The movie Up, released in 2009, was directed by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson. Docter is an American animator, director, screenwriter, producer, voice actor, and chief creative officer of Pixar. He has been nominated for nine Oscars and has won three for Best Animated Feature, making him the first person in history to win the category three times. Peterson is also an American animator, director, screenwriter, and voice actor. He has earned three nominations for Best Original Screenplay and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Animated Program for his work on Forky Asks A Question (2020). Up won two Oscars for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures-Original Score (Michael Giacchino) and Best Animated Feature Film of the Year (Pete Docter), and was nominated for three more: Best Motion Picture of the Year (Jonas Rivera), Best Writing-Original Screenplay (Bob Peterson and Pete Docter for screenplay/story and Tom McCarthy for story), and Best Achievement in Sound Editing (Michael Silvers and Tom Myers). Its success won 79 awards from 2009-2010, allowing it to sit on the 124th spot on IMDb's Top 250 Films list.
Up stars the voice of the late Ed Asner as protagonist Carl Fredricksen and the supporting cast of Jordan Nagai and the late Christopher Plummer. Nagai made his film debut in Up; however, he hasn't acted since his guest appearance on The Simpsons a few months after the movie's release. Pete Docter stated that the characterization of Charles Muntz was heavily inspired by real-life explorers Charles Lindbergh and Percy Fawcett and the business magnate Howard Hughes. Up follows the story of Carl Fredricksen, a recently widowed 78-year-old man, who travels to Paradise Falls in his house equipped with balloons, accidentally taking Russell, a young Wilderness Explorer stowaway. The balloons in Up play a significant role in the story, often literally advancing the plot. What do the balloons symbolize, and how do they affect Carl's grief?
When we first meet Carl, he's a small child wielding a balloon with "The Spirit of Adventure" written across it. The balloon leads him to an abandoned house where Ellie is "piloting" the Spirit of Adventure (the name of a blimp their idol rides on). Carl loses his balloon in the attic of Ellie's house. They go up and try to get it back, but he falls through the beams and breaks his arm. Later, when Carl's home with a cast, Ellie flies a balloon through his open bedroom window. Fast forward to the end of the marriage montage, Ellie is in the hospital with an unspecified illness. Carl flies through a similar balloon through her hospital room as a reminder of their fun-filled past and encouragement to keep her spirits up high. Therefore, the balloons in Up represent the wonderment and spirit of childhood. They also represent Ellie's spirit. Specifically, the bundle of balloons that helps Carl carry their house to Paradise Falls. So whenever Carl looks up to the sky to talk to Ellie, he doesn't only look to heaven; he looks to the billion balloons tied to his house, as if they were all his guardian angels (or, Ellie re-incarnated). The balloons share that Ellie's personality was buoyant, a perfect match for the grounded and silent Carl.
During the marriage montage with Carl and Ellie, we learn that Ellie had a miscarriage and could not bear a child. A little after that, the two realize that Ellie is sick and stays in the hospital. Russell, an energetic young boy scout, is very similar to Ellie's personality and spirit. Docter comments that Carl's relationship with Russell reflects how "he's not really ready for the whirlwind that a kid is, a few of us are," suggesting that Ellie wanted the child much more than Carl did. Docter later added that Up was a coming-of-age story and an unfinished love story between Carl and Ellie, with Carl still dealing with the loss of his wife. His inspiration for the coming of age storyline came from resurrection stories about men who lose something and regain purpose during their journey (works like Casablanca and A Christmas Carol).
If Carl didn't work at the balloon stall, he wouldn't have the balloons, and we wouldn't have this heartfelt story. The story is more than Carl finding Paradise Falls and settling there for Ellie's sake. It's about his ability to care about people other than himself and Ellie. The adventure that Russell took Carl on (or vice-versa, depending on how you see it) helped Carl through his grief. He even lightened the load of his house, taking out the armchairs that Ellie and Carl used to sit on to let the house rise again. We don't know why Carl had all these balloons and helium canisters in his home, but I'm sure glad he did. Without those, Carl never would have gone to Paradise Falls, and neither would we.
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