Pretty much right from the moment he was born, Albert has been a mischievous kid. We see him rapidly grow up right before our eyes, and this culminates in his accidental destruction of a statue of a local hero/hot air balloon captain. This is the genesis for why the people of Kellytown dislike Albert, and hide when he comes around.

Albert wants to win back the favor of the townsfolk by becoming Kellytown’s new hot air balloon hero. He tries to convince his best friend Egon to go with him on an adventure to find a hot air balloon, but Egon just wants to stay home and play Pirates, but Albert just keeps pushing his own agenda. Egon is upset that his friend never listens to what he wants to do, and sure enough, later that night Albert ignores Egon’s wishes, and kidnaps his friend while he’s sleeping and sets sail down the river in a barrel.

When Egon wakes up, he’s justifiably upset with Albert, but it’s too late to go back. As the two wash ashore, they come across pirate Rapollo and his two goons, who convince Albert that someone stole their diamond and they need his help stealing it back. In return, Albert will receive a reward big enough to buy his own hot air balloon. Egon doesn’t trust the men and suspects that all isn’t as it seems, but Albert is blinded by his own ambitions. And, of course, they do what Albert wants, and join the men in their stagecoach as they head to the marketplace steal their diamond back.

This is just the start of the boys’ adventure—once they get to their destination, Egon’s fears prove true and the boys find themselves running around the fairgrounds, sneaking under tents, dodging dimwitted police, avoiding the crooks, consulting with a fortune teller, befriending a young gypsy girl, and so much more.

We had received this for review just as I was going to be babysitting my 9 and 6.5 year-old nieces, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to screen it with some younger viewers. While the older niece was really excited to check out the film, the younger one was more interested in reading her book.

The film starts off really fun, with Albert rapidly aging/growing and displaying his smarts. Within a matter of minutes he is born, walking on stilts and riding a bike, causing havoc all over town. The girls were laughing at how quickly he grew up, and they especially enjoyed how he was born with his glasses on.

While Albert is quite mischievous, he’s also quite intelligent, and later on we see him outsmart the neighborhood bully. When Albert announces he’s leaving town, the townsfolk break into loud cheers and applause, but when he finishes this sentence by saying that he’ll be returning as a hot air balloon captain, the cheering quickly turns to boos. This scene got the biggest laughs of the night from the girls (and myself).

Throughout the rest of the film, the girls remained mostly silent, though not bored—there were giggles at the fart jokes and at a scene later on where a dog bites one of the crooks’ bottom. However, the scene that got the biggest reaction was when Albert sneaked into a magician’s tent to see a woman being sawed in half—both of the girls stood up and left the room. However, once they realized that the sawing trick was fake, and that Albert was tickling the apprentice’s feet under the floor, they started giggling and returned to their seats.

Overall, the older of the two girls seemed to really enjoy the film. And even the younger one, who was buried in her book during most of it, was recounting some of the early scenes she liked once the film was over. As the adult watching this film, the one major issue I had was how self-absorbed and self-centered and Albert is throughout the film—I found it difficult to root for him and wondered why Egon was even his friend. And while Egon is constantly calling him out on it, things just seem to keep working out for Albert, and he never really learns his lesson or becomes a better person. This was a missed opportunity to teach young viewers a lesson.

As for the video presentation, the animation looks great on the DVD. The picture captures all of the vibrant colors and details of Kellytown, the marketplace, and all of Albert’s adventures in-between. And the audio track provided clear dialogue and sound effects. Unfortunately there are no bonus features included on the disc, besides a trailer for the film.

What’s Included:
Film: (81 min)

• 480p / Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, English Dolby Digital 2.0
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French

Extras:

• Trailer

Final Thoughts:

Overall, Albert — Up, Up And Away! is an entertaining animated adventure with some really fun moments that had us laughing out loud. I really enjoyed the animation style, which is captured beautifully on this DVD. The one downside of this release is that the disc doesn’t contain any bonus material, other than the film’s trailer. It’s worth checking out if you are looking for a new animated film to watch with the family.