My Review of the Movie UP

On the last day of school, I decided it would be fun to take the kids to the movie UP. It was a cute movie about two adventurous kids, Ellie and Carl, who played together as children, grew up, fell in love, got married, and grew old together. As kids, Ellie showed Carl her scrapbook of "stuff" she wanted to do, which included going to a place called Paradise Falls in South America. Carl promised Ellie that he would someday take her there. (He even crossed his heart!) Carl and Ellie had a very simple life. . . the years just kept passing by and the money they would put in their "Paradise Falls jar" kept getting used for other things. Carl loved Ellie so much and they had many precious days together. Unfortunately, Ellie became ill and passed away (I had no idea I would need a box of tissues going into this movie!) Carl turned into a very grumpy old man and he was so sad that he had never kept his promise to his dear Ellie. He decided that late is better than never so he "flew" his house with a million balloons (he was a retired balloon salesman) to Paradise Falls. It ends up that a stout little boy scout was on his porch when the house took off and this little boy ended up teaching grumpy old Carl that it is the "boring" stuff like eating ice cream on the curb that is important. . .not going on great adventures. Carl and Ellie had filled their lives with these wonderful, "boring" things. Carl took a second look at that scrapbook that Ellie had showed him so long ago and it was filled with pictures of all the ordinary things they did together and it hit him that the stout little boy scout was right.

I really loved this movie because of the love that Ellie and Carl shared and that Carl went to such great lengths to keep his promise even after Ellie was gone. I love the reminder of the fact that the "boring" stuff is so very important. . . to cherish the ordinary, everyday things we do together. I highly recommend this film. (there are a couple of weird vicious dog scenes, but just ignore those)