Up

Up is a 2009 American computer-animated comedy-adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and directed by Pete Docter. Is the tenth animated feature film produced by Pixar.

The film centers on an elderly widower named Carl Fredricksen (voiced by Edward Asner) and an earnest young Wilderness Explorer named Russell (Jordan Nagai). 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 and to complete a promise made to his childhood sweetheart and beloved wife, Ellie. The film was co-directed by Bob Peterson, with music composed by Michael Giacchino. It was the second film, after Finding Nemo, to use the May release.

Docter began working on the story in 2004, which was based on fantasies of escaping from life when it becomes too irritating. He and eleven other Pixar artists spent three days in Venezuela gathering research and inspiration. The design of the characters were caricatured and stylized considerably, and animators were challenged with creating realistic cloth. The floating house is attached by a varying number between 10-20,000 balloons in the film's sequences. Up was Pixar's first film to be presented in Disney Digital 3-D.

Up was released in May 2009 and opened the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, becoming the first animated and 3D film to do so. The film became a great financial success, accumulating over $731,342,744 in its theatrical release. Up received critical acclaim, with most reviewers commending the humor and heart of the film. Edward Asner was praised for his portrayal of Carl, and a montage of Carl and his wife Ellie aging together was widely lauded. The film received five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, making it the second animated film in history to receive such a nomination, following Beauty and the Beast (1991).

Plot
In his youth (eight-year old), Carl Fredricksen was a fan of Charles F. Muntz, who piloted his own self-made dirigible, "Spirit of Adventure." One day, while running down a sidewalk, pretending to pilot his balloon (a regular blue balloon with the words "Spirit of Adventure written on the side), Carl hears a voice coming from a dilapidated house.

Curious, Carl enters the house and meets Ellie, a young girl and fellow fan of Muntz, and they become close friends almost instantly. Ellie's startling introduction causes Carl to release his balloon, which gets stuck in the attic.

With Ellie's encouragement, he tries to get it back by crossing a single wooden plank across the second floor of the house. However the wooden plank breaks, and Carl ends up breaking his arm. Ellie visits him at his bedroom later that night (returning his balloon to him) and shows Carl her secret Adventure Book. She also tells Carl of her plans to go to Paradise Falls, the same place Muntz had visited on his recent expedition to capture an exotic creature.

Years later, Carl marries Ellie and they begin rebuilding the old house, making it their home. Ellie becomes a tour guide for a zoo and Carl becomes a balloon salesman, working side-by-side. They go through many stages of their life together and dream of going to Paradise Falls in South America. So they decided to save up some money, but unforeseen events (a tire blows out, Carl breaks his leg, a tree crashes into the house and breaks the roof during a storm) force them to use the money they had been saving.

Carl and Ellie grow old together, working at a zoo selling balloons and giving tours respectively. While cleaning the house, Carl notices the picture of their house perched at the top of Paradise Falls, after tucking the savings jar away and leaving the trip out of mind. Carl then goes to buy tickets to Paradise Falls (presumably with retirement money). He then takes Ellie on a picnic, bringing the tickets as a surprise for her.

While climbing up the hill where they had spent so much time before, Ellie's old age begins to catch up to her, and she stumbles over. Before long, she dies of old age in the hospital. Heartbroken and alone, Carl returns to his house after attending Ellie's funeral.

In the present, Carl is old and grumpy. He still lives in his same old house, which he feels is the thing that's keeping Ellie close to him, but surrounding it is a huge city landscape; new buildings are coming up all around Carl's property. A corporation is trying to move him, which would break what he had promised. He then ends up in a tussle with a construction worker over his broken mailbox, and is forced by a court order to move into a retirement home. He then realizes this would be his last chance to fulfill that promise.

The next morning, two nurses, A.J. and George, from the Shady Oaks Retirement Village come to pick up Carl. He comes out, but tells the workers that before he leaves, he wants to "say one last goodbye to the old place." They oblige, and walk back towards the van. Suddenly, thousands and thousands of balloons appear from behind the house. The house is ripped from its foundation and carried into the sky. Passersby look in shock to see the flying house. Carl proceeds to extend shower curtains and blankets from the side of the house, as rudders.

Just when he lies down in his chair after setting his course for South America, he hears a knock at his door; it's Russell, a young Wilderness Explorer who had pestered Carl earlier in an attempt to earn his final merit badge for "assisting the elderly" and become a Senior Wilderness Explorer. He was looking for a creature named a "snipe" that Carl had made up to get him to leave, when he accidentally got caught onto the house as it floated away.

Carl lets him come inside, and he starts obnoxiously looking around the house. Carl decides to abort his mission and cut balloons from his fireplace to land the house. However, they enter a fierce thunderstorm, tossing the house through the clouds. Carl gathered all his belongings, tied them down, and eventually passed out from exhaustion.

Russell wakes Carl up to tell him that he steered the house and that they were in South America, using a GPS. Soon after, Russell accidentally tosses said GPS out the window. Carl decides to land the house and try to send Russell home. They go out to the front porch; Carl expects the house to take several hours to reach the ground, but soon finds that they are much closer to the ground than he thought. The house suddenly hits the ground, tossing Carl and Russell from the porch.

Carl manages to grab onto a dangling hose to stop the house from floating away, and Russell grabs onto Carl's leg, further weighing the house down. Coated in fog, they are dragged to the edge of a seemingly endless cliff. Russell pulls Carl and the house back to safety soon after. The fog clears and Carl begins to look around at the extraordinary landscape.

He soon notices the familiar view of Paradise Falls; they made it. Carl orders Russell to climb up the hose to the house, and hoist him up. However, Russell barely makes it up the hose at all, and the option of getting up to the house is thrown out. Carl becomes outraged, but Russell comes up with the bright idea to "walk" the house to the falls.

Once they're in the jungle, Russell needs a bathroom break. He finds what he thinks are snipe tracks and encounters a giant, chocolate-loving bird. He brings it back to Carl who is absolutely terrified. Though friendly with Russell, the bird is obnoxious towards Carl. Russell becomes attached and names it Kevin, but Carl just wants to move on. Russell leaves a trail of chocolate for Kevin to follow.

Soon, Carl and Russell find themselves in a strange rocky area. Soon, they come across a lone dog with a strange collar. Carl calls for its owner, but Russell just plays with it. Soon, it begins to speak to them. He says that the collar (which allows him to speak) was made by his "good and smart" master. Soon, Kevin comes along and pounces on Dug, who urges Carl and Russell to allow him to take Kevin as his "prisoner". Carl, thinking it's just a "weird trick", urges Russell to come with him and move on.

Meanwhile, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma (named after Greek letters) are dogs with collars like Dug are searching for a bird as well; Alpha has a problem with his collar which makes his voice high-pitched (like a chipmunk). It turns out that these dogs sent Dug on a "special mission" to find the bird, just so they could get rid of him. Realizing they could get in trouble with their master for losing Dug, they start a video transmission with him through their collars. They are shocked to find that Dug has found the bird and has taken it as his prisoner. Dug abruptly cuts off the transmission when Russell comes on the screen. Confused, they use the trackers on their collars to find Dug.

Night falls, and it begins to rain. Dug and Kevin fall asleep while Russell struggles to build a tent, but is unable to do it. Russell explains to Carl that he's never been camping before, but his divorced father promised Russell that he would come to his ceremony for when he becomes a senior wilderness explorer. Carl feels bad for treating him so badly, realizing that even though he was part of Ellie's "adventure club", he had never had an adventure. Russell makes Carl cross his heart that Kevin can come with them on their adventure. The rain stops and the clear night sky came into view. He sends Russell to sleep, thinking about all he had been through today.

Carl wakes up in the morning to find Kevin gone. Russell and Dug are in panic, but soon they see him on the roof of his house with a pile of food. Dug explains that he is collecting food for her babies, which leads Russell to realize that Kevin was a girl the whole time. Kevin called for her babies, and a faint peeping could be heard. Kevin runs to her babies and leaves. Carl forces Dug and Russell along, leaving the latter depressed. As they're walking, they encounter Alpha, Gamma, and Beta. Dug leaks out that he lost the bird, and the rest of the dogs force Carl and Russell to come along with Dug to their master.

The dogs bring Carl and Russell to a giant cave. Inside are dozens of dogs, all with the special collars. Out from the shadows comes an elderly, but fit man. The man apologizes for getting Carl into this situation, and gives them a goodbye. After a moment, though, Carl calls to the man again. He discovers that the man, the dogs' master, is actually Charles F. Muntz.

Glad to see a fan of his, Muntz invites Carl and Russell inside the cave, where Muntz's dirigible, the Spirit of Adventure, is stationed. Carl and Russell park the house beside the cave and enter the dirigible as Dug gets the "Cone of Shame", a giant funnel, put on his head for his wrongdoings. In the dirigible's trophy room, Carl is in awe at all of the treasures that Muntz had collected.

Just then, Alpha calls Muntz for dinner; Muntz hears Alpha's voice and fixes the problem with his collar. Carl and Russell are invited into dinner. Before long, they see hundreds of photos, drawings, and information on Kevin around the room. Carl realizes what is happening; Muntz is searching for Kevin; the beast of Paradise Falls. Russell calls out that they saw the bird, but Carl quickly adds in that it ran away. Carl looks out the window to see Kevin in the cave. He rushes Russell out of the dirigible, but the dogs quickly chase after, understanding why they had suddenly left.

Carl and Russell grab the house and run for their lives. Dug quickly points out a side cave for Carl and Russell to take. Just when the dogs are about to catch them, Kevin leaps from the roof of the house and scoops up Carl and Russell, helping them run. The balloons on the roof of the house pop as they drag against the rock ceiling. The house hits a giant rock and knocks Russell off of Kevin, still hanging onto the harness that was connected to the house. An avalanche of rocks fall as they make it outside, stopping the dogs.

Dug tries to command the dogs to stop chasing them, but Dug is knocked away by Alpha, removing the Cone of Shame. Soon, Kevin arrives at the edge of a cliff. The house is moving forward, dragging them off the cliff. Everybody grabs on as they are taken midair. The dogs jump to catch them, but fall into a rushing river. Carl, Russell, and Kevin land on the other side of the canyon. Kevin is terribly hurt and can't go on. Russell begs to stop and help Kevin; Carl looks up to see that the balloons are getting weaker and weaker. Carl reluctantly agrees to stop, remembering his promise to Russell as well.

The soaked dogs return to Muntz, who reacts angrily. When the dogs explain that Dug is on Kevin's side, he comes up with the idea to use Dug's tracking device. Meanwhile, Carl and the group think that they're safe. They decide to continue moving with Kevin on the porch of the house. Russell tells Carl that the wilderness is a lot "wilder" than he thought it would be. He said his dad made it sound easy, going on to say that after their meetings for the Wilderness Explorers, he would bring him to Fenton's ice cream, where they would sit on the curb and count the number of blue and red cars that go by. He then goes on to say that it was the simple things he remembers the most.

Kevin hears her babies cry for help and darts towards them, into the cave. Suddenly, a spotlight falls on Kevin--Muntz's dirigible had followed her. Kevin tries to run, but a net shoots out of the dirigible and catches her. Carl takes Russell's knife and saws at the net. The dogs are getting closer, and they are dragging Carl's house behind them. Muntz yells, "Get away from my bird!" and scowls evilly and throws a lantern at the house and sets it afire, the heat destroying some of the balloons.

Carl runs to save the house and stops sawing. Immediately, the dogs swarm Kevin; they take her into the dirigible and leave. Russell is upset that Carl practically gave Kevin to Muntz. Carl claims it was none of his concern, never asked for any of the trials and tribulations he was put through, blames Dug for their troubles after Dug tries to cheer him up (Carl even claiming that if it wasn't for him, none of this would have happened) sends him away, and continues straight on to the falls, an upset Russell behind him.

Soon, Carl finally arrives at the falls. He has finally achieved his goal and kept his promise to Ellie, but doesn't feel happy. Russell throws his sash on the ground in anger, saying that he doesn't want it any longer. Carl picks up the sash and looks towards the house (at this point, it's barely above the ground). The balloons had weakened severely over the past day or two. Carl goes inside and quietly began to tidy up. The house is a mess; everything is all over the floor. Carl takes a seat in his chair for a moment.

He picks up Ellie's adventure book beside his feet. He flips through the pages, up until the page marked "Stuff I'm Going To Do". Thinking that the pages will simply be blank, Carl goes to shut it, but is surprised when he notices a bit of picture on the next page: The pages are not empty. They are filled with pictures of Carl and Ellie's life together. The final photo is of them, elderly and in their chairs. Below, in the corner, Ellie has written: "Thanks for the adventure. Now go have a new one. Love, Ellie." Carl learns that Ellie saw their simple life as her adventure. Carl looks at Russell's sash, and crosses his heart.

Back outside, Russell grabs a large bunch of balloons and a leaf blower. He declares that he'll find and free Kevin even if Carl won't help him. He flies away; in anger, Carl throws a chair off the front porch. The house lifts off the ground a bit. This gives Carl an idea. He empties the house, throwing everything out, and begins flying away. Dug (who had hid under the porch) also comes with Carl, who both agree that Carl is Dug's master.

Russell tries to save Kevin, but he is quickly captured by Muntz. He interrogates Russell, who won't reveal anything. Muntz looks out the window to see Carl and the house. He demands the dogs to kill Carl if they see him. The floor below Russell starts to lower, sending him down a ramp to nowhere. Carl catches sight of this and puts on Russell's sash. He steers the house towards the dirigible and jumps to Russell, saving him from death.

Russell says to Carl that they should work together to help Kevin, but Carl just wants Russell safe and demands that he stays in the house. Carl and Dug enter the dirigible through an air duct. They discover Kevin, who is locked in a giant cave guarded by fierce dogs. Carl grabs a tennis ball on the edge of his cane and throws it out the door of the room, leading all the dogs to give chase. Carl locks the door and begins to free Kevin.

Meanwhile, Russell leaves the house, but falls off the porch. He grabs the garden hose and is dangling for his life. The wind pushes the house towards Muntz's dirigible and knocks Russell against the window of the cockpit. Muntz sees Russell and demands that the dogs take down the house; they get into airplanes and shoot at Russell and the balloons.

Carl, Dug, and Kevin sneak through the corridors of the airship, looking for a way out. Suddenly, Muntz emerges from the shadows and pulls out a sword. Muntz kicks Dug out of the door and locks it. In front of Dug now are Alpha and the remainder of the pack. Muntz slashes at Carl as he tries to defend himself with his cane. Carl gets knocked to the ground. Carl has an idea; he spits out his false teeth at Muntz, knocking him back. Carl grabs his teeth and gets back up.

Back in the cockpit, Dug is being knocked against the controls, turning the ship. Muntz stumbles in the other room, giving Carl and Kevin an escape chance. They jump out the window and began to climb the airship, with Muntz right behind. Back in the cockpit, the dog pack trap Dug, who is hiding under the dashboard. As Alpha sticks his head through the steering wheel to reach him, Dug sticks a lampshade over his head, breaking his collar, returning his high-pitched voice, and trapping his head in the steering wheel.

Believing Alpha is now wearing the Cone of Shame, the pack take Dug as their leader and listen to his every command. Outside, Russell sees Carl and Kevin in trouble. Encouraged, he manages to climb to the porch of the house. Planes continue to attack, but he manages to stop the planes by calling out that he sees a squirrel; this distracts the dogs and makes them collide all of the planes.

Meanwhile, Carl and Kevin make it to the top of the dirigible, where Dug joins them. Russell steers to the top of the dirigible; everybody grabs on and steps on the porch. Muntz reaches the top of the dirigible, now holding a hunting rifle. With one shot, a bullet rips through the balloon strings, sending a good amount of them floating away. The house hits the top of the airship, sending Carl tumbling out and the house sliding off the top. Carl grabs onto a hose to try to stop the house from falling.

He yells to Russell, Dug, and Kevin to escape the house. Muntz fires at the porch, forcing them to run inside the house. Muntz jumps onto the front porch and bangs on the front door of the house with his rifle. Carl warns Russell and Dug to hang onto Kevin just as Muntz crashes through the front door. Just before Muntz is about to shoot the bird, Carl pulls out a chocolate bar, enticing Kevin. She jumps through the front window. Muntz lunges after her, and his leg gets caught in some balloons, which break off, sending Muntz falling to his death.

Carl manages to save everybody, but his house drifts through the clouds. "It's just a house," he says. Sometime later, Carl, Russell, and Dug are with Kevin and her babies. Kevin is now safe. They say their goodbyes and enter Muntz's dirigible. Together, Carl and Russell take off for home. The dogs are now happy, not ferocious, as Carl is now their master. Back in the city, the Senior Wilderness Explorer ceremony has finally begun. Russell steps up to the front of the audience. The Campmaster asks for someone to come up for Russell, and Carl has arrived just in time. He awards Russell with the grape soda badge that Ellie had given him. The dogs howl with approval.

Carl and Russell sit on a curb in front of Fenton's ice cream, licking ice cream cones as the dirigible floats overhead. They count the red and blue cars that pass by. Soon, they begin to point at things that aren't cars, such as the fire hydrant and a balloon. But nobody minds, as it was just a simple game, something Russell cares for, and something Carl will remember for the rest of his life. The film ends with a shot of Paradise Falls, where it is revealed that Carl's house hasn't crashed at all, and has landed in the spot overlooking the falls exactly where Ellie pictured it.

Over the credits, we see that Carl has started a new adventure book detailing his life as he settles into retirement while spending lots of time with Russell. Carl moves into Shady Oaks, where the dogs are shown to bring happiness to the residents while Carl lives happily with Russell and Dug by his side. Kevin is in South America with her kids.

Cast

 * Edward Asner as Carl Fredricksen (Jeremy Leary voiced Carl as a young child). Docter and Rivera noted Asner's television alter ego, Lou Grant had been helpful in writing for Carl, because it guided them in balancing likable and unlikable aspects of the curmudgeonly character. When they met Asner and presented him with a model of his character, he joked, "I don't look anything like that." (The appearance of Carl is meant to resemble Spencer Tracy as he appeared in his final film, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?.) They tailored his dialogue for him, with short sentences and more consonants, which "cemented the notion that Carl, post-Ellie, is a disgruntled bear that's been poked awake during hibernation". In Colombia, unexpected publicity for the film was generated due to the uncanny similarity of Carl with Colombian ex-president Julio César Turbay Ayala.
 * Christopher Plummer as Charles F. Muntz. Muntz is an old explorer looking for the beast of Paradise Falls; he vowed not to return to North America until he had captured the creature. He uses a group of dogs to aid him in his hunt. The name of his airship, Spirit of Adventure, may have been inspired by Charles Lindbergh's airplane, Spirit of St. Louis. His name is somewhat of a parody to Charles B. Mintz, the man that was responsible for stealing the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. In various interviews, Pete Docter has mentioned Howard Hughes and real life adventurers Charles Lindbergh and Percy Fawcett as inspirations for Muntz. He is the main antagonist of the film.
 * Jordan Nagai as Russell. On their journey, Russell makes several comments to Carl that suggest that Russell's father and mother are no longer together. Russell's design was based on Pixar animator Peter Sohn. Docter auditioned 400 boys in a nationwide casting call for the part. Nagai, who is Japanese-American, showed up to an audition with his brother, who was actually the one auditioning. Docter realized Nagai behaved and spoke non-stop like Russell and chose him for the part. Nagai was 8 years old when cast. Docter encouraged Nagai to act physically as well as vocally when recording the role, lifting him upside down and tickling him for the scene where Russell encounters Kevin. Asian Americans have positively noted Pixar's first casting of an Asian lead character, in contrast to the common practice of casting non-Asians in Asian parts.
 * Bob Peterson as Dug, a Golden Retriever who can talk. He is the misfit of a pack of talking dogs owned by Muntz. Peterson knew he would voice Dug when he wrote his line "I have just met you, and I love you," which was based on what a child told him when he was a camp counselor in the 1980s. The DVD release of the film features a short called Dug's Special Mission, which follows Dug just prior to his first meeting with Carl and Russell. Dug previously appeared in Ratatouille as a shadow on a wall that barks at Remy.
 * Peterson also voices Alpha, a talking Doberman Pinscher and the leader of Muntz's pack of dogs. Pete Docter has stated that Alpha "thinks of himself as Clint Eastwood". Despite his menacing appearance, a frequent malfunction in Alpha's translating collar causes his voice to sound comically high-pitched and squeaky, as if he had been breathing helium. The normal voice for his translator is a resonant, intimidating bass. With both voices, Alpha has a roundabout speech pattern that causes his sentences to be longer than necessary. He is the secondary antagonist of the film
 * Pete Docter as Kevin, a large colorful prehistoric bird. Other than voicing Kevin, Docter also voices Campmaster Strauch, Russell's camp master, seen at the end of the film.
 * Elizabeth Docter as Ellie Fredricksen as a younger child. The voice actor is the director's daughter, who also provided some of the drawings shown by Ellie.
 * Delroy Lindo as Beta, a Rottweiler and one of Muntz's dogs.
 * Jerome Ranft as Gamma, a Bulldog and one of Muntz's dogs.
 * John Ratzenberger as Tom, a construction worker who asks if Carl is ready to sell his house.
 * David Kaye as the newsreel announcer.
 * Danny Mann as Steve, a construction worker whom Carl injures because he accidentally wrecked his mailbox.
 * Mickie McGowan as Police Officer Edith
 * Donald Fullilove as Nurse George
 * Jess Harnell as Nurse AJ
 * Josh Cooley as Omega

Additional voices

 * Mark Andrews
 * Bob Bergen
 * Brenda Chapman
 * Emma Coats
 * John Cygan
 * Paul Eiding
 * Tony Fucile
 * Teresa Ganzel
 * Sherry Lynn
 * Laraine Newman
 * Teddy Newton
 * Jeff Pidgeon
 * Valerie LaPointe
 * Jan Rabson
 * Bob Scott

Theme park attraction

 * For a short time you could meet Carl, Russell and Dug, three characters from the film at Disney's Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort. Their meeting location was in the Magic of Disney Animation Character Spot. Their former location currently houses Winnie the Pooh's Meet and Greet area. Since then, Russell and Dug have been moved to Animal Kingdom in Discovery Island. The Stars of "Up" also star in the new Pixar Pals Countdown to Fun Parade at Disney's Hollywood Studios.
 * Russell and Dug are also part of the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail where guest take part in a fun filled challenge to earn a Wilderness Explorer Badge and to take part in the Senior Wilderness Explorer Ceremony at Grizzly Peak in Disney's California Adventures theme park.
 * A scene from Up featuring Carl & Russell and a voice over commentary by Dug is shown as part of DCA's World of Color nighttime spectacular.

Allusions

 * As Carl's House is lifted into the air, a little girl is shown in her room looking at the balloons. Under her bed, Lotso alongside Pixar Ball be seen.
 * The Pizza Planet truck can be seen three times.
 * 1. As the house is being lifted.
 * 2. Driving into a parking lot in Carl's idea to return Russell home.
 * 3. It is seen in the parking lot next to the ice cream shop at the end of the movie.
 * A113 appears while Carl is sitting outside of the courtroom above him.
 * During the end credits, a photo of Carl and Russell going to the movies is seen. The title of the movie reads: Star Wars.