar mix of humor and heart, Up is the studio's most deeply emotional and affecting work.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
This is another masterwork from Pixar, which is leading the charge in modern animation.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Rarely has any film, let alone an animated one powered by the logic of dream and fantasy, been able to move so successfully -- and so effortlessly -- through so many different kinds of cinematic territory.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
On the most basic level the new film is pure vaudeville: a loopy flyaway fantasy that's hysterically funny if only to keep the darkness at bay.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Up is a breathtaking ride into the realm of pure imagination.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
The exhilarating film pays tribute to Buster Keaton's "The Balloonatic" by way of its slapstick, and to Hayao Miyazaki's "Howl's Moving Castle" by way of its watercolor palette and traveling domicile.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
Easily the summer's, and probably the year's, most enchanting movie, Up is a buoyant delight.
Read Full Review >Slate Dana Stevens
Up is Pixar's most ambitious attempt yet to take animation to higher (and deeper) places than it's been before, and Giacchino's sprightly music keeps the whole thing, impossibly, aloft.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
Some of the comic inventions are inspired: Muntz has a pack of dogs equipped with electronic voice boxes, which means they're talking dogs, only they speak as if they've learned English from a poorly translated Berlitz guide.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
The result is a soaring, touching, funny and altogether buoyant movie that lives up to its title in spirit and in form.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Perry Seibert
You get the feeling that, had Pixar been in business 25 years ago, Steven Spielberg might have made this movie for them as a follow-up to "Raiders of the Lost Ark."
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
An exquisite work of cinematic art that also happens to be the funniest, most touching, most exciting and most entertaining movie released so far this year.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Everything about Up is an up, in the most visceral and poetic ways.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Scott Foundas
Up emerges as a gentle hymn to adventure of both the soaring, storybook variety and the smaller, less obvious kind -- the perilous, unpredictable and richly rewarding journey of ordinary, everyday life.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall
Writer-directors Pete Docter and Bob Peterson present hilarious insights into bird brains and canine psychology and treat thornier human emotions deftly.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine David Edelstein
By all means, see Up in its 3-D incarnation: The cliff drops are vertiginous, and the scores of balloons--bunched into the shape of one giant balloon--are as pluckable as grapes.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
We will be comparing Up with classics like "The Wizard of Oz" for years to come.
Read Full Review >Premiere Staff (Not credited)
Each character has their own story, and Pixar never sacrifices their development just for a happy ending.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson
Up is challenging, emotionally and narratively, but it trusts viewers to keep up; Pixar has never been interested in talking down to children or their parents.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
Is Up top-shelf Pixar? No. But is it quality summer movie entertainment? Absolutely. Even when the folks at Pixar aim to keep their feet solidly on the ground, they can't help but soar.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
As a piece of poetic compression, it ranks with the opening of Orson Welles's "The Magnificent Ambersons."
Read Full Review >The New Yorker David Denby
The movie is packed with lovely jokes, some of them funny in inexplicable ways.
Read Full Review >Empire Ian Freer
If it had lived up to its golden first five minutes, Up would have been the film of the decade. As it is, it remains the best animated flick of 2009, a funny, moving, beautifully made argument that dreamers can move mountains.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
While their latest achievement can't quite one-up "WALL-E," it offers soaring highs that are bound to enchant viewers of any age.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Up is not as transcendent as last year's "WALL-E," and doesn't rank near the top of Pixar's pantheon of great features, but it's a solid (and in some ways innovative) fantasy adventure that mixes comedy, action, and drama into a satisfying whole.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Has some great movie moments but also boring stretches.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Kate Taylor
Disney has historically peopled cartoons aimed at children with violent, gruesomely animated villains. For all its delicious whimsy, Up is no exception.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Manohla Dargis
Passages of glorious imagination are invariably matched by stock characters and banal story choices.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
I'm still left, though, with an unshakable sense of Up being rushed and sketchy, a collection of lovely storyboards that coalesced incompletely or not at all.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Save for a few inspired canine gags and a handful of very pretty visual details, Up left me cold. Its charms appear to have been applied with surgical precision; by the end, I felt expertly sutured, but not much else.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Matthew Sorrento
After a strong takeoff, the film lands on dead grounds.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.9 (out of 10) based on 338 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Linda L. gave it a9:
I'm not a big fan of these animated darlings -- found "Nemo" OK, "Shrek" dull and "Wall-e" inane. But I really enjoyed "Up." Some quibbles with plot developments, but overall it was touching and sweet though still with a lot of grown-up appeal.
Dave H gave it a6:
While the intro sequence is heart warming and very cute, the rest of the movie is direct to video.
Jesse J gave it a10:
AMAZING! Enjoyed it as much as Wall-E but a bill less than Rattatouile (donno how to spell it :S). I recommend any one to watch it! The dog is sooo funny. "OH BOY OH BOY, I WILL GO GET THE BALL THEN BRING IT BACK"!
Cody B gave it a2:
This movie was absolutely terrible and impossible to follow. The story was just like they were pulling rabbits out of hats to keep the movie going. It wasn't funny but was actually drab and slow. Don't watch it.
Alex Y gave it a9:
This movie could melt a heart of ice. Up is consistently touching and captivating, if just a bit cheesy at times, but even the cheesy bits are heartwarming. The storyline is unique, bizarre, and inspiring. This is Pixar's best film since the Incredibles.
Tristram M gave it a4:
I really could not relate to the plot or the characters. What a waste of time.
Brian R. gave it a9:
Had a slow start, but got better and better to the end. One of the most funny movies I've seen in a while. Disney/Pixar and Steve Jobs definitely know how to make a good animated movie, and they've proved it once again.
