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:

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 9 wins & 19 nominations

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 | Spain:T | Netherlands:6

Company:

Walt Disney Pictures

Trivia:

Russell's Wilderness Explorer sash has several in-jokes and tributes. The most obvious is a Luxo ball. One badge has a hamburger with a candle in it. This is a nod to Merritt Bakery in Oakland - which creates cakes in that shape - a favorite hangout of director Pete Docter and producer Jonas Rivera. Another badge is a tribute to 2-D animation, showing a perforated paper that is used by 2D animators to line up their drawings correctly. He also has badges for First Aid and Second Aid, which may be a reference to a short on the Up website where Russell struggles to apply bandages to Carl. Yet another badge depicts a multicolored pinwheel - the "hang" icon of Apple's Mac OS X operating system, equivalent to the Windows hourglass icon. Several of these badges are shown in the credits. An additional tribute to Apple and Steve Jobs (former CEO of Pixar and still a primary shareholder) shows Russell trying to teach Carl how to use a computer.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the shot where young Carl is running with the balloon and stops near a house listening to a sound. His shadow is at his right side and after he turn to his right the shadow is in front, but the next shot shows the shadow falls behind him not in front.

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:

References Star Wars (1977)

Soundtrack:

The Spirit of Adventure

Pixar hits it out of the park, again

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!