Up

• Directed by Pete Docter
• May 13, 2009 (Cannes) / May 29, 2009 (US)

Voice Cast

• Carl Fredricksen-Ed Asner
• Russell-Jordan Nagai
• Charles Muntz-Christopher Plummer
• Dug, Alpha-Bob Peterson
• Beta-Delroy Lindo
• Gamma-Jerome Ranft
• Construction Foreman Tom-John Ratzenberger
• Newsreel Announcer-David Kaye
• Young Ellie-Elie Docter
• Young Carl-Jeremy Leary
• Police Officer Edith-Mickie T. McGowan
• Construction Worker Steve-Danny Mann
• Shadey Oaks Nurse George-Donald Fullilove
• Shadey Oaks Nurse A.J.-Jess Harnell
• Omega-Josh Cooley
• Camp Master Strauch, Kevin-Pete Docter

An elderly widower uses his house to travel to South America to fulfill a promise that he made to his late wife. Most people travel more conventionally.

I was caught between two films when deciding what to watch. Truthfully the choice came down to which ever was shorter. My mood was one of those that I wanted something but wasn’t sure what so I figured if I hated it at least I wouldn’t waste too much time with Up.

I can say that Up is one of the best standalone Pixar films I have seen. It does things differently like have an elderly protagonist who leads the way. It keeps things simple allowing the story to be tight. It has interesting visuals but is not focused on giving one “Wow!” after another.

The storytelling is impressive. We see the evolution of Carl’s life from his youth to meeting his wife Ellie in a truly moving opening montage. It is a happy, humorous, and sad segment told with no dialogue while accompanied by some tender yet playful music. It gets so much across to set up the movie in such a short amount of time. In Up A leads to B leads to C in a way that makes sense while being quick.

This is a prime example of economy of storytelling. It gets everything across quickly and efficiently yet never rushes through anything. You understand the characters and their situation at every stage without feeling like you need to take your breath or may have missed something. We don’t have involved backstories or anything like that. Just enough to feel that they are real and to get you from start to finish.

Humor is very much in the vein of classic cartoons with maybe a little darkness added in but nothing that couldn’t be found in the edgier toons produced by MGM or WB back in the day. It involves wordplay and character driven gags with a smattering of visual humor. There are plenty of tiny little gags that make you laugh but it’s contrasted with heartfelt scenes and dialogue once that gets going.

Carl is a man facing old age alone after the death of his wife. Carl has become anchored in grief and memories of the past have made him bitter and closed off which causes his initial problem that set up the bigger scenario which leads to a rather fanciful trip to South America. Perhaps the most depressing basis for any Disney movie I have ever seen. Up gets tragic and emotional in a way animated films have been afraid to do in recent years. Genuinely impactful yet also very funny.

In the story Carl is paired with a boy named Russell who is a young Wilderness Explorer (think ‘Boy Scouts’) who encounters the curmudgeonly Carl while trying to earn his final badge. We get insights into Russell’s life and it gets a bit sad. Nothing is ever handed to the viewer but much can easily be inferred by dialogue.

Part of the theme/lesson of Up is never meeting your heroes. An inspiration to Carl and his late wife is explorer Charles Muntz who vanished years prior looking for a live specimen of a bird skeleton he found. Like many Disney films this also has the theme of finding some place you belong. Carl, Russell, and Dug the talking dog don’t have a place where they truly belong but find that with each other. Dug most of all. He doesn’t have a mean bone in his body unlike the other dogs.

How the script treats everything from the start allows the story to go in so many unusual directions. Like Muntz having an army of dog servants at his beck and call. They act like dogs, but they also do everything evil henchman would do. You never really question how a dog can be an excellent dessert chef when it’s brought up nor how they handle anything to cook. 

Up stirs emotion and makes you feel a little something. You care about the characters so when the reveal of the deadbeat dad or Ellie passes or Dug gets treated poorly by the pack, it all strikes you. Why? Because despite the fanciful nature of it all the story is very identifiable on a human level. What the characters are experiencing is universal. We all have felt alone or scared or even the pain of loss.

It’s beautiful to look at and very well animated yet all the beauty is aided by a very simple handling of the story. They don’t try to be edgy or subversive in any way. It’s good versus evil where our heroes aren’t heroic adventures but people who step up to the challenge and grow by the end.

Up is a fantastic film and I can’t believe I waited so long to watch it. It’s funny and sweet and was obviously an instant classic that the whole family or the individual can enjoy.