'Up' (PG)(out of four)

"Up" has all the elements of a perfect movie: lively characters, a heartwarming love story, imaginative adventure, a little despair and an uplifting message. Did I mention that "Up" is also an animated film?

The geniuses at Pixar have topped themselves once again. The short reel that precedes "Up," a mini movie called "Partly Cloudy" about a group of clouds, who are charged with preparing babies for deliveries by the stork, recalls Pixar's early years. The studio began its amazing run by creating computerized quick films, such as "Partly Cloudy," that conveyed a story without a word ever being uttered.

"Up," Pixar's 10th full-length feature film, is reminiscent of the early days, as was last year's "Wall-E," where audiences, young and old, will bond with the main character early on.

In "Up," this is achieved in the first chapter of the film through an eight minute non-conversational montage, where we follow the lives of Carl Fredericksen and his childhood sweetheart, Ellie. They grow up, fall in love, and dream of a place called Paradise Falls where one day they'll move. A jar of coins on a shelf keeps the dream alive, and could make it come true, if only the couple didn't have to use it for real -life emergencies, like car repairs and home improvements.

As life quickly ticks by, Carl ends up a widower at 78 years old. Life is changing around him as a condominium threatens to swallow up his beloved house, and send him packing to Shady Hills Retirement Village.

That is until Carl (voiced so believably by Ed Asner) takes his career experience as a balloon salesman and decides that thousands of balloons will help careen his house sky high, over rooftops and all the way to South America. There he'll live out the rest of his days, just as Ellie would have wanted, on top of a mountain, and next to Paradise Falls.

Of course, not everything goes as planned, especially when he discovers a stowaway, an 8-year-old scout named Russell (Jordan Nagai), who needs just one more badge (assisting the elderly) to become a Senior Wilderness Explorer, Tribe 54, Sweat Lodge 12. Although commitedly uninterested in Russell's quest for his final badge, Carl has nowhere to send the boy, so he is allowed to tag along.

Director Pete Docter, and writer/co-director Bob Peterson (who also voices Dug, the dog, in the film) suspend belief with some utterly amazing, albeit preposterous adventures for the two to encounter. We meet a wild pack of dogs that are outfitted with some very clever collars, and a brightly colored bird, which looks like an ostrich, that Russell names Kevin.

Then, for the dash of bad guy, there's the evildoer, an explorer named Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer) whose been trying to snag the wild bird for years.

Many animated features offer stories that will entertain kids, but merely amuse chaperoning parents. Yet, this story of a curmudgeon who smells like prunes and a young boy armed with a backpack full of chocolate, certainly has something for everyone. Part "Peter Pan," part "Grumpy Old Men," Pixar's unusual pairing creates a different kind of buddy film, but one that most certainly works.

While the house that soars is at the epicenter of the film, it's true human emotion spoken by animated characters that allows this story to reach new heights. It's easy to forget that Carl is computer generated as he soon becomes a three dimensional grouch you have to love. His journey, while dramatic, becomes light as air as he sends the message to the masses that there's always an adventure around the corner no matter what your age.

If you haven't become totally involved in the lives of Carl, Russell, Kevin the bird, Dug the dog, and even the mean guy, Charles, the explorer, by the movie's finale, it's time to fess up -- if you're really that down, the only place to go is "Up."