THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Every moviegoer has at least that one film that moves you. And when thinking about Pixar Animation Studios, I don’t think no film did it best like Up.
PLOT
The 2009 film follows Carl Fredericksen, who lived happily with his wife Ellie until her death. They originally bonded over explorer Charles Muntz, who was determined to find a rare bird in South America that the public thought to be imaginary. Since childhood, they always dreamed of living next to Paradise Falls. Now at an elderly age, he stubbornly holds out his home while the neighborhood around him is being replaced by skyscrapers. After assaulting a construction worker, he is deemed a public menace by the court and is forced out of his home by moving into a retirement home. Rather than living the rest of his life uneventfully, he chooses to turn his home into an airship with the use of thousands of balloons to fly away, keeping his promise to take his house to the Falls. However, he has an accidental stowaway that is a young boy named Russell, who is a wilderness explorer hoping to get a badge to assist the elderly. They do reach South America, but they are on the opposite side of the tepui where Paradise Falls is. Carl chooses to move forward because of an estimate three days before the helium leaks from the balloons, resulting to be unable to carry the house. Along the way, they encounter a giant colorful bird that Russell befriends by naming it ‘Kevin’. As the feathered creature, they also encounter a Golden Retriever named Dug, who has a collar that allows him to speak. Because he claims to take the bird as prisoner, he chooses to follow both humans. Carl does try to distract them both so he could reach the Falls, but that backfires. The next day, they discover Kevin calling her baby chicks, confirming the bird to be a female. She attempts to go to them but hides in the house when Dug’s associates appear looking for her. They then decide to take Carl and Russell to their master that happens to be an older Charles Muntz. When understanding that both are harmless, he treats them as guests by welcoming them to his dirigible, ‘Spirit of Adventure’. During dinner, the explorer shares that he resides here because he’s still searching for the bird the public didn’t believe to exist. He’s been unable to catch it because it mostly hides in a labyrinth where it resides with its chicks. When Russell takes notice that the skeleton resembles Kevin and the bird gives away her position, the protagonists run away because Carl understands how Muntz is willing to kill whoever would take the bird for themselves. After Dug helps them escape, they agree to take Kevin to the labyrinth. Muntz tracks them by Dug’s collar and captures the bird at night before she could enter the labyrinth. Carl allows it to happen when his idol threatens to destroy his home. They do reach Paradise Falls but Russell is livid that Carl gave up Kevin without hesitation; The latter fires back at blaming Dug for what transpired. When entering his home, he looks at Ellie’s ‘Adventure Book’, saddened that she couldn’t be here with him. When seeing pictures of their life together and a note from her saying “Thanks for the adventure- Now go have a new one”, it inspires him to make things right. Before he could do so with Russell, the boy takes off with some balloons to rescue Kevin. Carl removes his belongings to lessen the weight for his house to return to the sky. When Russell boards Spirit of Adventure, he is quickly held captive. Since Dug hid in Carl’s porch before takeoff, he teams up with him to rescue Kevin. Together, they distract the other dogs to free the bird. When Muntz is alerted, he confronts Carl in a sword fight. The latter defends himself with his walker. As that happens, Dug overpowers the Alpha Doberman Pinscher, becoming the new alpha dog in the process. Russell steers the house close to the Spirit of Adventure to board the others but before Carl could board in, Muntz starts shooting at them with a hunting rifle. Just as they get out of the house to avoid their rival, he falls with the house as it lost too many balloons during the conflict. When they return home after returning Kevin with her chicks, Carl gives Russell a handmade badge Ellie gave him, for assisting the elderly. As they bond eating ice cream, with Spirit of Adventure as a new source of transportation, the film ends with Carl’s house being seen landed safely on Paradise Falls.
THOUGHTS
I have been seeing this film since it was first released and my opinion remains as it is: I absolutely love it. Director Pete Docter provided such a beautiful experience to transpire. Going from Michael Giacchino’s score to the cinematography by Patrick Lin and Jean-Claudie Kalache, it becomes challenging to not enjoy what's happening. This film is so fascinating to watch because the lessons we learn throughout: While we should not put our dreams on hold, that does not mean to not live in the moment. The real adventure in life is the relationships people have with one another and they every moment must be appreciated, including the small ones. We learn this the main character Carl Fredericksen. Thanks to the voice performance of Ed Asner, we all felt that this was a man who was stubborn because he was lonely. Through the entire opening sequence, we quickly understood how deep his love was for Ellie and it stung to see him lose her. While reaching Paradise Falls was indeed an exciting adventure, he realized that the true adventure was his marriage to her. Once he accepted that, he became whole again. Although he'll never know that his home is right where he wanted it to be, it is nice to see that dreams can come true. As for Russell, Jordan Nagai embraced him to be like any other child would be: curious and hyperactive, but fun loving. The reason that he bonds with Carl so well is because he has the same spirit of adventure Ellie once had, becoming the son the old man never got to have. So when he gives her the Ellie badge, that was the implication that he grew to love him as his own. The big highlight of this film has to be Dug because thanks to the voice performance by Bob Peterson, he felt more kind and playful than any actual dog you'd ever come across. If you say you had a straight face when he shouts 'Squirrel', I'm not gonna believe you. I also got to give a shoutout for Docter voicing Kevin because I don't think any other voice actor would have pulled off embracing the creature's affection towards other or hostility when threatened. Last but not least, the late Christopher Plummer was arguably phenomenal as Charles Muntz. He truly is a standout when talking about villains in Pixar films because this is a beloved man whose determination to prove others wrong became more of an obsession. The fact that he was willing to kill for the glory solidifies him to the point of no return. He truly was the polar opposite of Carl, had he not moved on and accepted loss. Seeing him fall to his death still gives me chills because of how sudden it happens. This movie is about as timeless as most of Pixar's films but despite my love for it, I admit that there are a few problems I've noticed. First off, how has Carl not been removed from his house when putting prune juice in the car of a construction boss? If they were able to deem him a menace, I feel the same result could've happened had they moved on. Don't want to root for the bad guys, but I'm just confused on how come they waited for a worse incident to occur to deal with him. I also wonder if the house lost any balloons when passing through the storm. If that backs up how low they got besides Carl cutting a few, I wish that was explained. You want to talk about continuity errors, Kevin spits out Carl's walker and it comes off slimy as expected. But the next shot shows it off to be clean. In another scene, Russell has a red mark on his face as a result of a minor injury when setting up the tent. But the next shot shows it disappear. And on top of that, the camera angles on the dogs' collars are confusing. It should appear like it's on their neck but the screen make it look like it's on top of the head. It blows my mind how even computerized animated movies have these errors. However, ignore this and you'll still be in love with this movie. In conclusion, Up earns the Best Animated Feature Oscar and Best Picture nomination because there was more than what met the eye between the fun. If you enjoy the essence of adventure, than this film is the one for you.
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