Judged by standards applied to animated features from DreamWorks and Fox, Up should probably receive a higher rating. But compared with the rest of Pixar’s illustrious catalog, which culminated in last year’s luminous, transcendent WALL-E, it’s very good at best. Labeled a family film, it’s perhaps the funniest of Pixar’s works, though the audience I saw it with seemed far too young for some of the story’s heavy subject matter. It’s still a children’s film, but I doubt they’ll get 40 percent of its larger themes.

Up is a story about loss, change, and rejuvenation. In a brilliant prologue, we meet Carl and Ellie (voiced by Jeremy Leary and Elie Docter), two oddball kids who fall in love, get married, and experience all of the joy and sadness of life. Eventually, Ellie passes away and an older Carl (Ed Asner) becomes a grumpy, reclusive old man who clings to his house while skyscrapers rise around him. In a fit of rage, he strikes a construction worker (one of the scenes that may be too heavy for younger children -- there’s even a little blood), and a judge decides he belongs in a retirement home. Unwilling to leave his house, Carl outfoxes the authorities by filling thousands of balloons with helium and transporting it "up."

He sets a course for Paradise Falls, a place in South America he and Ellie once saw in a movie about Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer), who disappeared while hunting a rare bird. Carl soon discovers that he has a stowaway on board, an eight-year-old scout named Russell (Jordan Nagai) who is determined to "help an old person" and earn the final merit badge in his collection. When the two travelers reach Paradise Falls, Russell finds the bird by baiting him with chocolate, and he and Carl learn that Muntz is still alive. Having trained a pack of talking dogs to do his bidding, Carl and Ellie’s childhood hero emerges as the film’s villain.

After a shaky start, Carl and Russell learn from each other and bond in a touching (but not overly sentimental) way. Though some of its more serious scenes weigh it down, Up resonates as a thoughtful, appealing, and genuinely funny movie that makes competing studios, with their pandering-to-the-masses approach, look like oafs.

The movie, with its crisp animation and bright colors, is also wonderfully visual. The sight of Carl’s house being lifted into the blue sky by countless multicolored balloons is unforgettable, as is the tall, vividly hued (and, frankly, goofy) bird, which Russell names Kevin. The sky battle between Muntz’s dirigible and Carl’s flying house is spectacular, and the ending shot is satisfying in a bittersweet way.

Pixar’s films are known for advancing the art of computer animation. Though Up is no great leap in this respect, it represents a refining and tweaking of Pixar’s basic formula, and it’s certainly worth seeing on the big screen. It’s also Pixar’s first 3-D release (though not the first title they’ve made in 3-D). That said, Pixar uses the extra dimension only to delineate space, so don’t expect the action to jump out at you. Having watched the film in 2-D, I imagine the 3-D glasses and their lack of light would diminish its brightness. But Up’s fun, engrossing story is sure to shine in any format.

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