Up

Up is a comedy-adventure that follows the uplifting tale of 78-year-old Balloon Salesman Carl Fredickersen (voiced by Asner), who finally fulfills his lifelong dream of a great adventure when he ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies away to the wilds of South America. But he discovers all too late that his biggest nightmare has towed away on the trip: an overly optimistic eight-year-old Wilderness Explorer named Russell (voiced by Nagai). Their journey to a lost world, where they encounter some strange, exotic, and surprising characters, is filled with hilarity, emotion and wildly imaginative adventure. (Gary Reber)

This four-disc special edition Blu-ray Disc is one of the best produced thus far. Following the up-front previews, Director Pete Docter introduces the package. Disc One includes commentary by Docter and Co-Director Bob Peterson; the theatrical short Partly Cloudy (HD 05:49); the original short Dug's Special Mission (HD 04:42); the action-packed documentary Adventure Is Out There (HD 22:18), which chronicles the filmmakers' own trek to the mountains of South America to research the design and story of the film; The Many Endings Of Muntz alternative scene (HD 04:56); and your choice of playing the movie with or without Cine-Explore, a visual montage of concept art, clips, and documentary coverage that illustrates the director's commentary; plus BD-Live functionality. There is calibration help to maximize your home theatre experience—a worthwhile tutorial to optimize picture and sound. Disc Two special features include seven documentaries: Geriatric Hero (HD 06:24)—a character study of Carl, from research to realization, including art and design, rigging, animation, and story focusing on the issues of aging "simplexity," shape-language, and compelling character arcs; Canine Companions (HD 08:26)—design, behavior, and language of dogs; Russell: Wilderness Explorer (HD 09:03)—a character study of Russell film inspiration and design, to finding the character arc and authentic voice for this wilderness ranger; Our Giant Flightless Friend, Kevin (HD 05:06)—how a mythical, 13-foot tall indescent bird was brought to life; Homemakers Of Pixar (HD 04:25)—Carl and Ellie's house as a character; Balloons And Flight (HD 06:27)—Carl's house and Muntz's dirigible; and Composing For Characters (HD 07:41); an alternate scene on Married Life (HD 09:13); a promo montage (HD 05:52); the Global Guardian Badge game; and worldwide trailers. Disc Three is the DVD and Disc Four is a Digital Copy of the feature.

While exhibited theatrically in Disney Digital 3D in D-Cinema theatres, this is the non-3-D version in spherical format at a 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratio. The 2K digital intermediate 1.78:1 1080p AVC picture transfer for Blu-ray Disc™ release is absolutely spectacular! The picture exhibits incredibly sharp and clear imagery and is dramatically visual, with excellent contrast and shadow delineation. Blacks are deep and solid in their purest form. Colors are bold and vibrant and exhibit warm and rich hues. Every brush of color looks simply amazing. Resolution is simply incredible, with every fine detail perfectly discernible. The imagery, shot for 3-D exhibition, is impressively dimensional and pristine. This is a visually enthralling experience that will fascinate the visual senses. As with Monsters, Inc., also directed by Pete Doctor, this is one of the finest renderings of a picture ever to be released on the Blu-ray Disc format! The resolution is eye-googling and mesmerizing! You will not be able to take your eyes off the screen, assuming you have a display system capable of extracting every nuance in the picture. This is absolute reference-quality imagery! (Gary Reber)

The lossless DTS-HD Master Audio™ 5.1-channel discrete soundtrack is wonderful, with superb fidelity and convincing ADR dialogue, with voices sounding very natural and quite well-placed with the visuals. The magnificent and spectacular music score is beautifully recorded and mixed by Dan Wallin, with an expansive soundstage that sounds deeply layered and that nicely wraps into the surrounds. Surround envelopment is holosonically enveloping, with perfectly balanced atmospheric effects, sound effects, Foley, and music complement. Sound effects and even dialogue, at times, are directionalized. The directionalized surrounds consistently serve very effectively in creating a seemingly natural holosonic presence. And the back surround, usually a factor with enhancing the sense of directionality behind you, works nicely for this soundtrack. It helps to impart a seamless, fully enveloping, and spacious surround presence. Bass extension is at times deep and powerful, extending to below 25 Hz in the .1 LFE channel. The low-frequency foundation is well balanced without exaggeration, and particularly effective toward the end of the movie. This soundtrack is exemplary in terms of recording quality, frequency, and dynamic range. This is true reference quality and a truly fun time for the entire family! (Gary Reber)