Carl Fredricksen

**Carl Fredricksen** is a character from the film *Up*.

## History

Carl Fredricksen was born around 1930 and grew up with a love for adventurer Charles F. Muntz. Around the age of eight in the late 1930s, Carl met a young girl named Ellie who shared his love for adventure, exploration and Charles Muntz. The two became best-friends and eventually lovers with the two getting married in their young-adulthood around 1950.

Carl and Ellie made their house in an old ramshackle building which in their youth they used as a fort which was where they first met. Together the two refurbished the building into a home and planned on someday moving to Paradise Falls in Venezuela. To make ends meet, Ellie became a zookeeper and Carl worked at the same zoo where he sold balloons.

As the years passed, the dream of moving to Paradise Falls faded further and further from their lives as they could not afford to move. It was not until the 2000s that a now aged Carl decided to splurge on tickets so the two could travel to the falls. Before they could do so however, Ellie fell gravely ill and died, leaving Carl a widower. Carl's form of coping with Ellie's demise came through leaving his house as it was and almost personifying Ellie as being part of the home.

In the late 2000s, Carl's house was part of a neighbourhood being demolished for big-city urbanization. When construction workers damaged part of his house, Carl attacked them and as a result was sued by the construction company and deemed a public-menace to be sent away to a retirement home. Carl retaliated by using large amounts of helium balloons to turn his house into a makeshift airship that he decided to navigate to Paradise Falls, only for a young Wilderness Explorer boy-scout named Russell to have stowed away on the vessel.

In South America they encountered a dog named Dug which had a specialized collar allowing him to speak and who chose Carl to be his new master. The two also came across the giant bird, "Kevin" which Russell named and adopted which in turn made them targets of Dug's owner, the now mad and elderly explorer Charles F. Muntz. Carl moved past wishing to isolate himself in his house on the falls when he discovered a journal kept by Ellie that detailed their own adventures together. This motivated Muntz to leave the Falls and use it to save Kevin (and Russel) from Muntz who died in the process.

Following this, Carl became the new owner of the *Spirit of Adventure* which he piloted back home where he spent more time with Russel.

## Appearances and allusions

### Adventureland

In Disneyland Paris, a sculpture depicts Carl and Russel on docks along the river near *Colonel Hathi's Pizza Outpost*.

### Pixar Pier

Russel appears on a billboard advertising Pixar Pier. It shows him and Carl Fredricksen arriving at the pier from Carl's flying house.

### Wilderness Explorers

Carl is referenced by Russel in a message left on his homemade, "Bark-O-Lator".

### In other media

#### Film

##### Toy Story 3

Carl and Ellie have a signed postcard to Andy Davis found in his room in Toy Story 3.

## Connections

### Expedition Everest

Russell and Dug are both featured in the story of Anandapur, the setting of Expedition Everest.

### Main Street, U.S.A.

The crate behind Carl and Russell in Adventureland is addressed to 302 Market Street and to be delivered to Main Street, U.S.A..

### Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar

Carl and Ellie's, "Paradise Falls" jug is located on a shelf in Trader Sam's bar. The bar is themed to the Tiki Bars of the 1930s-1950s but takes place at some point c.1960, presumably when Carl and Ellie would have been a young couple. Given that this would most certainly be a different jug, it is likely that Sam had some affiliation with Carl and Ellie and took the jug habit from them.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.flickr.com/photos/dedicatedtodlp/17829510924
2. ↑ https://www.laughingplace.com/w/articles/2018/06/22/pixar-pier-photo-tour/
3. ↑ https://wdwnt.com/2014/02/video-bark-o-lator-interactive-element-allows-animal-kingdom-guests-to-be-like-dug-from-up/
4. ↑ https://insidethemagic.net/2016/07/five-years-of-adventuring-at-trader-sams-enchanted-tiki-bar/