Disney's UP ... not a laugh-out-loud funny movie

Fair warning. This movie deals with a lot of very heavy emotional issues not even hinted at in the trailers. Not necessarily the best movie to take your friend who has just suffered the loss of her spouse to see. Sigh.

It starts out with a young boy watching a movie clip about a famous explorer and pretending to do his own exploring on his way home, when he meets someone else who also enjoys pretending to explore. They become friends, marry, and enjoy a life full of ordinary moments and love and grief and always always a dream of going to Paradise Falls in South America, the place to which the explorer in the movie clip had gone.

After their loving lifetime, Ellie passes away and Carl becomes a grumpy old man. His home is threatened. So he takes action and moves it, via a bazillion balloons and a couple shower curtain sails. A young stow-away and a talking dog and a special bird and an even grumpier old man later and you have a few laughs and a bit of adventure. But through it all you have lots and lots and lots of reminiscing and grieving on love lost and opportunities missed and dreams that didn't quite come true.

Chanda and I and all the kiddos and our friend Kari and her son Grayson all went to the drive in to see this. The kids were puzzled in the beginning, waiting for the adventure to start. Then my kiddos, who apparently scare a tad more easily than Chanda's, were a bit frightened by the adventure bits (not much, just enough to come sit in my lap). It was an okay movie. Not wonderful. I think this would be my opinion even if we weren't blind-sided by the grief that so closely paralleled life. I think the kids all enjoyed the adventure of going to the drive in and playing on the grass and having dinner outside more than the movie itself.

So. There you have it. It's only nominally a kid movie. It has lots of heavy issues and a few chuckles. It's good but not great. And it's maybe not the best movie to take anyone suffering a loss to see.