Review for Film Class

Rating: 10/10 (20 June 2018)

The movie Up! is a family friendly and heartwarming movie. We first are introduced to two young children Carl played by Ed Asner and Ellie played by Ellie Docter, who fall in love and build a life together. Through their bond of adventure and no luck with having children, they decide to save for adventures in South America. As life happened and the couple grew old the trip continued to get put off. When Ellie got sick and passed away, the trip was all together forgotten. This backstory is a very short portion of the film and leads us to present day in the film, where Carl is an old grumpy and lonely man.
One day, a boy scout Russell played by Jordan Nagai, stumbles upon his doorstep one day in hopes to earn a new badge. After Carl turns the naive boy away on a hopeless mission, he is greeted by an even bigger pest at his door. Developers who intend to make him leave his house. Through annoying construction and misunderstandings, Carl has no choice but to go live in a retirement home. Or does he? He constructs an elaborate plan that allows him to keep his house and follow is late wife's dream. Carl attaches a mass amount of balloons to his home and takes flight off to South America. Unannounced to him, a stow away has joined the trip. Russell and Carl along with new friends found along the way, must figure out how to get back to where they came from and Russell back to his dad. The journey wasn't easy and getting back would prove to be difficult as well, as the pair encounter obstacles that try to hinder them from getting back home. Eventually through teamwork and a new found friendship, Russell and Carl manage to defeat the not so heroic Charles Muntz and make it home safe for ice cream.
There are multiple themes for this film but the main theme is the complexity of human relationships. Through his hard times and the joys of marriage with Ellie, Carl experiences the complexity of a human relationship in regards to love and companionship. Through his adventures and experience with Russell he experiences a whole different kind of complex relationship as he experiences what it would be like to have a kid and in the end gains a new friend. Carl had a different approach to relationships and love at the beginning of the film but it is lost. Through the film he finds his love again and is able to love in a new way towards Russell and even Doug.
When Carl meets his childhood hero and he turns out to be nothing like he imagined, he finds himself at a loss for words as Charles Muntz sets his band of dogs on Carl and Russell. Then in order to catch the notorious Snipe, Charles Muntz comes after them again putting their lives in danger to bring himself to fame. Carl wants to give up and let Charles Muntz take the Snipe away from her babies and back to be caged and studied for the remainder of it's life. Russell on the other hand believes in helping those who can't help themselves and heroically goes after Charles Muntz and the snipe. This further makes Carl realize the love that has been formed for Russell and busts into action to save Russell and the Snipe. Through the film, all the antics they get into and obstacles they encounter help to form that bond between Carl and Russell. Leaving Carl with a new friend and companion at the end of the film. It all came full circle so beautifully. I truly felt Russell was sent by Ellie to be Carl's friend.
A motif of the film was a theme of the grass isn't always greener on the other side. Adventures seem spectacular and amazing, but it can be scary and dangerous. Charles Muntz spent his life exploring and adventuring, but in the end he died and was forgotten. Carl and Ellie may not have ever gotten to go on their adventures, but their life was an adventure and as Carl found out, adventures aren't all they are cracked up to be. His new adventures can be had right at home with his new friend.
The theme in comparison to another movie that I would like to contrast is the Jungle Book. Just as Carl and Russell are two unlikely friends, Mogli finds his fair share of unlikely friends as he tries to find his way home. Similar to Carl and Russell. Although the two movies have extremely different plots, the themes can be compared and we can see similarities. In both movies a pair or group of strangers work together to accomplish the goal of getting someone home. In both movies, the forced pairings become friends.
The movie is a heartwarming depiction of how young kids can be friends with older people and the most unlikely friendships could turn into the best companionship possible. Carl who was a lonely widower needed to find a neglected sweet boy scout to once again complete his life and bring meaning back. In return Russell also received the supportive friend and role model that he deserved.