Disney's Up and Date Night

For the nth time, I have been forcibly glued to my seat again and watch Disney’s UP with the kids. The movie has been playing over and over at Disney Channel Movie this week, and prior to that, the kids have been playing it over and over at the computer, just like a rollercoaster, they never get tired of the movie, proof is, they have memorized some lines and knew them exactly when to blurt it out in unison!


Disney’s Up is a movie for all ages. The adventures of Russell, Carl Fredricksen, Kevin and Dug are very well told from a perspective of an old man in search for adventure and a kid in search for his remaining “Assisting the elderly Badge”. A meeting of complicated and simple wishes in life that brought them to places they could only imagine and a friendship that transcends ages.


One of the most striking parts in the animated movie for me came in the part Ellie’s last message to Carl, “Thanks for the adventure. Now go have one of your own.” See Ellie and Carl have been childhood friends, got married, had happy times together even they didn’t have kids. They shared the same love and passion for adventure and dreamed of going to a place called “Paradise Falls”, a place they never knew really existed, a place they only saw in news reels. But as life would have, Ellie would give in to old age leaving Carl alone to pursue their adventure.


It was so touching in the end, that instead of giving Russel his “Assisting the elderly Badge”, Carl gave Russell “The Badge of Ellie”, in Carls own words in the pinning ceremonies, “Russell, for assisting the elderly and for performing above and beyond the call of duty, I would like to award you the honest honor I can bestow, the Ellie Badge..” The badge came in a form of a button pin but the pin symbolizes the dreams, the adventure and the lives lived by two people who looked at life as an adventure that needs to be explored.


With extra time left prior to doing my MIS project, I stumbled on the piles of DVDs I have but never had the chance of watching them due to my schedules. Today, I took time to pick one movie and Steve Carell and Tina Fey’s Date Nigth caught my attention. The movie is a story of a boring couple out of New Jersey who wanted a taste of adventure in one of their scheduled date nights. Turned out that the adventure they are about to get is more than what they have expected.


Steve Carell has how own unique way of bringing down the house. Wholesome, sleek and funny character rolled into one. His adventures and misadventures are something that’s tolerable even if you’ve seen them coming. He knows how to handle scenes and brings out the funny sides of things with his acting and natural expressions. This guy is one of the few characters and movie actors whom I feel safe of bringing the kids to the movie house without them (the kids) having to be treated with abusive languages and mature scenes.


Date Night is one fine movie for all ages too. The first is a story of life-long adventure, the second is a story of an overnight misadventures. Both are fun and both are creatively done. I have to mention, the cameo appearances of James Franco, Mark Ruffalo, Will I. Am, Ray Liotta and Mark Wahlberg added more premium to the story. Grab your copy of these movies and you’ll see what I mean, that is if you haven’t watched any of it yet.