Ever since Pixar’s first animated feature “Toy Story” in 1995, their films (every single one!) has been a superbly constructed tale filled with unbelievable characters, comedy, adventure, and attention to detail. As with the Disney animated classics once upon a time there is always a deeper moral woven into each story.

“UP” confirms it. Pixar is no longer happy with creating high quality, family oriented animated films anymore… With 2007’s “Ratatouille”, Pixar launched itself into the best movie of the year stratosphere. Last year’s “Wall-E” confirmed it and this summer’s “UP” cements it.

“UP” tells the story of an elderly grouch named Carl Fredricksen and an eager wilderness explorer named Russell as they take off on a creative adventure via Carl’s house and thousands of colorful helium-filled balloons. They meet a talking dog named Dug and a rare, over-sized bird native to their destination – Paradise Falls, South America… to say more would be to ruin the unfolding of a truly unique and touching plot.

Written and directed by Pixar mainstays Pete Doctor and Bob Peterson, “UP” is a masterpiece. Without actually giving anything away, the story revolves around an old guy and a child… Not exactly the most common protagonists. Not only that, but they are strapped to a floating house for most of the film battling the denizens of Paradise Falls… How in the world would something ever get made? The concept is asinine and in any other hands would be equivalent to a turd on a stick or at the very least contain a group of comedic penguins…

The difference between a Pixar film and ALL other animated CGI movies is this: Pixar grounds their film concepts in fantasy while every other animated film house uses the medium to create larger than life stories. The key difference is that I want to walk into a fantasy… I don’t want to sit for 90 minutes and be force fed goofy looking characters hitting the same old jokes time and time again. Case in point: Dreamworks decided to recreate the Pixar fantasy element with “Shrek”. The sad part is they did so by literally creating a fantasy world filled with all the characters we grew up with from actual fairy tales. Some of the movies are funny but there is no lasting appeal. Nobody is going to remember “Monsters vs. Aliens” next year let alone in a decade.

“UP” however, will be a key arsenal in every parents entertainment arsenal when they want to entertain their kids while at the same time teach about heavy things like death, ego, greed, and ‘complicated’ family situations… The film’s ability to weave all of this emotion together alongside great adventure and honest to goodness, laugh out loud, yet such simple comedy sets it not only on par with the Best Picture Oscar winners but in my opinion, above. The film’s balance of so many elements is impressive. Throw in Michael Giacchino’s score and there wasn’t a dry eye or thrilled heart in the entire theater.

The bottom line: 5/5. See this movie! “UP” is a beautiful adventure filled with great characters and emotion that will entertain everyone! Every other animated studio could learn tons from Pixar.

What did you think? Were as swept away as I was? Leave your comments below or Twitter me @billrusnak