UP, Up and Away

The last day of school was Thursday and I knew it was going to be an emotionally charged day. It's always hard to say good-bye. This year, besides say so long to the fifth grade class, I also was sending good wishes off with several teachers who were being transferred to other campuses in our district. Topping the list was the fact that our principal, who had hired almost the entire staff in her 19 years as an administrator, had accepted a promotion and will be starting the new school year as an assistant superintendent. Easing the pain of losing her is the fact that our new principal is an awesome person with great leadership skills. The transition will be pretty seamless but it's still change.

So I took Friday off. I figured I would need it. I had been promising Terry that I would take him to see the new Pixar/Disney movie UP. I had seen all of the previews ... they looked, well, cute. I had heard from a few people that it started off sad. It was a kid's movie so how sad could it be, and for that matter, how good could it be? We met up with some friends at the local vintage theater downtown (I love this theater and would choose it over the 20 screen megaplex EVERY time!), loaded up with popcorn and sodas and settled in.

Surprise (and I shouldn't have been... it is Pixar after all)! This was such a good movie with an uplifting message, humor, humanity, pathos. From the short at the beginning to the last credit rolling, this is entertainment at it's best. If you think this is just a movie about a house being lifted away by balloons you would be so wrong. It is the life story of Carl Fredrickson (Ed Asner is the voice of Carl) starting with his wide-eyed hero worshipping youth. Carl meets his soul mate, the adventure loving Ellie and we see in a beautiful montage of scenes their life together. The story surprises the viewer constantly but it's also animation at it's perfection. There is one scene where two characters come to Carl's door. Sticking out the back of one of the character's shirts is his tag. You know that tag that people come behind you and tuck in for you? That is the kind of detail that you find in this movie. There are also some inside jokes. In the movie Russell, the little boy character talks about going to Fentons for ice cream with his dad. Fentons is our favorite ice cream spot and a place local Bay Area people esteem fondly. If you've never been, look up the address and take an adventure there.

Everyone in our group loved it - the moms, the younger children and even my teenage friend who went along. Terry thought it was better than Cars (high praise if you know him). Go see it... and then see it again. Oh, and bring some tissues just to be safe!