The Philosophy of Pixar: Up

"Up" is one of my all time favorite movies. The montage of Carl and Ellie's love story leaves me in tears every single time I watch it. This movie I feel is the most human of all of Pixar's movies, even though it features a house lifted by balloons. This movie expertly weaves through the joy and heartbreak that comes with life. The annoyances of present struggles and the fears of the future. After Carl loses Ellie, he becomes a grumpy old man. The house that he and Ellie built together has come to symbolize her. It embodies her spirit with the mural she painted on the wall and her armchair. When Carl is forced to move from his house, he simply can't move as that means letting go of Ellie. So, he does the rational thing and literally moves his house. Throughout their childhood Paradise Falls has come to represent their dream. When Ellie dies before they are able to visit it, Carl decides to take her to Paradise anyway.

Along the way he meets Russell, an adorable Boy Scout who needs the approval of a father figure in his life. During the journey they meet Carl's childhood hero, Charles Muntz. This meeting is key is Carl's personal quest of letting go of Ellie. After meeting Charles, he is starstruck and cannot believe that he met his lifelong hero. However, his aspirations were quickly dashed when Charles tries to kill Carl and Russell. After this horrifying revelation he is forced to let go of his childhood. Carl had always romanticized his childhood, as that was where he grew to love Ellie. At the end of the movie Carl realized that he was desperately holding onto the past. He was afraid of change and moving forward.

The crux of the movie is when Carl is faced with the choice of saving Russell or letting his house be destroyed. He looks at the portrait of Ellie on the wall, and literally lets go of the house and her. Carl realizes that Ellie would not have wanted him to keep holding onto the past but to go have his own adventure. This leads to Carl saving Russell and Kevin and taking them back home safely. Carl helps Russell win his badge and stand by him at the award ceremony. Through giving Ellie "up" he was able to move forward.

And in case you want to bawl your eyes out here's the best movie montage of all time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2bk_9T482g

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Comments

  1. UnknownNovember 27, 2017 at 9:42 PM

    I love Up and I agree that the first part of the movie always gets me a little teary eyed. I actually knew that the main character was going to be named Carl Fredricksen before the movie came out because I had a teacher that had the same last name and a friend of hers at Pixar told her the name of the character in the movie that became Up. Maybe one day there will be someone that travels by house. Stranger things have happened :)

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