Up

WALL•E

Pixar Films Chronology

Toy Story 3

"Fly Up to Venezuela"

—Tagline

Up is Pixar's tenth feature film. It is notable for being the first Pixar film to be originally produced in 3D technology. It was released in theaters and 3D on May 29, 2009.

Synopsis[]

The story centers on an old man named Carl Fredricksen who is determined to get to South America to keep a promise he made to his wife, Ellie Fredricksen. After tying thousand of balloons to Carl's house, he is off to South America. However, Carl soon discovers a little boy named Russell is on aboard his house and the two of them set off on a bigger adventure than they had expected.

Plot[]

In Carl Fredricksen's youth (age 9^[3]), he is a fan of Charles F. Muntz, a renowned explorer who piloted his own self-made dirigible, "Spirit of Adventure", which is also tailored to the comfort of his numerous dogs. Muntz has recently returned from an expedition to Paradise Falls, showcasing the skeleton of a large exotic tropical bird. However, scientists believe Muntz had fabricated the skeleton, resulting in him being expelled from the National Explorer's Society. Disgraced, Muntz vows to return to Paradise Falls and bring back a living specimen in order to clear his name.

One day, while running down a sidewalk, Carl pretends to pilot his balloon (a regular blue balloon with the words "Spirit of Adventure written on the side) He hears a voice coming from a dilapidated house, exclaiming Muntz's catchphrase: "Adventure is Out There!". Curious, Carl enters the house and he meets a young girl, Ellie Fredricksen, 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 falling and breaking his arm. Ellie visits Carl at his bedroom later that night (returning his balloon to him) and she shows him her secret Adventure Book. She also tells him of her plans to go to Paradise Falls, which Carl agrees to help her accomplish.

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. Carl and Ellie intend to start a family, only to discover that they are incapable of conceiving children after Ellie suffers a miscarriage. They decide to save up some money in order to make a trip to Paradise Falls, but unforeseen events (such as a tire blow out on their car, Carl breaking his leg, and a tree crashing into the house and breaking the roof during a storm) force them to use the money they had been saving. Carl and Ellie grow old together, having lived a happy life. While cleaning the house, he notices the painting of their house perched at the top of Paradise Falls, after tucking the savings jar away and leaving the trip out of mind. Inspired, Carl goes to buy tickets to Paradise Falls. Then, Carl 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 falls terminally ill due to her old age and is hospitalized. Before long, Ellie passes away, leaving Carl heartbroken and alone. Carl attends Ellies funeral in the same church where they married.

In the present, Carl is old and grumpy. He still lives in his same old house, which he feels is the only thing that's keeping Ellie close to him, but surrounding it is a huge city landscape, with new buildings being constructed all around Carl's property. One day, Carl is visited by Russell, a young Wilderness Explorer who seeks to earn his "Assisting the Elderly" badge to advance to the rank of Senior Wilderness Explorer. Carl sends Russell away to look for a "snipe", a creature Carl made up. Soon after, Carl assaults a construction worker after he accidentally damages his mailbox. He is brought to court over the incident and declared a "public menace", with him being ordered to move out of his house and into the Shady Oaks Retirement Village. While preparing to pack his stuff, Carl finds Ellie's Adventure Book and remembers his promise to her.

The next morning, two employees, 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, deployed by Carl. 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. The knock is from Russell, who had stowed away aboard Carl's porch as the house took off. Carl reluctantly lets him come inside, and Russell 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 gathers all his belongings, ties them down, and eventually passes out from exhaustion.

Russell wakes Carl up to tell him that he steered the house and that they were in South America, using his Wilderness Explorer GPS. However, 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 to prepare for landing, 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 the 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 struggles, but manages to pull Carl and the house back to safety. The fog clears and Carl begins to look around at the extraordinary landscape. He soon notices the familiar view of Paradise Falls, having made it close to his intended destination. 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.

At that point, three dogs are chasing a gigantic bird through the mountains and jungle. The bird avoids several traps laid and manages to leap to safety when the dogs corner it. However, the dogs retreat when they are triggered by Carl's malfunctioning hearing aid. Carl and Russell are in the jungle as well. While the duo stop so Russell can use the bathroom, 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. There, they come across a lone dog with a strange collar. Carl calls for its owner, but Russell just plays with it. The dog then begins to speak to them thanks to his collar which translates his thought into speech. He introduces himself as Dug, and states that his collar 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". Russell pleads with Carl to keep Dug, but 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.

Annoyed by Dug and Kevin's presence, Carl attempts to lose them by throwing them a ball from his cane and some of Russell's chocolate, respectively. This is ultimately futile, as Dug and Kevin both catch up fairly quickly. Night falls, and it begins to rain, with the group taking shelter underneath the house. Dug and Kevin fall asleep while Russell attempts to build a tent, but is unable to do so. 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 that day.

Carl wakes up in the morning to find the house's balloons getting weaker, and Kevin gone. Russell and Dug are in panic, but soon they see it on the roof of his house with a pile of food. Dug explains that she is collecting food for her babies, which leads Russell to realize that Kevin was a female the whole time. Kevin calls 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 prepare to leave, 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, with Kevin secretly perched on the house's roof.

The dogs bring Carl, Russell, and Dug 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, impressed by the floating house. The elderly man emerges from the cave, upon which Carl 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, with Muntz fixing Alpha's collar and turning his voice to a deeper tone. 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 which Muntz spent his entire life tracking. Russell calls out that they saw the bird, but Carl quickly adds in that it ran away. Nonetheless, Muntz grows increasingly suspicious of the duo, whilst noting of the "great stories" that other people who came to Paradise Falls told. Carl looks out the window to see Kevin in the cave. He rushes Russell out of the dirigible, but upon discovering why they left, Muntz orders his dogs to give chase.

Carl and Russell grab the house and run for their lives. Dug quickly points out another exit to the cave for Carl and Russell to escape. 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, lowering the house by quite a bit. The house hits a giant rock and knocks Russell off of Kevin, still hanging onto the harness that was connected to the house. As the pursuing dogs attempt to bite Russell as he's being dragged, an avalanche of rocks fall as they make it outside the cave, hindering the dogs's process. With Dug causing the avalanche, he tries to command the dogs to stop chasing his companions, but to no avail. Alpha then nearly throws Dug off a cliff, but freeing him from the Cone of Shame. After hopping across some rocky platforms Kevin arrives at the edge of a cliff with the rest of the party. The house is moving forward, dragging them off the cliff. Everybody grabs on as they are taken midair. The dogs jump to catch them, with Alpha biting Kevin's leg. However, Alpha and several of the pursuing dogs fall into a rushing river below. Carl, Russell, Dug, and Kevin land on the other side of the canyon. Kevin is severely injured due to her bitten leg. Russell begs to help Kevin get back to her home. With the balloons getting weaker, Carl reluctantly agrees, remembering his earlier promise to Russell.

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. While walking, 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. However, Muntz arrives in his dirigible, shining a spotlight on Kevin. She tries to run, but a net shoots out of the dirigible and catches her. Carl takes Russell's knife and saws at the net. Emerging from the airship, Muntz orders Carl away from Kevin as he shatters his lantern, setting the house on fire and causing several more balloons to pop. Carl runs to save the house while the dogs swarm towards Kevin. They grab her, and carry her into the dirigible and leave with Muntz. Russell is upset that Carl practically gave Kevin to Muntz. Hurt and angered at nearly having his house ruined and foiled, Carl claims that it was none of his concern, and that he never asked for any of the trials and tribulations he was put through. Carl then vents his anger out on Dug for all their troubles when Dug tries to console him, sending him away. Carl then continues towards the falls with his house barely afloat, while an upset Russell follows.

Soon, Carl finally arrives at the falls, just before the house is unable to float anymore. He has finally achieved his goal and kept his promise to Ellie, but doesn't feel happy. An angry Russell then throws his sash down, not wanting it anymore. Carl picks up the sash and goes inside the house. The inside of the house is a mess, with everything scattered all over the floor. Carl sets up his and Ellie's chars takes a seat in his chair for a moment. He picks up Ellie's Adventure Book beside him. 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 together as her adventure, and the location never mattered. Touched and uplifted, Carl crosses his heart and decides to fulfill Ellie's wish.

When Carl goes back outside, he finds Russell taking a bunch of balloons and his leaf blower. Russell plans to rescue Kevin, even if Carl won't. As Russell flies away in pursuit of Muntz, Carl tries to lift his house off the ground, but there are no longer enough balloons to carry it. This causes Carl to throw a chair out of the house in frustration. However, this gives him the idea of emptying all of his furniture and belongings out of the house, lightening the it enough to become airborne again. As Carl pilots his flying house again, he hears a knock on the door, initially believing it to be Russell. The knock is actually from Dug, who had hidden under the porch. When he asks if he can stay, Carl gladly accepts him as his dog, with the golden retriever graciously embracing his new owner.

Russell boards Muntz's dirigible in an attempt to free Kevin, but is quickly captured by Muntz and his dogs, getting tied to a folding chair. When interrogated by Muntz, Russell doesn't reveal anything. However, upon seeing Carl approaching in his floating house, Muntz orders Alpha and his other dogs to guard Kevin, whilst he leaves Russell on the boarding ramp, intending to drop the young Wilderness Explorer to his death. Wearing Russell's sash, Carl steers his house towards the boarding ramp. He then latches onto the railing fixture with the hose and uses his cane to zipline across, catching Russell just before his chair slides off the end of the ramp. After Dug reels the hose in to bring the house to the ramp, Carl leaves Russell inside the house while he and Dug enter the airship to retrieve Kevin. They bypass a hallway patrolled by dogs through an air vent, eventually making it to the room where Kevin is locked inside a cage. As Alpha orders several other dogs to guard Kevin's cage, Carl decides to use a ball on his cane to distract the dogs. He strategically throws the ball into a hallway, sending the dogs chasing after it, before locking the door on them and freeing Kevin from her cage.

Meanwhile, Russell frees himself from the chair to which he was tied, only to fall off the porch of the house as it drifts away from the ramp. He barely manages to grab onto the hose to prevent himself from falling to his death. As the other dogs alert Muntz to Carl's intrusion, Muntz spots Russell getting dragged along the cockpit windows as the house floats away. Muntz then dispatches his dog pilots to shoot down the house in airplanes.

While Carl, Dug, and Kevin sneak through the corridors of the airship, looking for a way out, Muntz pulls out a sword preparing to ambush the party. Luckily, Dug notices and bites his former master's leg, alerting Carl. However, Muntz kicks Dug out of a door and locks him out, leaving him face to face with Alpha and the remainder of the pack. As Alpha and the pack chase Dug towards the cockpit, Muntz slashes at Carl with his sword, who uses his cane to block the strikes and retaliate. Both men have their backs lock momentarily, but Muntz breaks free first and corners Carl, preparing to finish him off. Following Muntz's demand to "spit it out" for any last words he may have, Carl frees himself by spitting out his dentures into Muntz's face, knocking the explorer back momentarily. Nonetheless, Muntz recovers and demands to be take Kevin back to civilization dead or alive, paying no heed to the other collectibles he destroys during his furious assault.

Back in the cockpit, Dug is accidentally pushed back against the controls, tilting the airship, and consequently throwing Muntz, Carl, and Kevin off balance. Once the airship levels out, Carl notices the house getting attacked by the planes. He and Kevin exit through a the window and began to climb the airship's exterior ladder, with Muntz right behind. In the meantime, the dog pack corner 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 voice to its high-pitched version, 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 obey his commands. Outside, Russell once again struggles to climb the hose. However, Carl manages to call out to him using the Wilderness Explorer call. Encouraged by seeing Carl and Kevin in trouble, he manages to climb to the porch of the house. As the dog pilots continue to attack, closing in on Russell, he distracts them by calling and pointing to the location of a squirrel. The dogs then collide their planes with each other and crash, deploying their parachutes.

Meanwhile, Carl and Kevin make it to the top of the dirigible, after briefly holding off the pursuing Muntz, who briefly retreats. Dug emerges from a hatch to the airship's roof, reuniting with Carl and Kevin. At that point, Russell steers to the top of the dirigible, as everybody boards and prepares to escape. Unfortunately, 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, now unable to float, sending Carl tumbling out and the house sliding off the top. Carl grabs onto the hose to try to stop the house from falling off the edge. He yells to Russell, Dug, and Kevin to escape the house, but Muntz fires at the porch, forcing them to run inside for cover, locking the door. Muntz strides onto the front porch and bangs on the front door of the house with his rifle. As the hose is starting to break off of the house, Carl warns Russell and Dug to hang onto Kevin just as Muntz crashes through the front door. As Muntz begins searching the house for Russell, Dug, and Kevin, Carl pulls out a chocolate bar, enticing Kevin. She rushes towards Carl with Russell and Dug grabbing on, disarming Muntz of his rifle. The hose breaks off of the house as Kevin jumps through the front window. Muntz scrambles after the bird, but his leg gets caught in some of the balloons. The strings of the balloons break off, sending Muntz plummeting to his death, while the house falls over the edge of the dirigible. Luckily, Kevin, Russell, and Dug are alive, having grabbed onto the hose, which was still being held by Carl. After Kevin, Dug, and Russell climb up to safety, Carl watches as his house falls away and disappears. Though Russell feels sorry about it, Carl doesn't feel sad, saying: "You know, it's just a house."

Sometime later, Carl, Russell, and Dug return Kevin to her babies. After Carl decides to leave his cane and the tennis balls with Kevin and her chicks, he Dug and Russell say their goodbyes. Together, Carl, Russell, and Dug pilot the Spirit of Adventure back home. The other dogs are now happy and no longer ferocious under Carl's ownership. Back in the city, the Senior Wilderness Explorer ceremony is underway. Carl arrives as Russell is awarded his Assisting the Elderly Badge. Additionally, Carl honors Russell's work by awarding him his self improvised "Ellie Badge", the same grape soda cap that Ellie gave to Carl many decades ago. The audience, including Russell's mother, Dug, and the other dogs, give the Wilderness Explorer call to the newly promoted Senior Wilderness Explorers. Afterwards, Carl, Russell, and Dug get ice cream at Fenton's, 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 has landed in the spot overlooking the falls exactly where Ellie pictured it.

During the credits, it is shown 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, living happily with Russell and Dug by his side, while the other dogs are given away to the other residents.

Voice Cast[]

Edward Asner: Carl Fredricksen
Jordan Nagai: Russell
Christopher Plummer: Charles F. Muntz
Bob Peterson: Dug / Alpha
John Ratzenberger: Construction Foreman Tom
Elie Docter: Ellie
Delroy Lindo: Beta
Jerome Ranft: Gamma
Pete Docter: Kevin / Campmaster Strauch
Mickie McGowan: Police Officer Edith
Danny Mann: Construction Worker Steve

Reception[]

Box Office Results[]

In its opening weekend, Up made $68.1 million, the number 1 movie for the weekend. This is the third best opening for a Pixar film, only behind Finding Nemo and The Incredibles. According to Box Office Mojo, Up has grossed $735 million worldwide. This makes Up the ninth highest-grossing Pixar film, (behind Incredibles 2, Toy Story 4, Toy Story 3, Finding Dory, Finding Nemo, Inside Out, Coco, and Monsters University). It is also the sixth highest-grossing film of 2009 (behind Avatar, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and 2012), the second highest-grossing animated film of 2009 (behind Dawn of the Dinosaurs) and the 23rd highest-grossing animated film of all time.

Awards[]

See also: Up Awards

Up was nominated for 5 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Animated Feature, Best Original Score and Best Sound Editing. It won for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score.

Rating[]

This movie is rated PG (for some peril and action). It is the second Pixar film to receive a PG rating, the first being The Incredibles and the third being Brave. However, in the United Kingdom, Up was rated U.

Attached short films[]

Pixar's short film Partly Cloudy, directed by Peter Sohn (one of the film's story artists), is attached to Up.

Dug's Special Mission is released exclusively on the Up Blu-ray and DVD.

George and A.J. is released alongside the iTunes version of the film. While not released with the Blu-ray and DVD releases of Up, it has been released on the Pixar Short Films Collection Volume 2 Blu-ray and DVD.