Hannah Roorda writes,

Regina has already discussed Up some here, but because the film contains a lot of material worth talking about, I think I can write about it again without touching on much that’s already been covered. This post does have some spoilers (well, it gives away a fair part of the story) but if you’re deciding whether or not to see Up, I hope I can convince you. It’s not a very complete post, not by any means, but maybe we can get some good discussion going and see what comes next.
I went to Up expecting a lot from the film (as I’m sure most of you did, too) and Pixar, like always, didn’t disappoint. You’ve probably heard it over and over– breathtaking animation, compelling story, lifelike characters. It is a film accessible to all, and I do highly recommend you watch it as soon as you get the opportunity.
Everything the film presents is hard to take in during the first viewing. I went to see it four times (three of those times, I admit, someone else paid for my ticket) and I discovered new nuances at every showing. It’s a complex story, and I wanted to appreciate every little bit of it. I think I succeeded in understanding it better by the fourth time I saw it, but I anticipate its arrival on DVD– there’s more to be found.
Not everything good in the film is subtle or hard to spot– some of the things that make it unique and charming stick out immediately. The first is the cast of characters, particularly Carl. Carl is an old man, and a widower. I can’t say that I’ve ever seen a movie about an old man, and the few books I’ve read about them are not often concerned with their elderly lives, but with what they were and did when they were young.
Carl is not in the film because of what he did, but because of what he is going to do. We do see humorous flashbacks to his childhood, and a poignant montage of his married life– but these are just setting the stage for what is yet to happen in the film (and Carl’s life). His past tells the audience who he is and where he came from, and why he is about to do what he does– but the adventure, and the story is saved for the later end of his life. Even though he’s old, he’s still important and has things to do with the rest of his life.  My brother commented, and I agree, that one of the most emotional moments of the film comes when Carl meets his childhood hero, and is so excited he can hardly speak. To dare to say that an old man still has hopes and aspirations is almost unheard of in storytelling. Old men are supposed to look back– but Carl begins to look forward.
The rest of the characters are equally unlikely heroes. Carl’s sidekick is Russell, a chubby little boy, endeavoring to earn his last “Wildlife Explorer” badge. In creating the character of Russell, the writers managed to do something exceptional– they made a fictional child who is realistic, and not obnoxious, but endearing. Russell is not some helpless little waif merely buffeted by forces to big for him to fight– nor is he capable of controlling every situation and asserting his influence over adults. Russell is friendly, eager, determined, and headstrong, but most of all, he is believable, and he makes the perfect foil for Carl’s cynicism and crabbiness.
Thrown together by strange circumstances, Carl and Russell soon become companions of a large (female) bird, whom Russell names Kevin. Kevin is funny-looking, odd-natured, and constantly pursued by a crazed explorer. Along with Kevin, the two humans meet Dug– a dog with a talking collar. Dug is part of a larger group of dogs, but he is the oddball; the reject. Together, Carl, Russell, Kevin, and Dug are truly a motley crew: The old man with no useful place in society, the little boy lost in a broken family, the awkward bird, and the clueless dog.
So the first thing you notice about Up is that it takes people who are typically unloved, unappreciated, and unwanted, and puts them front and center, and makes them the heroes.
Moving beyond the obvious, the first “gem” I discovered was the theme of crossed hearts. A very young Ellie (Carl’s wife) demands he promise to take her to South America– and says, “Cross your heart!” We hear this later, (after Ellie has died without Carl ever taking her to South America) when Russell asks Carl to cross his heart. But I didn’t realize until a second viewing that when Russell first meets Carl, intent on completing his ‘assisting the elderly’ badge, he insists he must help Carl “cross something.” In taking his house to Paradise Falls and taking care of Russell, Carl keeps his promise to Ellie, and Russell is able to help Carl cross something– his heart.
Not all of the lessons in the movie are so heartwarming. In the nasty character of the aged explorer Charles Muntz, we find a life in which bitterness, and lust for glory and possessions have taken over. I wasn’t sure how to take this at first– merely a cautionary villain? But as I continued watching, I realized that Muntz’s life is a contrast to Carl’s. Muntz left society to prove something, and to find something. He’s lived by himself, trying to hold onto something he can never reach. Carl lived contentedly with Ellie, but after his death, he tries to hold onto her, through the house and the things in it. He literally carries his house and all his possessions as a burden on his back! But near the end of the film, understanding what is left of Ellie is in memories, not in things; he finally realizes the foolishness of trying to grasp what he cannot hold, and he empties his house of his furniture and all his possessions. The house in the film is not just a place to live, or a means of travel, but a visible representation of carrying unnecessary burdens, and trying to grasp what cannot be reached.
There’s more to be discovered in Up– a lot more. Hopefully I’ve given you something to go on.