Up (2009)

Young Carl Fredricksen.

The story starts with young Carl Fredricksen, an admirer of Charles F. Muntz. Coming home from a movie, he meets a fellow admirer, a friendly young girl named Ellie who's not afraid to speak her mind. Visiting Carl soon after he injures himself, she tells him her dream of bringing her house right to the top of Paradise Falls. Eventually Ellie and Carl get married and live happily. Occasionally they save their change for a trip to Paradise Falls, but for one reason or another, they occasionally have to use their savings on other expenses.

Ellie and Carl.

One day, in their old age, Carl buys tickets to Paradise Falls and plans to surprise Ellie. Her health, however, is failing and they can't go on the trip. She passes away and Carl is left to grow bitter and alone. The world on the other hand would not leave him alone. For one, a businessman who has bought the land surrounding Carl's home is after his property and Fredricksen refuses to sell. Second, a Wilderness Explorer named Russell looking to earn his "Assisting the Elderly" badge comes knocking on Fredricksen's door.

Russell

One event leads to another and eventually Carl has attached balloons to his home and flies away towards Paradise Falls. It's not long before he's taken off and ready to rest that he finds young Russell has found his way onto the house porch. Reluctantly Carl lets Russell in and contemplates how he'll return him home. Unexpectedly, they run into a storm and while Carl is asleep (possibly unconscious at some point), Russell has steered the house to South America.

When houses fly...

The story continues with Carl and Russell becoming unlikely friends. Along the way, they meet a bird, who Russell names Kevin, and a dog named Dug, who talks using a collar he wears. "Squirrel!"

Eventually we run back into Charles Muntz, who years ago had gone to South America to find a species of bird to prove he was not a fraud. Apparently Kevin was an example of a bird which Muntz sought. This creates all sorts of mayhem and at some point Carl is more concerned with his home than with helping Kevin. He soon realizes, after discovering several filled pages in Ellie's adventure book.

Kevin

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20130122 Comment:
I loved this movie. The beginning is so sad though. Interestingly, I was given a copy of the DVD+Blu-ray, but have yet to see the movie again. I think I will watch it again soon.

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20130709:
I had some trouble with my computer correctly playing the DVD at first, but somehow, after numerous tries, it started working. In particular, I put the DVD in, tried to play it with VLC Media Player, then Windows Media Player, and alternating several more times between the two. I finally gave up and tried to run the digital copy. Once that transferred over, it also had trouble playing, first in Windows Media Player, then in VLC Media Player. Then somehow on the next try, it started working. At this point, I put the DVD back in and the DVD worked.

Dug

While the movie has its sad moments, overall it is an UPlifting movie. The colors cast by the balloons, for example, are just gorgeous to watch. There is also a good amount of comic relief. "Squirrel!"

I would recommend everybody see this movie, at least once, in his/her lifetime.

Find the references to Toy Story / Toy Story 3 (2010).

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Released 20090529.
Watched 20090808 Theater. Regency Theatre Center [UP] 6:30p $3.00
Watched 20130709 DVD
Up (2009) Pete Docter. 96 min

Relevant Links:
Up (IMDb.com)
Up (2009 film) (Wikipedia.org)
Up (RottenTomatoes.com)
Cluster ballooning (Wikipedia.org)