Stylish but barely mediocre overall

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Director Michael Apted revisits his kids once again 7 years later. They are 35 now and they continue to surprise.Some of them face the deaths of their parents. In the case of Paul, he's reconnecting with his father. There is more reflection now that they're in the middle age area. They aren't kids anymore. The biggest disappointment has to be the missing participants. Charles continues to not participate. And now Peter and Simon are gone. Certainly we want at least an update. The most heart warming part has to be Neil. The fact that he isn't dead in the middle of nowhere is a big victory.

I was introduced to the series with 49 Up, and was intrigued enough by the series to start from the beginning with 7 Up/14 Up. When I got to 28 Up, I was extremely disappointed with it, which is probably why it took me about 3 years to see 35 Up. However, with the soon-to-be American release of 56 Up, it's also about time I try to catch up with this series.For whatever reasons, I think 35 Up is one of the better ones in this series. Perhaps they are just leading more interesting lives at 35 than they were at 28. Neil is of course, the most compelling person of them all, and it is fascinating that he is still so articulate about his situation that it gives us (or at least me) a better glimpse into what he feels and what he's going through. After Neil, my next favorite is Suzy, who was a spoiled brat at 14 and 21, and turned into a seemingly well-adjusted and kind person.I'll still need to watch 42 Up before I'm caught up to watch 56 Up. I sure hope they're leading interesting lives when I check back in with them at 42.

The 'Up Series' represents one of the most fascinating and unusual uses of film in cinema history - a documentary life-long chronicle of the lives of 14 people starting at 7 years old, revisiting them every seven years through age 49 (so far). While I could quibble, wishing for a bit more depth here and there (especially with the women, where there's a bit too much emphasis on love and marriage at the expense of all else), it's really an astounding, moving, frightening and uplifting document. There's no way to watch this remarkable series of films without reflecting deeply on one's own life, and how you have changed (and stayed the same) over your own lifetime. While Michael Aped deserves every bit of credit he's received for this amazing piece of cultural anthropology, it's important to note this first film, 7 Up,was actually directed by Paul Almond, and Apted was a that point a researcher for the project.

Fascinating longitudinal study of the changes in people over time. My college students were so engrossed several asked to borrow my copy to watch again at home. Can't wait for "42 Up" to come out in video. I recommend this film for anyone who likes to think about what they've viewed, and anyone interested in the power of class differences.