The Up Movie Explores
The Meaning of Adventure

The Up movie begins with Carl Fredricksen as a young boy who idolizes his adventuresome hero Charles Muntz. Although shy and quiet, Carl imagines going on epic expeditions over the Grand Canyon and around Mount Everest, emulating his hero, Muntz, who travels on a blimp called Spirit of Adventure. Young Carl carries his own blue balloon scrawled with Spirit of Adventure in pen.

He walks by an abandoned house when he hears someone inside. Curious, he peeks inside and sees a girl wearing the same flight helmet and goggles that he wears, just like adventurers. She likes Charles Muntz, too and she sneaks up on him to introduce herself. This energetic, tomboyish girl is named Ellie, and she welcomes Carl to the club by pinning a grape soda cap onto his shirt as a badge of membership.

Together they go to the attic to retrieve Carl's blue balloon that he let go of when he was startled by her. Ellie shoves him out onto a plank to cross the gigantic hole in the attic floor and it promptly breaks, and Carl falls and breaks his arm.

In the Up movie, Carl rests in bed that night with his cast on his arm and his balloon floats through the window. Ellie appears, surprising Carl again and she shows him her adventure book. It holds scraps of news clippings about Charles Muntz and she describes how she wants to go where he goes, which is South America. She wants to move the club house to the top of Paradise Falls, the same place Muntz goes to find his mysterious creature to bring back, and Ellie makes Carl promise to help her.

Carl Becomes a Lonely, Bitter Old Man

Time jumps ahead and Carl and Ellie get married. In the church, Ellie has lots of people on her side of the family, and they're just as energetic and enthusiastic as she is. On Carl's side, he has a small number of family members and they are subdued and wear dark colors.

They get to work side by side, with Ellie as a zookeeper and Carl as a balloon vendor at the same zoo. Soon they dream of having babies and the couple adorns a nursery with a crib and paintings on the wall. But Ellie discovers at a doctor's visit that she cannot bear children and she is devastated.

Carl gives Ellie comfort and turns her focus on adventures together. If they cannot become parents, they should save for a trip to Paradise Falls, as they dreamed of as children.

They set out a jar and drop their spare change into it, but unforeseen accidents happen: a punctured tire, a broken leg and a downed tree on their roof during a storm, that cause them to break into their savings time and again.

Before you know it, Carl and Ellie are an elderly couple, still happily together. One day Carl looks up at the collection of trinkets above the fireplace mantle and the painting of their house at Paradise Falls and feels regret that he has not fulfilled his childhood promise to Ellie.

He goes to a travel agent and buys two airline tickets to Venezuela, South America, with a wish to surprise his beloved wife. He calls her to the top of the hill where they had gone so often in the past to talk about their dreams and aspirations, but Ellie can't get to the top. Carl rushes back down to her side.

Ellie doesn't make it in the Up movie. She dies before they've had their grand adventure together and now Carl is all alone and grieves terribly for his wife. He feels he let her down by not taking her to the one place she dreamed of since childhood and now it's too late. He feels lonely and regretful and angry at himself for failing her.

This montage of Carl and Ellie's life together is one of the most powerfully emotional scenes I've seen in animation in years.

Assisting The Elderly

In the present day, Carl still lives in the same house, which he is very attached to and embodies Ellie's spirit, whom he talks to regularly. He's your classic grumpy old man in this Up movie.

The house may be the same but the neighborhood has changed drastically. Carl's house sits in the middle of a high-rise construction site. The developer repeatedly offered to buy Carl's home, but he refused. "You can have our house! When I'm DEAD!" Carl would yell as he slams the door shut.
Carl answers a knock on his door sometime later. A chubby Asian-American boy dressed in a Wilderness Explorer scouting uniform. His name is Russell and he wants to earn his "Assisting the Elderly" badge. Carl sends Russell away to look for a fake bird called a snipe. Russell eagerly accepts the mission and runs off.

After Russell leaves, Carl gets into a conflict with a construction worker over the damage of Carl's mailbox. The incident landed him in court and a recommendation from the police officer to leave to Shady Oaks retirement village for seniors. He gives in but hatches a scheme to fulfill his promise to Ellie in the Up movie.

Up.... and Out

The following morning two male nurses named AJ and George show up from Shady Oaks. Carl has them wait for him in the van while he says goodbye to the house one more time. They both turn at a huge shadow: tens of thousands of colorful balloons unfurling! All the balloons come out of the chimney and the house breaks free of its foundation, floating up, up, up!

Just as he settles in his easy chair, he hears a knock on the door. It must be his imagination - it's impossible - he's high in the air! It's Russell! He claims to have found the snipe but he got caught under the porch and asks politely to be let in. At first Carl refuses, but then says alright. In the Up movie, Russell pokes and snoops around the house and tries to steer the house. Carl has his hands full with this curious boy!

Carl decides to abort his mission so he could get Russell back on the ground so he could go home. He goes to his fireplace to cut some of the strings holding the balloons so the house would go down. But before he can cut the strings, they float into a fierce thunderstorm. The house tosses violently and Carl tries to keep his belongings and pictures of Ellie from being damaged. He manages to tie it all down and he passes out.

Carl comes to when Russell pokes him several times on the chin; Russell heaves a sigh of relief that Carl isn't dead. They look out the window and they're still as can be, in the doldrums now, no breeze. Under them is a white blanket of clouds. Russell claims that he navigated their way to Paradise Falls using his GPS unit, accidentally tossing out the window when he expresses himself with his arms. Carl decides it's time to land the house and get Russell home in the Up movie.

Paradise Falls

Carl cuts some of the balloon strings and the house begins its descent. They fall into the clouds and there is no visibility. Suddenly large formations pass dangerously close to the house and this confuses Carl as he expected the ground to be much further away.

Suddenly they land hard on the surface and Carl and Russell fall onto the ground as the house bounces off and floats up again. In the Up movie, Carl grabs the nozzle on the hose as it unwinds, but he's lifted off the ground. Russell holds Carl's legs and they slide to the edge. Carl looks down and it's a high cliff!

Russell pulls him back and they huddle together as a wind starts up, blowing the cloud cover away and then revealing the landscape. It is stunning! Across the valley is PARADISE FALLS! Just as it looks in the photos. They are on a flat-top mountain that curves like a C with the falls on the opposite side.

Carl tells Russell to climb the hose and hoist him up afterward, so they could float over to the falls, but Russell, being chubby and out-of-shape, is unable. So Russell suggests they walk the house over like a giant parade balloon. They only have a few days to walk the house to the falls before the balloons lose their lift and the house would be grounded.

So their journey begins in the Up movie. As Carl and Russell walk through a jungle, they come across a large, colorful, flightless bird that Russell discovered when he took out his chocolate bar to eat. The bird loves chocolate and instantly befriends Russell, to his delight. Russell loves this bird, who shows him affection and plays with him, and he names the bird Kevin, not knowing at that time that Kevin is actually a female.

Kevin follows them, to Carl's chagrin, as they walk through weird rock formations that take on shapes, like a turtle, when through the fog they hear a voice calling out to them. Carl sees a human form in the distance, but it turns out it's a rock formation. Out of the mist comes a friendly lab who speaks to Carl and Russell with a special collar.

Dug sees Kevin and says how he would like to take the bird prisoner and begs, "Please, please, please can I take you as my prisoner," to the bird. Carl just thinks this is a weird trick and urges Russell to come along, keep moving toward the falls.

In the meantime, three vicious-looking dogs with collars like Dug's are also looking for the bird. Alpha, Beta and Gamma are their names, after the Greek letters. Alpha (also as in alpha male, the leader of a pack or herd) is the leader and is a Doberman Pinscher. His collar's speaker is broken and his voice comes out high and squeaky, making his menacing appearance less scary. Beta is a Rottweiler and Gamma is a Bulldog. They're both 2nd and 3rd in command and while menacing, are a bit stupid.

These dogs sent Dug on a lone special mission to find the bird, just to get rid of him, but they worry what their master would think if they lost Dug, so they find him through a homing device on Dug's collar.

Once they locate Dug, they're surprised to see that Dug has the bird with him, but as soon as they glimpse an image of the "small mailman" they call Russell, Dug cuts the transmission. Right away they track Dug from the collar's information in the Up movie.

Carl's Childhood Hero

As night falls, it starts to rain and they all take shelter under the house. Kevin and Dug fall asleep and Russell talks with Carl about his home life. Russell has never been camping and his father no longer has the time for doing the small special things they used to do together.

In the Up movie, Russell's story infers that his parents are divorced and his father's new wife doesn't want him to pester his father with spending time. This softens Carl toward Russell and he feels bad for treating Russell harshly and he allows Kevin and Dug to come with them to the falls. Russell makes Carl promise and cross his heart, which brings back sweet memories of Ellie.

Russell and Dug are in a panic the next morning when they see that Kevin is gone. But they soon see the bird on top of the house, collecting food from inside and bringing it onto the roof. Dug explains that the bird is collecting food for her babies and it's then that Russell realizes that Kevin is a girl.

Kevin calls to her babies and they return the call in little squeaks. She runs toward them. Carl insists that they not follow the bird, which leaves Russell upset. As they continue on, Alpha, Beta and Gamma catch up, wanting to know what happened to the bird. Dug has to admit that he lost the bird and the three dogs bare their teeth and force Carl and Russell back to their master.

They enter an enormous cave and inside are dozens of dogs, all bearing the same collar that allows them to speak. They circle Carl and Russell, who are understandably terrified. Out of the shadows emerges an elderly man who calls the dogs off.

Muntz leads them further into the cave to his blimp, the original Spirit of Adventure. Carl is beside himself with joy and eagerly accepts Muntz's invitation to come inside and join him for dinner. Carl ties up the house next to the blimp and goes in. Meanwhile, Dug gets the "cone of shame" put around his head for his mistakes. Poor Dug.

Before sitting for dinner, Muntz gives the grand tour inside the blimp. He takes them through his trophy room, full of fossils of extinct animals and dinosaurs - the best that he's kept for himself. Then Alpha announces dinner and Muntz fixes his collar and a mean sounding voice comes through. Russell likes the squeaky voice better.

Muntz's dogs have been trained as servants and they've prepared dinner for them. Shortly after being served, Carl notices that in the corner is the skeleton of a bird like Kevin with hundreds of photos and notes on the wall surrounding it. Carl understands Muntz's intention now: he's searching for Kevin to capture alive and bring back.

Russell sees the skeleton and announces that it looks just like Kevin. Carl sees Kevin hiding out on the top of the house outside and tries to cover up their sighting. Muntz doesn't believe him and nothing will get in his way to capture the bird. He comes after them and sets his dogs on them as they make their escape.

Dug guides them deeper through the cave as Carl and Russell grab the hose tethering the house. But the dogs are gaining on them too fast in the Up movie. Dug tries to slow the pack down, but it doesn't work. Kevin picks up Carl and Russell and tosses them on her back as she quickly runs from the dogs.

Kevin saves them in an exciting chase, but Alpha, in a last ditch attempt, catches Kevin on her leg with his sharp teeth. She shakes him off, but she's injured. When they get to the other side of a ravine, Russell bandages Kevin's leg wound. She cannot walk. Russell insists that they need to take Kevin to her babies, and Carl reluctantly agrees, remembering his promise.

Time for a New Adventure

Kevin rests on the porch as they continue walking, resuming their journey toward the chicks in the maze of rocks in the distance. When they approach the rocky outcrop, Kevin calls to her chicks and they answer. In the Up movie, she feebly jumps down from the house and runs toward them.

As she runs, the Spirit of Adventure blimp emerges out of nowhere, throwing a spotlight on the bird. Muntz fires a net at Kevin, it captures her and she falls. Carl and Russell rush to her aid and begin cutting the rope, but Muntz sets Carl's house on fire. Carl chooses to save his house instead of Kevin, as she is dragged into the airship.

Russell looks at Carl in shocked disbelief that he didn't protect Kevin. Carl retorts angrily that none of this was his concern and he never asked for any of it. Dug tries to cheer up Carl in the Up movie, but Carl tells him he's a bad dog. Carl is angry as he pulls his house toward Paradise Falls again and Russell and Dug follow behind, both upset, too.

They get to the falls at last; the balloons are barely holding the house up. He's fulfilled his promise to Ellie but it feels hollow. Russell sulks on a nearby rock and he throws off his badge sash, saying he doesn't want it anymore. Carl picks it up and goes inside his living room and sits in his chair. He takes out Ellie's adventure book and flips through the yellowing, fragile pages again. He reaches the page where it says "Stuff I'm Going to Do" and he always stops there, because nothing more has ever been put in there. In the Up movie, Carl is surprised when he sees another photo peeking through.

Carl looks through the rest of the surprise album, his eyes tearing up at the pictures of he and Ellie at different stages of their lives together. At the last photo, Ellie writes, "Thanks for the adventure, now go have a new one. Love, Ellie." It's a sweet scene in the Up movie, and it always makes my eyes water a bit.

Inspired by Ellie's words, Carl goes back outside for Russell, but doesn't see him at first. Russell is on the roof and has fashioned together enough balloons to make him float and uses a leaf blower to propel him where he needs to go. Russell tells Carl that he's going to find and rescue Kevin, even if he won't come with him, and he flies off in anger.

Carl tosses all the furniture from his home to lighten the load enough for the house to be able to fly again and he pursues Russell back to the Spirit of Adventure. Dug, who'd been hiding under the porch, returns and Carl agrees to be his master. They're a happy team again in the Up movie.

Russell is able to enter the airship through a window, but is promptly caught and tied to a chair. Muntz puts Russell onto the ramp, which is lowering, with Russell in the chair sliding downward, to certain death. Carl sees Russell in trouble. He puts on Russell's badge sash and shoves his cane behind his back.

A determined Carl steers the house over toward the ramp, saving Russell just in time. Carl keeps Russell tied to the chair inside the house for his own safety, but Russell wants to help and breaks free. In doing so, he falls backward out the open front door. He manages to grab onto the hose and hangs on for life to the nozzle.

Kevin's Rescue

Meanwhile, Carl and Dug enter the blimp and avoid Muntz's dogs by going through an air duct. They happen to find Kevin's room but before they can save Kevin, the dogs enter the room. Carl looks over to see Dug chewing on one of the tennis balls on his cane and that gives him an idea.

He jumps on top of Kevin's cage with a ball and shouts, "Who wants the ball?" The dogs go crazy and Carl throws it out of the room and down the hall, the entire pack of dogs going for it. They only realize their mistake when Carl shuts the door on them and locks them all out. It's hilarious!

The dogs must report this to Muntz, who is in the cockpit and he sees Russell sliding and squeaking across the windows as he hangs onto the hose. The house floats further away in the Up movie with Russell dangling precariously from the hose.

While Russell is dodging darts, the two old men have a fight in the trophy room, Muntz with a sword and Carl defending himself with his cane. He ponks Muntz on the head with the tennis ball-bottomed cane, making the funniest noise.

The dogs corner Dug in the cockpit and when he backs up he unintentionally pushes a lever that causes the blimp to tilt to one side. This nearly causes Carl to fall out the window. Carl looks up to see a ladder and tells Kevin to follow him as they climb the outside of the blimp. In this Up movie, Carl's got no aversion to heights, apparently!

Back in the cockpit, Alpha corners Dug behind the steering wheel after a tussle. Alpha sticks his head between the spokes of the steering wheel and Dug slaps on a thick ring that fell off the controls over Alpha's head, giving him his own Cone of Shame. Alpha is now stuck, and his speaker broke again so he speaks in a high squeaky voice. Dug is now the Alpha male and in control as the other dogs laugh.

Russell hears Carl's Wilderness Explorer call for help and that gives him the determination to climb the hose. He gets up onto the porch and yells to the dogs in the biplanes, "Hey! Squirrel!" which totally distracts them, causing them to crash into one another. The dogs float down in parachutes, one of them lamenting that he hates squirrels. Ha ha!

Russell steers the house to the blimp just as Carl and Kevin reach the top. Dug pops out of an opening at the top to Carl's delight and he helps Dug and Kevin into the house. Carl is just about to join them when Muntz shoots at the balloons, popping many of them. This causes the house to sink back onto the blimp's surface and slide down and back onto the tail. Carl chases the house and takes a hold of the hose, keeping the house from falling off the edge of the tail.

Muntz follows and breaks down the door with his rifle, intent on getting the bird. The crank securing the hose to the house is loosening and Carl can't hold on much longer. He urges Russell, Kevin and Dug to come back out and coaxes Kevin with chocolate just as Muntz breaks in.

As the three leap back onto the tail, the hose crank breaks off. Muntz leaps after them through the window but his leg catches on some balloon strings, stopping him short. In the Up movie, Charles Muntz falls to his death.

Carl still has the hose and he hoists up the three, who have caught hold of it. Once all are safe on the tail he bids farewell to his house, symbolically letting Ellie go.

Going Home

Back in the city, the Wilderness Explorer Badge Award Ceremony commences. However, Russell is standing on the stage without his father, who had missed the event again. As the leader approaches Russell with his Assisting the Elderly badge, Carl arrives just in time.

But instead of pinning it on, Carl kneels down and gives the most touching speech to the boy. (It chokes me up completely!) He then awards Russell with the Ellie Badge and pins on the grape soda cap. Everyone cheers and all the dogs are in attendance howling happily in the Up movie.

Carl and Russell sit outside Fenton's ice cream parlor playing the game Russell enjoys, pointing out red cars and blue ones with the blimp floating overhead. Carl now lives in the Spirit of Adventure in this Up movie, and continues to be an active part of Russell's life.

Carl and Ellie's house was not destroyed when it fell through the clouds, but landed at Paradise Falls, exactly where Ellie had envisioned it: overlooking the falls.