Up (2009)

Directors:

Pete Docter
Bob Peterson (co-director)

Writers:

Pete Docter (story) and
Bob Peterson (story) ...

Release Date:

29 May 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family

Plot:

By tying thousands of balloon to his home, 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen sets out to fulfill his lifelong dream to see the wilds of South America. Right after lifting off, however, he learns he isn't alone on his journey, since Russell, a wilderness explorer 70 years his junior, has inadvertently become a stowaway on the trip.

Plot Keywords:

South America | Stowaway | Talking Dog | Badge | Explorer

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

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)
Danny Mann	...	Construction Worker Steve (voice)
Donald Fullilove	...	Nurse George (voice)
Jess Harnell	...	Nurse AJ (voice)
Josh Cooley	...	Omega (voice)

Also Known As:

Helium (Philippines: English title) (review title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for some peril and action.

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital EX | DTS

Certification:

Iceland:L | USA:PG (certificate #45254) | South Korea:All | UK:U | Canada:G (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Singapore:PG | New Zealand:PG | Ireland:G | Mexico:AA | Argentina:Atp | Peru:PT | Finland:K-7 | Hong Kong:I | South Africa:PG | Japan:G | Switzerland:0 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:0 (canton of Vaud) | Portugal:M/4 (dubbed version) | Portugal:M/6 (subtitled version) | Norway:7 | Australia:PG | Philippines:G (MTRCB) | Taiwan:GP | Germany:o.Al. | Brazil:Livre | Sweden:7

Company:

Walt Disney Pictures

Trivia:

The movie contains a reference to "Mary Tyler Moore" (1970). As Russell was talking about his father he mentioned "Phyllis", to which Carl reacted, "You call your mother by her first name?" This line is a running gag in the Mary Tyler Moore show. Bess (played by Lisa Gerritsen) calls her mother Phyllis (played by Cloris Leachman) by her first name, something that each of the main characters on the show have asked her about. Edward Asner, who voices Carl, and who played "Lou Grant" on the show, was one of the people who asked the question: "You call your mother by her first name?"

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: During one of the newsreel scenes, the phrase "Jiminy Cricket" is used. However, this newsreel was during the 1930s (large, rigid-style airships weren't used after this decade), and Pinocchio, the film the character Jiminy Cricket is from, wasn't released until 1940. However, the expression pre-dates the movie (for example, it's spoken by a character in Brave Little Tailor (1938)); Jiminy was named after the expression, not the other way around.

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!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ratatouille (2007)

Soundtrack:

The Spirit of Adventure

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.