Pixar vet Pete Docter has made you laugh with his directorial debut, Monsters, Inc. And now -- well, he's going to make you laugh again with Up, a rather odd-sounding story about the friendship that develops between a 78-year-old widower named Carl (Ed Asner) and an 8-year-old boy named Russell (Jordan Nagai) when the kid becomes an unintentional stowaway in Carl's balloon-propelled home.

But Docter wouldn't mind if you also cried a bit, too. Carl's decision to take to the air is inspired by his recently deceased wife and a long-planned trip they never got to take. He repeatedly talks to her throughout the film; we see her hanging portrait and watch him thumb through their book of memories.

And in Up's introduction, there's an exquisite, silent montage of the couple's years together that shows an implied miscarriage and Ellie's illness and death. Bring tissues. Or possibly an entire box of Kleenex. Interview after the jump. Read More "Q&A With Up Director Pete Docter" »

Or just go to the art houses and avoid that conundrum altogether. Follow the links for reviews:

Up: Can't imagine what an animated movie about an old geezer, a boy scout, and a floating house could possibly offer? It's Pixar, so plenty.

Drag Me to Hell: Sam Raimi's return to horror is at an astonishing 94 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Evil Dead fans rejoice; anyone else remotely interested in the genre should get to a theater and get spooked old-school, pronto.

Moscow, Belgium: This Belgian romantic dramedy about a separated mother and her fling with a much younger anti-stud is more comic than depressing, though not a bit like Hollywood romcoms. For most of you, that will register as a good thing.

Revanche: A Ukrainian prostitute, an ex-con, and a police officer -- it may sound like the setup of a joke, but they're actually the main characters of this Austrian drama that goes a bit deeper than you might expect from any film that includes a brothel and a bank robbery gone awry.

Little Ashes: Edward Cullen...er, Robert Pattinson stars in this Salvador Dali biopic. Reportedly, Pattinson doesn't suck in his Twilight follow-up, but the film sure does.

Pixar's 10th feature, Up, has been rated PG for "some peril and action." It's only the second Pixar flick after 2004's The Incredibles to not get a family-friendlier G.

Screw the action; the kids will be fine. I'm more concerned about anyone old enough to have a) a sense of mortality and 2) anxiety about letting your life slip by without accomplishing everything on your big To-Do List.

The film is wonderful, but the aforementioned may find themselves holding back Bambi-level blubbering during an exquisitely rendered yet ridiculously sad opening sequence. The MPAA won't warn you about that!