Up (2009)

By tying thousands of balloons to his home, 78-year-old Carl sets out to fulfill his lifelong dream to see the wilds of South America. Russell, a wilderness explorer 70 years younger, inadvertently becomes a stowaway.

Directors:

Pete Docter, Bob Peterson

Writers:

Pete Docter (story), Bob Peterson (story),

Stars:

Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai

Top 250 #115 | Won 2 Oscars. Another 53 wins & 37 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Edward Asner	...	Carl Fredricksen (voice) (as Ed Asner)
Christopher Plummer	...	Charles Muntz (voice)
Jordan Nagai	...	Russell (voice)
Bob Peterson	...	Dug / Alpha (voice)
Delroy Lindo	...	Beta (voice)
Jerome Ranft	...	Gamma (voice)
John Ratzenberger	...	Construction Foreman Tom (voice)
David Kaye	...	Newsreel Announcer (voice)
Elie Docter	...	Young Ellie (voice)
Jeremy Leary	...	Young Carl (voice)
Mickie McGowan	...	Police Officer Edith (voice) (as Mickie T. McGowan)
Danny Mann	...	Construction Worker Steve (voice)
Donald Fullilove	...	Nurse George (voice) (as Don Fullilove)
Jess Harnell	...	Nurse AJ (voice)
Josh Cooley	...	Omega (voice)

Storyline

A young Carl Fredrickson meets a young adventure-spirited girl named Ellie. They both dream of going to a lost land in South America. 70 years later, Ellie has died. Carl remembers the promise he made to her. Then, when he inadvertently hits a construction worker, he is forced to go to a retirement home. But before they can take him, he and his house fly away. However, he has a stowaway aboard: an 8-year-old boy named Russell, who's trying to get an Assisting the Elderly badge. Together, they embark on an adventure, where they encounter talking dogs, an evil villain and a rare bird named Kevin.

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Plot Keywords:

house | south america | stowaway | retirement | balloon | 

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Drama | Family | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for some peril and action

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 May 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Up - Una aventura de altura

Box Office

Budget:

$175,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£6,411,836 (UK) (9 October 2009)

Gross:

£34,284,193 (UK) (18 December 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital EX DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Co-director/co-writer Bob Peterson stated that Dug's line "I have just met you, and I love you," was inspired by a quote from a small child that he met when he was a camp counselor in the 1980s.

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Goofs

Carl's house starts flying at the moment when he releases the balloons from the chimney; assuming that all balloons were already inflated and stored inside the house, this should have made the house float hours before already, regardless of whether they are inside or outside the house. However, it appears the balloons were in a giant sack in the backyard, and could have either been tethered down securely, or compressed to reduce lift.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Newsreel Announcer: Movietown News presents, "Spotlight on Adventure." What you are now witnessing is footage never before seen by civilized humanity: a lost world in South America. Lurking in the shadow of majestic Paradise Falls, it sports plants and animals undiscovered by science. Who would dare set foot on this inhospitable summit? Why, our subject today, Charles Muntz!

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Crazy Credits

The photographs of characters shown during the end credits thematically match the crew members' positions, as do the "Wilderness Explorer" badges that also appear.

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Connections

Referenced in Saturday Night Live: Jimmy Fallon/Michael Bublé (2011)

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Soundtracks

"Habanera"
(uncredited)
from "Carmen"
by Georges Bizet

User Reviews

Drag me to heaven

UP, Pixar's latest animated feature, is just delightful. But how do you go about extolling the movie's virtues without giving away its surprises? Like the kid at the beginning of the movie, you don't try to conquer the immovable force; you work around it.

The one clue I can give away – because it's the movie's heavily hyped premise – is that Carl Fredrickson, a gruffy old widower (voiced with gruffy old charm by Ed Asner), miraculously inflates enough balloons to use his house as an aircraft. Soon, he finds himself reluctantly sharing his ride with a short-attention-spanned kid named Russell.

I'll also mention a couple of other items that can gauge your potential interest in the movie. One is a gag that is a take-off on a famous painting – perhaps too inside of an inside joke, but typical of Pixar's cheery attempts to appeal to viewers of all ages.

Also, part of the plot involves Carl's long-held wish to meet a Lindbergh-type adventurer named Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer!). This is another in-joke that's even vaguer than the first one. Cartoon historians know that Walt Disney started in the cartoon biz by creating Oswald the Rabbit for producer Charles Mintz, who then greedily stole the rights to Disney's creation. This gives you a pretty good idea where the ostensible hero Muntz stands in the scheme of things.

Beyond that, I can only offer you some enticing clues about the characters. There's a dog who's the leader of his pack and in menacing beyond measure, until he opens his mouth and gets one of the movie's biggest laughs. There's a huge, awkward bird that is a big laugh-getter at first. Then she becomes a real enough character that – at least in the audience I was in – when she's injured, she elicits screams of fright worthy of Bambi's late mother.

There's surprising, heartfelt emotion, vivid imagery (you can almost touch the landscapes and skies), and a music score by Michael Giacchino that's practically a character in the movie – particularly in a thoughtful montage that takes Carl from childhood to widowhood.

There aren't many (or at least not enough) live-action movies that are engrossing as this cartoon. Pixar Studios has gotten to be one of those movie icons that shouldn't even have to deliver a premise to get funded anymore. The moneymen should just shut up, hand over the money, and trust they'll get a product that will appeal to everyone.

UP is only the second Pixar feature to get a PG rating, only for mildly intense imagery and action – nothing off-color in the least. Again, if you can handle "Bambi," this film should be a breeze.