After an overloaded slate of Memorial Day blockbusters, this weekend is shaping up to be a little  more relaxed. There are only two major releases: Pixar’s latest 3-D animated comedy Up and Sam Raimi‘s Evil Dead throwback, Drag Me To Hell. Talk about counter-programming! It’s family-friendly fun vs. a campy, blood-soaked thrill ride! And the good news is that these films were both unanimously praised.

Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune writes:

The 3-D effects here are subtle and lovely, emphasizing depth (and depth of feeling) over gimmickry, but this is one 3-D animated feature that holds up terrifically well in plain old 2-D. Like all the best Pixar work, Up will work one way for one age group or sensibility and quite another for a different group… It is almost unbearably moving—an emotional and cinematic powerhouse.”

The characters are solid, the shocks are grab-your-heart-medicine scary, the story glides from twist to twist with diabolical grace. And it’s damned funny.”