Up - Blu-ray Review

DISNEY
Street: Nov. 10
Prebook: Now
> Holiday sales for Pixar’s latest will soar up, up and away!

Pixar’s Up is charming and endearing, but it adds a touch of melancholy (and violence) not usually seen in children’s fare. This is a story about loss and recapturing lost dreams. As voiced by Ed Asner, Up’s Carl Frederickson isn’t just a crotchety old man; his surliness has identifiable pain behind it. The animators’ attention to character design and detail can be fully appreciated on Blu-ray as no subtlety, no facial feature, is lost. The overall presentation is simply stunning—enhanced with an enveloping DTS-HD soundtrack, this disc is likely to wind up on more than a few best-of lists at the end of the year. Supplements include seven short documentaries focusing on the characters, soundtrack and the movie’s flight elements, and it’s here we learn that the producers actually know the precise number of animated balloons created to transport Carl’s house (10,286). Disc one of the four-disc combo also features a 22-minute featurette on the crew’s scouting expedition to the real-life, remote Tepui Mountains, which is a veritable travelogue for armchair adventurers.

Shelf Talk: Good reviews and strong box-office will elevate Up into the sales stratosphere during the holidays. It helps that Disney’s offering a version for all tastes: four-disc Blu-ray/DVD/digital copy edition, single-DVD version ($29.99) and two-DVD set with digital copy ($39.99).