UP
Disney Channel, 8:00 p.m. ET
This 2009 Pixar animated film is a great movie, with one of the funniest cartoon dogs ever. But what killed me the first time I saw this movie, and continues to devastate me (in a good way) every time since, is the opening. I won’t say more, if this is your first time with Up. But watch it, and be prepared for a deeper emotional experience than you get with most live-action films. Ed Asner provides the voice of the elderly, cranky man who finds himself on an unexpected voyage with a young and eager Boy Scout – and Asner gives a clinic on how to fully vocalize an animated character. Of course, the film’s writers and co-directors, Pete Docter and Bob Peterson, deserve credit, too – and Peterson deserves extra credit, because, like Asner, his vocal contributions are invaluable. Not only did Bob Peterson co-write and co-direct, but he provides the voice for the two key canine characters: the menacing Alpha, and the easily distracted Dug, whose instantly broken attention span reminds me, more and more, of the news media and how they bounce impatiently from topic to topic. “Squirrel!”