UPLIFTING: Over the weekend I watched Up in 3D. It was fantastic! (Very mild spoilers follow.)

Really, one of the best children’s movies I’ve ever seen–maybe even second-best after the indescribable Last Unicorn. I’d say it’s tied with The Great Muppet Caper. It’s a beautiful story of love and grief, of fulfilling one’s dreams and sacrificing them, of hope and wanderlust and discovery and homecoming. I think maybe the Kevin-the-bird arc is the subplot which defines the movie’s heart: Obligations mean that sometimes a beautiful creature wanders into your world, and you fall in love with her, and then you let her go home.

It’s poignant, hilarious, full of the “sense of wonder” and yet simultaneously very aware of life’s limits. I loved Ratatouille, the only other Pixar flick I’ve seen, but this was just in a different ballpark.

I will say that I don’t think of myself as someone with a fear of heights, but there are a lot of scenes in which a small child almost plummets to his death, and… I had a hard time. A lot of careful breathing and “it’s just a movie!”, there.

And, as I said to friends who’d watched the movie with me, “Maybe not today–maybe not tomorrow–but SOMEDAY, we’ll get a children’s movie or a superhero movie without Daddy Issues.” I thought the choices around the divorce subplot were somewhat clumsy at the very end, even though they were pretty undeniably emotionally effective.

Nonetheless, highly recommended.