So much GOODNESS!!

Back in 1995, a little movie company called Pixar, released a little movie called Toy Story. I wasn't a big tv watcher, so I hadn't seen many previews and, it being a cartoon, I didn't think much of it at the time and didn't watch it in theaters.
But then, after pretty much everybody said it was GREAT, I watched it as soon as it came to video.

It was love at first watch; so many quotable quotes.. so many fantastic images.. and the animation was phenomenal.

Still, when they released A Bug's Life, in 1998, I didn't bother to watch it in theaters, though I did like it when it came to video.

I still hadn't learned my lesson when Toy Story 2 came out in 2000 (it was just a sequel after all). But again, when I finally watched it, I LOVED it! And I felt silly for not having seen it in theaters. From then on I resolved to be sure to watch all Pixar movies in the theater.

As of May this year, Pixar has released 10 movies. While some of them are better than others, ALL of them are very good. It's difficult to make a list putting the movies in order best to worst, rather, I think they all fit within three categories: Amazingly Fantastic, Very Very Good and Quite Good.

This is pretty much been the order that I would rate these movies, and it really hasn't changed over the past 10 years:
Amazingly Fantastic: Toy Story, Toy Story 2
Very Very Good: Monster's Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Wall-E
Quite Good: A Bug's Life, Cars

Then, on May 29, 2009 they released their latest: UP

Pixar is funny about how they advertise for their movies; they show fake trailers. It's a fabulous tactic.. They sort of introduce the characters without giving away much about the story, and you just have to go on faith that, since it's Pixar, it'll be good ('cuz it usually is). The marketing for UP was no different.

The first exposure I remember was a big poster on the side of a building that I drive by when I come home from the grocery store. It pretty much was this, but without words:
I saw it and thought, "What a strange picture." A little while later I realized that it was a promo for Pixar's latest movie. Eventually, from various sources, I gleaned that UP was about an old man who flies his house away on balloons, with an unexpected stowaway. I admit I struggled to imagine what they might have done with this story to make it a full-animated film that would be as amazing as their stuff always is. Still, it went without saying, I would be seeing it in the theaters. So, this past Monday, we went and saw UP.

So much GOODNESS!! Seriously, it was amazing; the timing is perfect, the animation (as always) is spectacular. This is more than just a cartoon, it's a real movie. The emotional gamut that the story takes its viewers through is vast, poignant and incredibly believable. There are so many things that are great about this movie but (so as not to give anything away for anyone who hasn't seen it yet) I won't go into any further detail. But, I think Toy Story may have finally been displaced as my long standing, most favorite Pixar flick ever. UP is just that good.