THE STORY – Carl Fredricksen, a 78-year-old balloon salesman, is about to fulfill a lifelong dream. Tying thousands of balloons to his house, he flies away to the South American wilderness. But curmudgeonly Carl’s worst nightmare comes true when he discovers a little boy named Russell is a stowaway aboard the balloon-powered house.
THE CAST – Ed Asner, Jordan Nagai, Christopher Plummer & Bob Peterson
THE TEAM – Pete Docter, Bob Peterson (Directors/Writers) & Tom McCarthy (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 95 Minutes
Ask any adult what the best sequence in any Pixar film is, and nine times out of ten, the answer will be the “Married Life” sequence from the animation studio’s 2009 Oscar winner “Up.” After a short introduction to Carl Fredericksen (Ed Asher) – a shy kid who longs to be an explorer like newsreel sensation Charles Muntz – and Ellie, the outgoing young girl who shares his love for exploring, the film launches into a montage of the pair’s ensuing life together, from their marriage all the way to Ellie’s death in old age. The wordless sequence, backed by the best, most hummable tune Michael Giacchino has ever written, encapsulates so much of what makes Pixar’s approach to storytelling unique and memorable. It’s a bold gambit to begin a film aimed at children with a sequence that deals with dreams getting delayed and the inability to have children, but by treating kids as the intuitively emotional beings they are, the film easily communicates everything we need to know about Carl without even a syllable of spoken dialogue. Not many sequences in a film’s first half-hour can effectively elicit laughs and tears. Still, directors Pete Docter and Bob Peterson manage it through simple counterpoint, gentle escalation, and some elegant transitions.
That the rest of “Up” makes good on the promise of that sequence, even if it can’t quite live up to it, speaks volumes about how incredible the storytelling talent at Pixar was in 2009. The main body of the story concerns Carl’s escape from a future at the Shady Acres Retirement Home by attaching enough balloons to his house that it flies away. He hopes to guide it to Paradise Falls, where Muntz had been exploring so many years ago, in Ellie’s honor, presumably to stay there until he joins her in the afterlife. The only problem is that he picked up a stray: Russell (Jordan Nagai), a young Wilderness Explorer who only needs his “assisting the elderly” badge to graduate and has decided that Mr. Fredricksen will be that elderly person, whether he likes it or not. Despite Carl’s better judgment, he lets Russell tag along, and before they know it, the odd couple is joined by an exotic bird that Russell names Kevin and a dog named Dug, who is equipped with a collar that converts his thoughts into speech.
That’s pretty much the extent of the story, as the story tracks Carl and Russell on their journey to the falls and towards understanding each other. It’s remarkably subtle, mature storytelling for a kid’s film, but those animal sidekicks do a lot to keep the youngest audience members engaged, as does the secondary protagonist, Russell. Nagai’s vocal performance is so natural, and the dialogue is so astute that Russell always feels authentically childlike. But those same qualities ensure that even children can feel for grumpy old man Carl, as well. Docter and Peterson’s screenplay (from a story they developed with Oscar winner Tom McCarthy) follows up that opening sequence by emphasizing Carl’s childlike qualities to put younger viewers on his side; the man hates authority figures telling him what to do and enjoys a good prank, just like most kids. The film never skimps on the heavy emotionality of Carl’s story, though. The central metaphor of Carl literally dragging his house on his back across the jungle is a bit obvious, but Asner’s tremendous vocal performance adds nuance, showing the toll Carl’s whole life has taken on him; there’s a bone-deep weariness to Carl’s voice that adults will recognize immediately but that kids may not fully understand, giving the film replay value as young viewers grow up.
“Up” presents many valuable life lessons without ever becoming too preachy, a balancing act that many family-oriented films can’t figure out. The filmmaking prioritizes moments of stillness just as much as the moments of zaniness that comprise the bread and butter of the genre, and while those tones aren’t always perfectly balanced here, the emotional moments hit home with pinpoint accuracy, something that wouldn’t happen in a film that leaned more heavily on kid-friendly energy. Even the comic bits here have a certain sophistication to them that’s almost anathema to children’s movies, like when a dog stops his job dusting to suddenly chew on the leg bone of a skeleton display or the infamous “SQUIRREL!” bit. The film taps into a childlike sense of playfulness more than it taps into childlike humor, making everything much more tolerable for the adults in the audience without ever lapsing into lazy-of-the-moment pop culture jokes.
The problem, such as it is, lies in the film’s third act when Carl and Russell discover that Dug’s owner is none other than Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer) himself, and he’s been on a decades-long crusade to find Kevin in an effort to restore his good name after society accused him of fabricating the bird skeleton he found on his last trip to Paradise Falls. Confronting Carl with his hero, only for him to be a warning of the dangers of obsessing over the past, is a good idea in theory, but Muntz falls flat due to the lack of time we spend with him. Instead of a character, he feels like just another obstacle for Russell and Carl to overcome, made human only so that this amiable odd-couple comedy can have a more traditional narrative shape (and an action-packed finale).
But this is Carl’s story first and foremost, and “Up” delivers beautifully on that front. Telling a story of late-in-life grief to children sounds like a fool’s errand, but the gentleness of the storytelling, the entertainment value of the comic relief, and the clear, direct emotions all combine perfectly to make a film that will win over children and adults alike. That’s a cliché thing to say, but “Up” earns it. Some of the jokes in the film’s climax may land a bit awkwardly, but the character beats always hit their mark, punctuated by some genuinely elegant moments of filmmaking. The touching finale gets at some difficult-to-express emotions through nothing more than some perfectly judged facial expressions, marking the Pixar animators as astute observers of human behavior. Thankfully, their storytelling abilities are just as astute. “Up” is a triumph of mature storytelling effective for all ages, with a central duo for the ages.
