Response - Pixar's UP

I’m going to sound like a big fan-boy but I am in love with the movie Up by Disney Pixar.

There it is – no guilt attached. Phewww…

But in all honesty, I am in awe of the incredible creative mind who conceptualized that he could make a film out of a man, his house and a few thousand balloons. It is this same creativity that is the magic of this movie. When I see Up, I see something I have never seen before. This is not limited to the plot and the incredibly heartfelt story but also in what does not need to be said; the motifs, the theme song and the incredible characterization. Thus it is no wonder why this is my favorite movie, not only among Disney titles, but among all animations that I have seen.

I have always considered myself a bit of a softy; it doesn’t take too much for my eyes to get a little damp. Whether it is a corny rom-com or a more dramatic movie tailored to pull the heartstrings, emotional films usually get a reaction out of me. However you give me Up and I will cry we eyes out. I must admit I locked myself in my room, making sure my roommate wasn’t around because I was so self-conscious at the mess I became after seeing the opening montage of the life of Carl and Ellie. There is something incredibly moving in those five minutes that hits me like nothing else. The love between Carl and Ellie is undeniable, when they get married, Carl still has his little boy smile and Ellie jumps on Carl with her enthusiasm and optimism. They live a simple enough life, building their dream home and working side by side at the zoo, where we can assume they make a modest wage. Their life and love is characterized by a sort of simplicity that I crave, whereby they can do what makes them happy and they have each other. Most poignant though is Pixar’s construction of ‘life’. Some dreams are realized but others get lost or are crushed by things beyond our control. When Ellie is confronted with the news that she cannot have babies, a sorrow penetrates the audience, myself in particular, that transcends the screen. So too, the dream of Paradise Falls taken a back shelf (literally) as sacrifices are made and setbacks like flat tires and a lightning storms cause Carl and Ellie to take from their funds to explore. Using my own cliché, they’re opposites attract, with Carl being quieter and the solid cornerstone and Ellie being the vibrant spark and dynamism to the relationship. Yet, they complement one another so perfectly, Ellie does up Carl’s ties which are all an array of different colors, showing how Ellie brings her vibrancy to Carl’s life. Similarly, Carl buys the tickets to Paradise Falls to fulfill Ellie’s sense of adventure. So too, the frames of Carl and Ellie cleaning show their desire to preserve the life they have built with one another. They way Carl and Ellie complement one another is portrayed with such simplicity and delicacy. This is the most apparent when Carl pushes the blue balloon to Ellie, now in her last days, just as she once did when he broke his leg after they first met. I must admit there is where I lost it and almost choked on my tears. Like this motifs of the balloon, the mailbox, the clouds, crossing of the heart and the form fitting chairs, are all symbols representing their togetherness and love. These magical five minutes by Pixar’s animation and production teams is why I love Up so much, they create something that transcends the screen and reaches into my soul.

Combine this with the amazing theme song and you have me in raptures. It comes to me as no surprise that Disney Pixar has won seven of fifteen Best Animation Feature awards in its nine nominations as Pixar creates a holistic film. The theme song of Up is at once playful as it is somber the next. It is interjected in the film at precise moments to reflect the mood of the film with subtle variations changing it from upbeat and optimistic to slow and melancholic. This past week I have gone to Biddle Music building at Duke in my free time to teach myself the tune out of my pure love for the song. 

What I also love of Pixar’s Up is that I can appreciate something new every time I watch the film. Having seen the film as both a teenager and now a young adult, my perception of the film is different to that of a younger child or someone older. There exists both a time dependent and timeless nature of the film and what one can appreciate. As a more empathetic and sensitive person, I am greatly attracted by the more mature themes of love, life and sacrifice and how they apply to Carl and Ellie. A younger audience however may have a greater affinity to Dug, the talking dogs and Kevin, with his love for chocolate. Yet somehow, I can also appreciate these more comedic and juvenile themes too. Every element of the film complements the other and Pixar truly succeeds in its mission to create entertainment not only for children but for the whole family.

Left now to bring a more critical analysis to the film, I am left scratching my head. There is nothing that reaches out to me as being controversial or uncomfortable in the film. Pixar’s message in Up is different for everyone, for me it is a story of love and how this changes with time. Carl’s love was exclusively for Ellie, but circumstances dictate that he finds a new family in Russell, Kevin and Doug. For others Up is a story of adventure or a story of rejecting society and authority or a story of fatherhood. Ultimately, these are all correct and true, there is no one reading to the film. While in class, our discussions analyzed the potential harms in Russell’s Asian American ethnicity, the issue of size and even the outrageous claims of an oppressive white patriarch, I find these analyzes unsubstantiated or simply irrelevant. Questions that hover in my mind would be the absence of Russell’s father and the dominance of the male gender in the film – however I am inclined to ignore these concerns in giving the movie its creative liberties. Often these concerns are over-analyzed.   

Pixar’s Up is a timeless classic and creative work of art. Seeing the film I am bizarrely put in a happier and more fragile mood. The happy ending with Carl and Russell on the sidewalk is another example of the continuity, motifs and symbolism that pervades the film. The long shot of Carl and Ellie’s house sitting at the side of Paradise Falls is also heartwarming. All the same I am made more fragile by the raw emotion in the film. These elements combine seamlessly to shape my love of Up.  

"You and me, we're in a club now"