Dreams Up in the Air

Rating: 8/10 (2 March 2017)

After watching the movie Up, by Pixar, the viewer is instantly connected emotionally. The love between Carl and Ellie is adorable. The viewer watches them grow old together from a young age. Whether it is working at their day job together or laying at the park staring at clouds together, any person would be envious of the love they have for each other. They always had adventure within them, from a young age they formed an adventure club and filled the pages of Ellie's adventure book with the dream to go to Paradise Falls together. They created a jar to put spare change in that would go towards funding their dream. Carl and Ellie face a lot of bumps on the road towards their dream, Paradise Falls. Some of them include Carl breaking his leg, getting a flat tire, and a tree falling on their house during a storm. This causes them to use the Paradise Falls fund which delays their trip. After these delays, they become content with their love for one another and soon forget about their dream from a young age. Carl remembers about their dream too late and Ellie suddenly passes away early on in the movie. Ellie passes without fulling her and Carl's dream and the viewer is overcome with sadness. However, Carl decides that he wants to make the dream happen for his wife after he is given her adventure book in the hospital in the days before her death. So he works towards being able to go there himself, for the both of them. This captivates the viewer to feel for Carl and wish for his success. In Pixar's movie, "Up", determination and loyalty is portrayed in the main character Carl despite the hardships he faces before and after the passing of the love of his life.
After Ellie's passing, Carl soon begins working towards his and Ellie's dream. However he soon runs into a problem with construction workers working outside of his house. As the construction goes on, they accidentally smash Carl'a mailbox in his front yard. The mailbox means a lot to Carl because he and Ellie designed it together when they were young. Thus when he sees his mailbox smashed, he is angered. Arguing with the construction workers leads to a court case where Carl is ordered to move into a retirement home forever. By moving in, Carl knows that he would not be able to fulfill his and Ellie's dream of going to Paradise Falls. So Carl thinks of a solution to tie thousands of balloons to his house and make it fly. Carl is willing to do anything and everything to give him a chance at fulfilling his and Ellie's dream.
He had succeeded in getting his entire house into the air, an enormous feat in itself, but it is not long after he gets his house floating that Carl hears a knock at his front door only to find that it is Russel. The day before Russel showed up at Carl's house asking if he needed any assistance as he was trying to get his last badge for helping the elderly. Carl grew annoyed with him and finds a way to send him away. However when Russel surprises Carl by appearing on his porch, Carl decides to let him in. Russel causes more problems for Carl that he does not need. For instance, Russel accidentally throws the GPS out of the window making it more difficult for Carl to navigate. Carl must now try to navigate his house to Paradise Falls on his own.
Even after lifting his home into the air and dealing with the badgering of Russel, he continues to face adversity. While in the air, they run into a thunderstorm. The thunderstorm shakes the whole house. This causes Carl needing to quickly gather all of his valuables such as pictures of Ellie hanging on the wall so that they do not fall and crack. Carl ends up in a jungle where he comes across a big colorful bird named Kevin. Russel falls in love with the bird, however Carl finds the bird annoying like Russel. Carl soon finds out from dogs in search of Kevin that Kevin is wanted by Charles Muntz. Charles Muntz currently has a skeleton of a real bird like Kevin, but nobody believes him that it is real. Thus he wants it to prove to people that he is still a great explorer. However Carl realizes Kevin is the last specie of the bird, so he pities Kevin and tries to protect him.
Carl does not forget about his dream. After the hardships of being forced into a retirement house, getting his house in the air, finding Russel on his doorstep, running into a thunderstorm, finding Kevin and trying to protect him, Carl continues to work towards his dream. These hardships do not stop Carl. Carl's determination to reach his goal is shown as he does not give up regardless of what obstacles he faces. He is also loyal towards Ellie, as he wants to fulfill their dream. I would recommend this movie to anyone needing motivation. The movie "Up" captures the picture of determination perfectly, it truly is an emotionally captivating and well made movie.