Up

Up is a great movie in every way. It manages to be mature and genuinely touching while not skimping on silly fun, and is of course delivered in beautiful Pixar animation. I’m still not sure anything can quite live up to the perfection that is The Incredibles, but it beats WALL-E by far.

And…one of the main protagonists is Asian. Even better, he just happens to be Asian; no stereotypes, no accents, or even any mention of cultural background. Russell is just an overweight, bit annoying all-American kid, a “Wilderness Explorer” preoccupied with earning his last merit badge. He’s even voiced by Japanese-American Jordan Nagai. I love it.

Interestingly enough, the trailer for The Princess and the Frog came before this film, which seemed to be of dubious racial sensitivity…