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Up (2009 film)

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Up
File:Up Poster.JPG
Theatrical poster
Directed byPete Docter
Co-Director:
Bob Peterson
Written byScreenplay:
Bob Peterson
Pete Docter
Story:
Pete Docter
Bob Peterson
Thomas McCarthy
Produced byJonas Rivera
Executive Producers:
John Lasseter
Andrew Stanton
StarringEdward Asner
Christopher Plummer
Jordan Nagai
Bob Peterson
Delroy Lindo
Jerome Ranft
John Ratzenberger
Elie Docter
Music byMichael Giacchino
Production
company
Distributed byWalt Disney Pictures
Release dates
May 29, 2009 (US)
September 3, 2009 (Aus)
October 16, 2009 (UK)
Running time
96 min.
102 min. (with short film Partly Cloudy)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$175 million[1]
Box office$68,200,000 (to date, estimated)

Up is a computer-animated film produced by Pixar Animation Studios about a cranky old man and an overeager scout who fly to South America in a floating house suspended from helium balloons.[2] It is distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, and premiered by opening the 2009 Cannes Film Festival as the first animated film ever to do so. The film was released on May 29, 2009 in North America and scheduled for release on October 16, 2009 in the United Kingdom. This is director Pete Docter's (Monsters, Inc.) second film, and features the voices of Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer, Bob Peterson and Jordan Nagai.

The film has received overwhelmingly positive reviews, with a rating of 98% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Plot

Carl Fredricksen, a quiet young boy, meets the tomboy Ellie in her clubhouse (a dilapidated home), discovering together they share the same interest in exploration as their hero, famed explorer Charles Muntz. Ellie expresses her desire to move her clubhouse to Paradise Falls in South America, a promise she makes Carl keep. Carl and Ellie wed and grow old together in the old house where they first met. Unable to have children, they also try to save up for the trip to Paradise Falls but other financial obligations arise. Finally, Ellie succumbs to old age, leaving Carl living alone in their home.

As the years pass, the city grows around Carl's house as Carl refuses to move. After a tussle with a construction worker, the courts order Carl to an assisted living home. Carl comes up with a scheme to keep his promise to Ellie, and creates a makeshift blimp using thousands of helium balloons which lift his house off its foundation. Russell, a Wilderness Explorer trying to earn his "Assisting the Elderly" badge, has stowed away on the porch.

After a storm throws them around for a while, they find themselves across a large ravine facing Paradise Falls. With their body weight providing ballast allowing Carl and Russell to pull the floating house as it floats, the two begin to walk around the ravine, hoping to reach the falls while there's still enough helium in the balloons to keep the house afloat.

As they walk towards Paradise Falls, Russell finds a colorful female tropical bird, who he names Kevin, and a dog with a translator collar named Dug. Dug's owner is the explorer Charles Muntz, who Carl idolized as a child. Muntz had remained in South America to find a bird like Kevin in order to restore his reputation as a famed explorer. Though Carl is initially thrilled to meet his hero, when he realizes that Muntz is after Kevin and will kill to get her, Carl takes steps to save the bird and escape from Muntz.

As they assist the injured Kevin to her chicks, Muntz and his dogs arrive in his airship, led by a tracking device in Dug's collar, and sets Carl's house on fire, forcing Carl to choose his house over Kevin. Muntz and his dogs quickly capture the bird and fly off. Though Carl successfully gets the house on the ground overlooking Paradise Falls per Ellie's wish, he has lost Russell's favor. Carl, settling down in his house, finds Ellie's scrapbook and discovers her mementos of her life with Carl after they wed, and a final note from her to thank Carl for her adventure and an encouragement for him to go on his own. Invigorated by Ellie's last wish, he goes outside to see Russell, only to find him giving chase to Muntz with a couple dozen balloons and a leaf blower. Carl tosses the house's furniture aside as ballast, allowing him to chase after Muntz with Dug by his side.

Russell enters the airship through a window, but is captured by the dogs. He is tied up and left to fall to the earth, but Carl saves him and keeps him tied up in the house. Carl and Dug board the ship, and are able to lure the guard dogs away from Kevin to free her. Carl and Muntz duel face to face and fight (Muntz with a sword, Carl with his cane), while Dug is able to wrest control of the dogs and the dirigible from Alpha. Russell frees himself but clings to a lifeline as he finds the house in a dogfight with biplane fighters piloted by the dogs. When Carl shouts for help, Russell distracts the dog pilots and regains control of the house to rescue his friends. In pursuit, Muntz shoots out some of the balloons, causing the house to land and slide off the airship. Carl manages to trick Muntz inside the house while saving Russell, Dug, and Kevin; Muntz falls to Earth while Carl's house drifts off into the clouds.

Carl takes Muntz's dirigible and returns Kevin to her chicks, and then returns Russell and Dug back to the city. Carl proudly presents Russell with his final merit badge, the grape soda badge that Ellie presented Carl when they first met, and finds himself spending time with Doug, Russell, and the other Wilderness Explorers, with his house having landed where Ellie envisioned - overlooking Paradise Falls.

Production

Story

The main character Carl Fredricksen is partially based on Spencer Tracy.[3]

The fantasy of a flying house was born out from director Pete Docter's thoughts about escaping from life when it becomes too irritating,[4][5] which he explained stemmed from his difficulty with social situations growing up.[6] Writing began in 2004. Actor and writer Thomas McCarthy aided Docter and Bob Peterson in shaping the story for about three months.[7] Docter selected an old man for the main character after drawing a picture of a grumpy old man with smiling balloons.[7] The two men thought an old man was a good idea for a protagonist because they felt their experiences and the way it affects their view of the world was a rich source of humor. Docter was not concerned with an elderly protagonist, stating children would relate to Carl in the way they relate to their grandparents.[4]

Docter noted the film reflects his friendships with Disney veterans Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston and Joe Grant (who all died before the film's release). Grant gave the script his approval as well as some advice before his death in 2005.[8] Docter recalled Grant would remind him the audience needed an "emotional bedrock" because of how wacky the adventure would become; in this case it is Carl mourning for his wife.[7] Docter felt Grant's personality influenced Carl's deceased wife Ellie more than the grouchy main character,[8] and Carl was primarily based on Spencer Tracy and Walter Matthau, because there was "something sweet about these grumpy old guys".[3] Docter and Jonas Rivera noted Carl's charming nature in spite of his grumpiness derives from the elderly "hav[ing] this charm and almost this 'old man license' to say things that other people couldn’t get away with [...] It's like how we would go to eat with Joe Grant and he would call the waitresses 'honey'. I wish I could call a waitress 'honey'."[9]

The filmmakers' first story outline had Carl "just wanted to join his wife up in the sky," Docter said. "It was almost a kind of strange suicide mission or something. And obviously that's [a problem]. Once he gets airborne, then what? So we had to have some goal for him to achieve that he had not yet gotten."[10] Docter created Dug as he felt it would be refreshing to show what a dog thinks, rather than what people assume it thinks.[11] The idea derived from thinking about what would happen if someone broke a record player and it always played at a low pitch.[7] Russell was added to the story at a later date than Dug and Kevin;[7] his presence, as well as the construction workers, helped to make the story feel less episodic.[10]

Carl's relationship with Russell reflects how "he's not really ready for the whirlwind that a kid is, as few of us are".[8] Docter added he saw Up as a "coming of age" tale and an "unfinished love story", with Carl still dealing with the loss of his wife.[12] He cited inspiration from Casablanca and A Christmas Carol, which are both "resurrection" stories about men who lose something, and regain purpose during their journey.[13] Docter and Rivera cited inspiration from the Muppets, Hayao Miyazaki, Dumbo and Peter Pan. They also saw parallels to The Wizard of Oz and tried to make Up not feel too similar.[14] There is a scene where Carl and Russell haul the floating house through the jungle. A Pixar employee compared the scene to Fitzcarraldo, and Docter watched that film and The Mission for further inspiration.[15]

Cast

  • Edward Asner as Carl Fredricksen. Docter and Rivera noted Asner's television alter-ego Lou Grant had been helpful in writing for Carl, because it guided them in balancing likeable and unlikeable aspects of the curmudgeonly character.[16] When they met Asner and presented him with a model of his character, he joked "I don't look anything like that." They would tailor his dialogue for him, with short sentences and more consonants, which "cemented the notion that Carl, post-Ellie, is a disgruntled bear that's been poked awake during hibernation".[17]
  • Jordan Nagai as Russell, a Wilderness Explorer stowaway on Carl's flying house.[4] He accompanies Carl in order to earn his "assisting the elderly" badge: the only one he doesn't have. Though he has never really been to the wilderness. He is depressed that his father is always too busy to spend time with him and heavily suggested that his father is with another woman. [18] Russell's design was based on Pixar animator Peter Sohn. [19] Docter auditioned 400 boys in a nationwide casting call for the part.[5] Nagai, who is Japanese American [20] showed up to an audition with his brother, who was actually the one auditioning. Docter realized Nagai behaved and spoke non-stop like Russell and chose him for the part.[7] Docter encouraged Nagai to act physically as well as vocally when recording the role, lifting him upside down and tickling him for the scene where Russell encounters Kevin.[17] Asian Americans have positively noted Pixar's first casting of an Asian lead character[21], in contrast to the common practice of casting non-Asians in Asian parts.[22]
  • Bob Peterson as Doug, a dog with a collar that translates his thoughts into comical-sounding English, and is the odd duck out of a pack of dogs with similar collars owned by Muntz. Peterson knew he would voice Doug when he wrote his line "I have just met you, and I love you," which was based on what a child told him when he was a camp counselor in the 1980s.[23]
    • Peterson also voices Alpha, a talking Doberman Pinscher[citation needed] and the leader of Muntz's pack of dogs. Despite his menacing appearance, a malfunction in his collar occasionally causes his voice to sound comically high-pitched and squeaky, like if he had been breathing helium.[23]
  • Kevin, a large tropical bird. Russell impulsively gives the bird a male name, only later learning that Kevin is female. Near the end of the film, it is shown that Kevin has three baby tropical birds.[24]
  • Christopher Plummer as Charles F. Muntz, the villain. He was an adventurer Carl and his wife admired when they were children.[25] He disappeared after scientists claimed he had faked his discovery of the skeleton of a 13-foot tall bird (Kevin's breed), vowing to find a living specimen. However the countless years he spent there has made him paranoid, believing anyone who came to Paradise Falls was after the bird to steal his glory.[23] Pete Docter compared Muntz to Charles Lindbergh and Howard Hughes.[4]
  • Delroy Lindo as Beta, one of Muntz's talking dogs & a [[Rotwie

ller]].[23]

  • Jerome Ranft as Gamma, one of Muntz's talking dogs & a Bulldog.[23]
  • John Ratzenberger as Tom, a construction worker who asks if Carl is ready to sell his home.[23]
  • Elizabeth "Ellie" Docter as Young Ellie, Carl's late wife as a child since during their adult years there were no speaking scenes. Elizabeth is the director's daughter.[10]

Design

Docter and eleven other Pixar artists visited tepuis in Venezuela in 2004 for research

Docter made Venezuela the film's setting after Ralph Eggleston gave him a video of the tepui mountains.[4][8] In 2004, Docter and eleven other Pixar artists spent three days reaching Monte Roraima by airplane, jeep and helicopter.[23] They spent three nights there painting and sketching,[26] and encountering dangerous ants, mosquitos, scorpions, frogs and snakes. They also flew to Matawi Tepui and climbed to Angel Falls,[23] as well as Brazil. Docter felt "we couldn't use [the rocks and plants we saw]. Reality is so far out, if we put it in the movie you wouldn't believe it."[3] The film's creatures were also challenging to design because they had to fit in the surreal environment of the tepuis, but also be realistic because those mountains exist in real life.[8] The filmmakers visited Sacramento Zoo to observe a rare pheasant for Kevin's animation.[1]The animators designed Russell as an Asian-American, and modeled Russell after similar looking Peter Sohn, a Pixar storyboarder who voiced Emile in Ratatouille and directed the short Partly Cloudy, because of his energetic nature.[5] [27]


Docter wanted to push a stylized feel, particularly the way Carl's body is proportioned: he has a squarish appearance to symbolize his containment within his house, while his wife's body is shaped like a balloon.[17] The challenge on Up was making these stylized characters feel natural,[4] although Docter remarked the effect came across better than animating the realistic humans from Toy Story, who suffered from the "uncanny valley".[8] Cartoonists Al Hirschfeld, Hank Ketcham and George Booth influenced the human designs.[7][13][25] Simulating realistic cloth on caricatured humans was harder than creating the 10,000 balloons flying the house.[6] New programs were made to simulate the cloth and for Kevin's iridescent feathers.[24] To animate old people, Pixar animators would study their own parents or grandparents and also watched footage of the Senior Olympics.[16]

A technical director worked out that in order to make Carl's house fly, he would require 23 million balloons, but Docter realized that number made the balloons look like small dots. Instead, the balloons created were made to be twice Carl's size.[28] There are 10,927 balloons for shots of the house just flying, 20,622 balloons for the lift-off sequence, and it varies in other scenes.[23]

Release

Pete Docter (left), Jonas Rivera (right) in 2009 with KUSI-TV's Phil Konstantin

Up is the first Pixar film to be presented in Disney Digital 3-D.[14] The film premiered by opening the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, the first animated film to do so.[29] It was accompanied in theaters by the short film Partly Cloudy, directed by Peter Sohn.[30] Whenever the film is screened at the El Capitan Theatre from May 29 to July 23, it will be accompanied by Lighten Up!, a live show featuring Pixar's characters.[31]

Among the children's books that will be published to promote the film is My Name is Dug, which was illustrated by screenwriter Ronnie del Carmen.[32] Despite Pixar's track record, Target Corporation and Wal-Mart will stock few Up items, while Pixar's regular collaborator Thinkway Toys will not produce merchandise, claiming its story is unusual and will be hard to promote. Disney acknowledged not every Pixar film would have to become a franchise.[1] Promotional partners include Aflac,[33] NASCAR and Airship Ventures,[34][35] while Cluster Balloons will promote the film with a replica of Carl's couch that will be lifted by hot air balloons, that journalists can sit in.[36]

In Colombia, unexpected publicity centered on the film due to the uncanny similarity of Carl Fredricksen with Colombian Ex-president Julio Cesar Turbay Ayala [37]

The film is preceded by the animated short film Partly Cloudy.

Box office

On its opening day, Up is estimated to have earned $21,400,000.[38] It went on to be at #1 at the box office with an estimated $68.2 million.

Reception

Up has received universal acclaim from critics. As of May 31, 2009, the film holds a 98% "freshness" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 150 reviews with an 8.7/10 review average.[39] The film also holds a score of 89 on the review aggregator website Metacritic, the highest score obtained this year, as of May 29, 2009.[40] Notable critics such as Roger Ebert have given the film four out of four stars.[41]

Dug, the talking canine, was awarded the Palm Dog by the British film critics as the best canine performance at Cannes Film Festival. Dug beat out the fox from Antichrist and the black poodle from Inglourious Basterds.[42]

References

  1. ^ a b c Brooks Barnes (2009-04-05). "Pixar's Art Leaves Profit Watchers Edgy". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
  2. ^ Pixar moves on 'Up' with its 10th movie
  3. ^ a b c James Keast (2009-02-06). "Pixar Reveals Early Look At Up". Exclaim!. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "News Etc". Empire. February 2009. pp. 12–15.
  5. ^ a b c Patrick Lee (2009-03-02). "Up director Peter Docter on talking dogs, youth scouts and adventure". Sci Fi Wire. Retrieved 2009-03-02.
  6. ^ a b Ed Liu (2009-02-08). "NYCC 2009: Spending Time with Disney/Pixar's "Up" (and, Disney's "Surrogates")". Toon Zone. Retrieved 2009-02-08.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g "Up Producer/Director". Moviehole. 2009-02-12. Retrieved 2009-02-12.
  8. ^ a b c d e f Bill Desowitz (2008-07-29). "Pete Docter Goes Up". Animation World Network. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
  9. ^ Eric Vespe (2009-03-27). "Quint chats with Pixar's Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera about UP! Plus a McCameo!". Ain't It Cool News. Retrieved 2009-03-28.
  10. ^ a b c John Horn (2009-05-10). "'Up' is Pixar at its most ambitious". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-05-10.
  11. ^ Katey Rich (2009-02-08). "NYCC: Interview With Pete Docter And Jonas Rivera". Cinema Blend. Retrieved 2009-02-09.
  12. ^ Shawn Adler (2008-08-07). "'Up' And Coming: 3-D Pixar Movie Tells A 'Coming Of Old Age' Story, Director Says". MTV. Retrieved 2009-01-13.
  13. ^ a b Bill Desowitz (2009-02-11). "Docter Goes Halfway Up". Retrieved 2009-02-14.
  14. ^ a b Erik Davis (2009-02-07). "Cinematical Previews Pixar's 'Up'". Cinematical. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
  15. ^ "Mr. Beaks Goes UP with Pixar's Pete Docter!". Ain't It Cool News. 2008-07-27. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
  16. ^ a b "Video Interview: Up Director Pete Docter and Producer Jonas Rivera". /Film. 2009-02-13. Retrieved 2009-02-14.
  17. ^ a b c Richard Corliss (2009-05-08). "Going Up". Time. Retrieved 2009-05-08.
  18. ^ "Comic-Con DISNEY/PIXAR Panel: UP". UGO Networks. 2008-07-25. Retrieved 2008-07-28.
  19. ^ Los Angeles Times May 28, 2009
  20. ^ Asia Pacific Arts: May 22, 2009: News Bites "Japanese American Jordan Nagai"
  21. ^ USA Today "a cranky codger and an overeager Asian kid"
  22. ^ Channel APA Jordan Nagai as Russell
  23. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Production notes". Official site. Retrieved 2009-05-13.
  24. ^ a b Jenna Busch (2009-02-12). "Up footage and Q&A!". JoBlo.com. Retrieved 2009-02-14.
  25. ^ a b Edward Douglas (2009-02-06). "A Sneak Preview of Pixar's Up". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
  26. ^ "Exclusive! First Look at 12 Big Movies Coming In 2009". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
  27. ^ New York Magazine May 24, 2009 "a roly-poly Asian-American wilderness explorer"
  28. ^ Sean P. Means (2009-04-22). "Who's 'Up' for an original summer movie?". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 2009-04-23.
  29. ^ "Disney/Pixar's Up to Open Cannes". ComingSoon.net. 2009-03-19. Retrieved 2009-03-19.
  30. ^ "Partly Cloudy, Pixar's Next Short". Pixar Planet. 2009-02-07. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
  31. ^ "Up at Disney's El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood w/ New Stage Show". Pixar Planet. 2009-04-22. Retrieved 2009-04-23.
  32. ^ "UP: My name is Dug". Ronnie del Carmen's blog. 2009-03-15. Retrieved 2009-03-16.
  33. ^ "Aflac Announces New Integrated Marketing Campaign". PR Newswire. 2009-04-22. Retrieved 2009-04-23.
  34. ^ "Aflac's Partnership with Up: NASCAR/TV Commercial". Pixar Planet. 2009-05-07. Retrieved 2009-05-07.
  35. ^ "Up Two For One: Blimp Goes Up + New Up Still". Pixar Planet. 2009-05-07. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
  36. ^ "Up Cluster Balloon Tour". Pixar Planet. 2009-04-23. Retrieved 2009-04-25.
  37. ^ "¿A quién se parece?". Semana (In Spanish). 2009-04-23. Retrieved 2009-04-31. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  38. ^ "Daily Box Office". Box Office Mojo. May 29, 2009. Retrieved May 30, 2009.
  39. ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/up/
  40. ^ http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/up
  41. ^ http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090527/REVIEWS/905279997
  42. ^ Pixar pooch picks Up Cannes prize, BBC News 22 May 2009, retrieved on 27 May 2009
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