Directors: Pete Docter, Bob Peterson
Starring: Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer, John Ratzenberger, Jordan Nagai, Bob Peterson, Delroy Lindo, Jerome Ranft, David Kaye, Elie Docter, Jeremy Leary, Mickie McGowan, Danny Mann, Donald Fullilove, Pete Docter, Jess Harnell, Josh Cooley
Cert: U
Region: B
Length: 96mins
Video: AVC, 1080p, 1.85:1
Audio: DTS-HD 5.1 MA
Languages: English, E.A.D, French, Nederlands, Magyar, Vlaarms
Subtitles: English, English (HOH), French, Nederlands, Magyar
Number of Discs: 2/4

On paper it's hard to imagine an animated film about an old man, a boy scout, a giant bird and a talking dog will be competing at the Oscars alongside 'serious' films about bomb disposal officers in Afghanistan and under-educated football players. Well toss those preconceptions out the window now because Pixar's latest fully deserves to win Best Picture and, hey, Best Screenplay to boot. You won't find a more entertaining, imaginative and downright hilarious film all year; one that even manages to break your heart twice in the space of 90 mins (take that, stupid blue Avatar aliens! No-one shed a tear when you kicked the bucket, did they!).

Pixar have been part of the Disney group since 2006 and each time they release a new movie to staggering box office returns and universal critical acclaim we secretly tell ourselves that it can't get any better than Finding Nemo or WALL-E; that their next film must surely suck the big one. That inevitable slide thankfully has yet to happen, leaving us with the genius of Up, Pixar's first foray into the 3-D realm. We can't see that extra dimension on Blu-ray (not until late 2010 anyway) but even in 2-D Up proves to be one of the most finely crafted movies of recent years - animated or otherwise.

The first five minutes alone literally contain enough material to fill an entire life, with little Carl Fredricksen wanting to emulate his hero, explorer Charles Muntz, before meeting his soulmate Ellie and getting sidetracked with, well, life. The two of them dream of going on an adventure to South America only to realise that the years have flown by and they're now drawing a pension. Once his wife has passed on and he's pushed into moving to a retirement home by shady property developers, Carl says 'screw it' and sets sail to South America via a couple of thousand balloons tied to his house. Unbeknownst to him, Russell, a young wilderness explorer out to earn a Help The Aged badge has unwittingly come along for the ride. The odd couple eventually land in the jungle where they find a strange giant bird (whom Russell nicknames Kevin) and Dug, a friendly mutt whose barks get translated into English via a hit-tech collar.

Carl simply wants to drag his house to the picturesque waterfall across the ravine but when Kevin is injured by Dug's decidedly non-friendly doggy pals, Russell pleads for the old codger to return the bird to his hungry offspring on the opposite end of the mountain. What follows is just the kind of adventure that Carl dreamed off as a boy, complete with sword duels, dog fights (air and land based) and plenty of derring do called for when Russell gets kidnapped by the dogs' evil human master (voiced by Christopher Plummer). The twist being that Carl is now at the age where he's more Henry Jones than Indiana. As for Dug, he proves to be the funniest Pixar character since Dory in Finding Nemo, blurting out doggy gems like "I have just met you and I love you- Squirrel!!"