After a lifetime of dreaming of traveling the world, 78-year-old homebody Carl flies away on an unbelievable adventure with Russell, an 8-year-old Wilderness Explorer, unexpectedly in tow. Together...
“Up” is a perfect blend of realism and fantasy. Few movies can handle rough subjects well, and even fewer can respectfully blend them with fantastical elements. “Up” does all that and then some; its opening minutes are notoriously some of the saddest scenes of all time, but it quickly morphs into a rousing adventure story like none other, perfectly balancing the emotional with the exhilarating.
Pixar ambushed everyone’s feels with these first 10 minutes. The mood-shifting score filling up the otherwise silent “Married Life” montage, these opening moments are forever pressed and cemented into our memories — it’s definitely what we most remember about “Up”. Not only that, but this is such an efficient introduction to the story; those opening scenes perfectly clue us in to everything we need to know about the plot and protagonist (it even hints his prior experience with balloons). Carl Fredricksen (Ed Asner) was an optimistic dreamer ever since he was a boy, but he becomes the old grudge we know him to be after his life takes several tragic turns — it’s not surprising to see him as a stubborn crank considering all he has been through. Even all the scenes in his house have a grey tinge about them once Ellie is gone; the splash of color that interrupts Mr. Fredricksen’s imprisoned life is the talkative boy scout, Russell (Jordan Nagai). More than just hilarious comedic relief, Russell is the opposing force to Fredricksen’s immovable object. The only more divergent pairing in Pixar may be the one between a human and a rat — in each case, both characters end up changing each other for the better.
I’ve said before that Pixar almost always makes physical representations of their character’s inner struggles; here, of course, it’s Fredricksen’s house (and all that’s inside it) that stands for the weighty baggage of the past he means to keep preserved. Throughout the film, we see how much concern he has for the house because it represents everything he lost that he wishes was still alive (it’s no coincidence he faces the house when he “speaks” to Ellie). A great movie, if it has any sort of symbolism, functions best if those symbols work subtly on the audience; in “Up”, we viewers are led to understand what the house means to Carl so that we feel how drastic his change of heart is as he throws everything outside and lets it all go.
All of this masterful storytelling wouldn’t be the same without Michael Giacchino’s score; try playing the first four notes on a piano and the entire room will let out a deep sigh. Giacchino expertly gives us the many nuances of the story with just one musical theme as it’s played in different ways to fit what is happening: we get the proper warmth, love, and sadness that fits the beginning, and eventually a blaring Indiana-Jones-like adventure theme when Fredricksen triumphantly flies off to save Russell (my favorite sequence in the entire movie).
The whole adventure portion of the film is a pure joy to watch, which is crazy considering our action-heros are an octogenarian and a 10-year-old. It never, ever hits roadblocks like many movies do that keep piling on new twists to try and up the stakes (“Solo” is our closest example of this). Extraordinary things take place in just one location during “Up”, but it all makes sense because we’ve been adequately introduced to everything beforehand — like how we know who Charles Muntz is and what he wants right from the opening newsreel so his presence and villainy come as perfectly timed surprises.
“Up” uses powerful emotions to get its message across. We experience tragedy alongside Carl, and we support him on his journey, even though he carries a big weight with him; later, we find that weight to be holding him back from caring for others. When Carl finds Ellie’s final message, this tangible burden feels lifted off — accented only a few seconds later by his emptying the house. As cheesy as it may sound, the repeated mantra, “adventure is out there!”, is what Carl realizes as true when he finally lets go of the past.
