Hehehehehehe Aussie is on sale at ASDA at 2 for £6 (Hayles says it’s 2 for £5 at Wilkos as well), so I bought four more bottles while we were doing our big payday shop & now have this nice collection, yay!

Last weekend, James & I stayed at my mother-in-laws house to do some puppy sitting. We played with them a lot, and took the adults for a walk. Lots of dog fun!

Here is my flickr set from the weekend:

James & I went to see UP in 3D on Tuesday evening, at Empire Cinemas in Birmingham. Having heard great things about the film, I was really looking forward to going and seeing it for myself. Trust me when I say, it doesn’t disappoint! The film really lives up to the well deserved rave reviews it’s been getting… I’d even go as far as to say that this is possibly the best Pixar film yet (I can’t quite choose between this & Wall-E).

The basic storyline: adventure seeking boy meets adventure seeking girl, they marry & grow old together. He promises her that he will take her to ‘Paradise Falls, a Land Lost in Time’ & eventually, he makes his way there by tying loads of helium balloons to his house & taking off one day. And of course, mayhem ensues.

However, it is not the storyline that makes you love this film – although it is a great story, the unquestionable triumph of this film is the amount of heart it has. I think this is something that Pixar really excel at, and it’s what always gives their films a bit of an edge over Dreamworks. It is something that they have been trying to achieve, and have been improving at, since their very first short films. Although the massive leaps they had been making in the animation were outstanding, the main thing that got their short films standing ovations when they first showed them, was the amount of humanity & emotion they have always been able to convey with their animated characters, and the stories they told with that.

You see this gift for giving their stories so much heart again and again, in Wall-E, the Toy Story films & even Cars, though how they managed to give robots, toys & vehicles so much personality I will never understand! Disney have always been fantastic at doing this as well (just think of the rug in Aladdin), and so Disney Pixar is the perfect team for giving films real humanity & character. Dreamworks can do funny, well written story-tales, but they never quite have the same emotional connection to the audience that Pixar manage to achieve.

The characters in UP may be unusual, but they are simply brilliant, with real life tragedies, failings & strengths. The first 5 minutes of the film had tears running down my face & a huge lump in my throat, and there were moments where I was genuinely crying with laughter. I don’t think there was a moment in this film where I was even remotely bored – and by the constant sounds of laughter and sniffles in the cinema, I don’t think anyone else was either!

Unlike the first few 3D films that were created, this film doesn’t show off the 3D by throwing things in your face (like Dreamworks’ Monsters & Aliens did), but instead it just gives the film that extra dimension that brings it to life. The quality of the animation is, as always, simply amazing. The physics of the way things move & interact is spot on, even down to the way helium balloons begin to sag a little after the first day or two.

My straight-after-the-film tweet was: “UP is amazing. Possibly the best Pixar yet. Hilarious, touching, full of heart and giggles. I cried, laughed & utterly loved it. Go see it!”

Personally, I would recommend this film to anyone & everyone, I really loved it. It’s going to be a must have for our DVD collection, and I urge you to go and see it in 3D while you can!

★★★★★

View the trailer: