| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Edward Asner | ... |
Carl Fredricksen
(voice) (as Ed Asner)
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| Christopher Plummer | ... |
Charles Muntz
(voice)
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| Jordan Nagai | ... |
Russell
(voice)
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| Bob Peterson | ... | ||
| Delroy Lindo | ... |
Beta
(voice)
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Jerome Ranft | ... |
Gamma
(voice)
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| John Ratzenberger | ... |
Construction Foreman Tom
(voice)
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| David Kaye | ... |
Newsreel Announcer
(voice)
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Elie Docter | ... |
Young Ellie
(voice)
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Jeremy Leary | ... |
Young Carl
(voice)
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Mickie McGowan | ... |
Police Officer Edith
(voice) (as Mickie T. McGowan)
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Danny Mann | ... |
Construction Worker Steve
(voice)
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Donald Fullilove | ... |
Nurse George
(voice) (as Don Fullilove)
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| Jess Harnell | ... |
Nurse AJ
(voice)
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| Josh Cooley | ... |
Omega
(voice)
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Carl Fredricksen as a boy wanted to explore South America and find the forbidden Paradise Falls. About 64 years later he gets to begin his journey along with a Boy Scout named Russel with help from 500 balloons. On their journey they discover many new friends including a talking dog and Carl and Russel figure out that someone evil plans. Carl soon realizes that this evildoer is his childhood idol. Will they be able to defeat him and will they find Paradise Falls?
I was lucky enough to get a ticket to a special pre-release screening of Up at Pixar studios in Emeryville, organized by the San Francisco Film Society. After a hour-long reception in the atrium of their beautiful main building we went through some rigorous security (metal detectors!) and were treated to an hilarious short (Partly Cloudy) and Pixar's new high water mark, Up.
My favorites to date have definitely been Wall-E and the Incredibles, and Up is another slightly-left-of-center masterpiece. The emotional impact of the beautiful, wordless summation of Carl's life that opens the movie is the bass note that resonates through the whole film and is at least as affecting as the scene in Wall-E when he holds his own hands while watching Hello Dolly. The rest of the movie, of course, is breathtaking on just about every level, especially the tactile quality of all the characters and textures and the completely realized weather effects and action scenes. With no "new" technical milestones (fur in Monsters, Inc., water in Finding Nemo, realistic camera effects in Wall- E), the design is the main focus, from the hilariously stylized characters to the amazing setting of the tepui.
As the associate producer who participated in the Q&A following the movie pointed out, the past three Pixar movies have not been easy sells to their parent company Disney (they'll be back in familiar territory with Toy Story 3 and Cars 2), but Pixar's commitment to inventive, story-driven films continues to pay off here. All of the good press is true, and I can't wait to see it again. Thanks for staying true to yourselves Pixar!