Review: Up

Apparently it takes a village to raise a child, which is one way of saying 'don't try to do it alone, idiot'. Grandparents and the older generation at large are a vital part, of course. There's a lot of common ground between the oldies and the little 'uns. Neither has the cares of the ones in the middle - the parents - who have mortgages to feed, jobs to cling on to and bills to worry about.

Not that the older generation are free of all of that, of course, but maybe they are wise enough to want less and worry less. To live for the day, perhaps, as fewer become available. Of course the main difference between the old and the young is that for the old breakfast is every five minutes and Christmas is once a week and for the young there's a whole lifetime between each December 25th.

It's that relationship between old and young which is highlighted in Up. It opens with the life story of Carl, starting with him as little boy with dreams of being an explorer and follows him until he becomes a widowed, cantankerous old ex-balloon seller defending his property from greedy developers. It manages to cover his dreams and those of Ellie, his wife, the pain of childlessness, the annoyance of petty little bills and never having quite enough to make ends meet, to death, grief, a spot of common assault, a court appearance and the threat of eviction.

So much in such a short time. It doesn't sound much like fun either, but it's clever. It draws you in, you become attached to the characters and then it breaks your heart. Not since Simba's father died in 'Lion King' have I wanted to cry so much in a movie. Animation is king of the 'show don't tell' school and pictures paint so much more than mere words.

Carl's life, in his little house surrounded by sky-scrapers, looks bleak indeed, but then he meets eight-year-old Adventure Scout Russell who needs to earn his 'assisting the elderly' badge. He is determined to assist Carl and in doing so win his final badge, graduate to senior scouts and perhaps attract his father's attention. Quite a lot there too - a broken home, new marriage, busy parents with little time for their son. Carl sends him off to find a fictional 'snipe' then unleashes a housefull of balloons and soars up into the sky and away.

Russell accidentally tags along and joins Carl on his quest to fly the house to Paradise Falls in South America.

Surely this is all thoroughly boring for kids? Um, from time to time, perhaps, but just as they start getting fidgety in comes Dug the dog (NOTE: Hilarious link for dog lovers - and Dug lovers!) and Kevin the bird (and mother figure). Dug is very lovably 'dog'. Not since Bolt has there been such a loveable doggie. Poor Dug is quite bullied by the other dogs, but he's loyal and trustworthy even when the others are mean to him. Moralising Pixar-style, but you can't help but love it.

All we need now is a baddie and he turns out to be none other explorer Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer), Carl's childhood hero. He's a very good baddie too. Cue a great fight scene with walking sticks, false teeth and bad backs. My kids roared with laughter.

There's much to love about Up. It's basically a lesson in the tenacity of children and the elderly in the face of a world which largely ignores their needs. It focuses on friendship - age difference no barrier - and the fact that not only have the young much to learn from the elderly, but the elderly can learn a lot from the very young too. For once those in the middle - the parents - are disappointing and ignored.

Up is a surprising film and, after the saccharine of The Princess and the Frog, it's a real tonic. It comes with a brilliant new short film 'Dug's Special Mission' which looks at Dug's day before he meets Carl and Russell. It's quite the funniest thing I have watched in ages. In fact I watched it twice on the trot and cried with laughter both times. Brilliant.

Half term film festival

We had a half term film festival last week. The weather was iffy and, between Halloween themed dances and other things the occasional space popped up in which we could watch a film in its entirety rather than in bite-sized installments bounded by dinner and bedtime.

First on the menu was Mamma Mia - a riot of ABBA fun which we've watched hundreds of times already. H7 and R5 know it word by word and either watch it sing-a-long or song by song, again with the words on the screen. They dance and sing to it too - but adults are banned.

Next up was Monsters Inc on Blu-ray. We had it on DVD originally and it's always been a huge favourite. I didn't think Blu-ray would make a difference to this one, but again it surprised me. The bit where they are flying through the air on the doors is utterly brilliant. R5 still hides her eyes at the scary beginning too.

I thought Monsters was going to be our Halloween movie this year, but it was trumped by Snow White. I haven't seen it for ages but, again on Blu-ray in a special diamond edition, it proved me wrong. It has the best witch, complete with wart and cackle and a really spooky running-through- the-woods-rather-than-being-killed-by-the-hunter bit.

Snow White is 'the one that started it all' , hand-animated and - by today's standards - very low tech. Blu-ray brings this 1937 film bang up to date with clear sounds and sharp pictures and we all loved it. I bet you can remember all the songs: Whistle While You Work, Some Day My Prince Will Come... Ah, memories.

Blu-ray discs have masses of capacity compared to DVD and this one has the best game I've ever found. It's a jewellery catching game where you use the remote to move Grumpy's truck, catch gems and score points. I began with 160, H7 followed with zero and R5 got 80. Of course there were tears! H7 had another go and improved to 120. I managed a lack-lustre 120 and R5 topped the whole thing off by scoring 1,320. More tears and tantrums (but only from me).

The last film of the week was Up in 3D at Theatr Mwldan. It was Disney-Pixar at its very best. The hero is an old man called Karl who is widowed and ends up in court on an assault charge. It doesn't sound a promising start does it! But Karl attaches balloons to his house and floats it off to Venezuela. A stowaway is adventure scout Russel and when they land they encounter a colourful bird called Kevin and a dog called Doug who can talk via his collar. (Squirrel!) We cried and we laughed and, of course, there's a happy ending.

And the best thing of all? A trailer for Toy Story 3! It was, when buying Toy Story 2, I thought that I really should have children of my own to give me some excuse for this love of Disney and my massive collection of videos, so I did (eventually). I can't wait to see Toy Story 3 (out 2010) with them.