Just off the top of my head -
Up (2009 film)
Up is a 2009 computer-animated comedy-adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios, distributed by Walt Disney Pictures and presented in Disney Digital 3-D. The film premiered on May 29, 2009 in North America and opened the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, becoming the first animated and 3D film to do so.[3] The film was director Pete Docter's second film, the first being 2001's Monsters, Inc., and features the voices of Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer, Bob Peterson, and Jordan Nagai. It is Pixar's tenth feature film and the studio's first to be presented in Disney Digital 3-D,[4] and is accompanied in theaters and DVD releases by the short film Partly Cloudy.[5]
The film centers on an elderly widower named Carl Fredricksen and an earnest young Wilderness Explorer named Russell who fly to South America by floating in a house. The film has received overwhelmingly positive reviews, with a rating of 98% on Rotten Tomatoes (the best reviewed wide-released film of 2009 on the site), and grossed over $731 million worldwide.[2], making it Pixar's third-most commercially successful film, behind Finding Nemo and Toy Story 3.
Up won Golden Globe Awards for Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Score from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The film received five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, making Up only the second animated film in history to receive such a nomination, following Beauty and the Beast in 1991.[6] It was awarded the Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score in 2010.[7]
Contents [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast and characters
3 Production
4 Music
5 Release
5.1 Home media
6 Reception
6.1 Box office
6.2 Awards and nominations
7 References
8 External links
[edit]Plot
Young Carl Fredricksen (Jeremy Leary) is a shy, quiet boy who idolizes renowned explorer Charles F. Muntz (Christopher Plummer). He is saddened to learn, however, that Muntz has been accused of fabricating the skeleton of a giant bird he had claimed to have discovered in Paradise Falls, South America. Muntz vows to return there to capture one alive. One day, Carl befriends an energetic and somewhat eccentric tomboy named Ellie (Elizabeth Docter), who is also a Muntz fan. She confides to Carl her desire to move her "clubhouse"—an abandoned house in the neighborhood—to a cliff overlooking Paradise Falls, making him promise to help her. Carl and Ellie eventually get married and grow old together in the restored house, working as a toy balloon vendor and a zookeeper, respectively. Unable to have children, they repeatedly pool their savings for a trip to Paradise Falls, but end up spending it on more pressing needs. An elderly Carl finally arranges for the trip, but Ellie suddenly becomes ill and dies, leaving him alone.
Years later, Carl (Edward Asner) still lives in the house, now surrounded by urban development, but he refuses to sell. He ends up injuring a construction worker over his damaged mailbox. As a result, he is evicted from the house by court order and ordered to move to a retirement home. However, Carl comes up with a scheme to keep his promise to Ellie: he turns his house into a makeshift airship, using thousands of helium balloons to lift it off its foundations. A young Wilderness Explorer named Russell (Jordan Nagai) becomes an accidental passenger, having pestered Carl earlier in an attempt to earn his final merit badge, "Assisting the Elderly".
After surviving a thunderstorm, the house lands near a large ravine facing Paradise Falls. Carl and Russell harness themselves to the still-buoyant house and begin to walk it around the ravine, hoping to reach the falls before the balloons deflate. They later befriend a tall, colorful flightless bird (whom Russell names "Kevin") trying to reach her chicks, and then a dog named Dug (Bob Peterson), who wears a special collar that allows him to speak.
Carl and Russell encounter a pack of dogs led by Alpha (also Bob Peterson), and are taken to Dug's master, who turns out to be an elderly Charles Muntz. Muntz invites Carl and Russell aboard his dirigible, where he explains that he has spent the years since his disgrace searching Paradise Falls for the giant bird. When Russell innocently reveals his friendship with Kevin, Muntz becomes disturbingly hostile, prompting the pair, Kevin, and Dug to flee, chased by Muntz's dogs. Muntz eventually catches up with them and starts a fire beneath Carl's house, forcing Carl to choose between saving it or Kevin. Carl rushes to put out the fire, allowing Muntz to take the bird. Carl and Russell eventually reach the falls, but Russell is angry with Carl.
Settling into his home, Carl is sadly poring over Ellie's childhood scrapbook when, to his surprise, he finds photos of their married life and a final note from Ellie thanking him for the "adventure" and encouraging him to go on a new one. Reinvigorated, he goes to find Russell, only to see him sailing off on some balloons to save Kevin. Since much of his balloons were popped or deflated trying to get away from Muntz, the house is too heavy to fly, and in an attempt to make it lighter, Carl throws every piece of furniture out, thus allowing it to fly. As his house floats away, it is revealed that his and Ellie's chairs landed right next to each other, just as they had been in his living room.
Russell is captured by Muntz, but Carl manages to board the dirigible in flight and free both Russell and Kevin. Muntz pursues them around the airship, finally cornering Dug, Kevin, and Russell inside Carl's tethered house. Carl lures Kevin out through a window and onto the airship, with Dug and Russell clinging to her back, just as Muntz is about to close in. Muntz leaps after them, only to snag his foot on some balloon lines and fall to his death. Freed from its tether, the house descends out of sight through the clouds.
Carl and Russell reunite Kevin with her chicks, then fly the dirigible back to the city. When Russell's father misses his son's Senior Explorer ceremony, Carl proudly presents Russell with his final badge: the grape soda cap that Ellie gave to Carl when they first met. The two then enjoy some ice cream together, sitting on the curb outside the shop as Russell and his father used to do, with the dirigible parked nearby. Meanwhile, Carl's house is shown to have landed on the cliff beside Paradise Falls in the same spot Ellie pointed out to him earlier, showing that he did keep his promise to her.
[edit]Cast and characters
Edward Asner as Carl Fredricksen. Docter and Rivera noted Asner's television alter ego, Lou Grant had been helpful in writing for Carl, because it guided them in balancing likable and unlikeable aspects of the curmudgeonly character.[8] When they met Asner and presented him with a model of his character, he joked, "I don't look anything like that." (the appearance of Carl is meant to resemble Spencer Tracy as he appeared in his final film, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner[9]). They tailored his dialogue for him, with short sentences and more consonants, which "cemented the notion that Carl, post-Ellie, is a disgruntled bear that's been poked awake during hibernation".[10]
Jordan Nagai as Russell. On their journey, Russell makes several comments to Carl that suggest that Russell's father and mother are no longer together.[11] Russell's design was based on Pixar animator Peter Sohn.[12] Docter auditioned 400 boys in a nationwide casting call for the part.[13] Nagai, who is Japanese-American,[14] showed up to an audition with his brother, who was actually the one auditioning. Docter realized Nagai behaved and spoke non-stop like Russell and chose him for the part.[15] Nagai was 8 years old when cast.[13] Docter encouraged Nagai to act physically as well as vocally when recording the role, lifting him upside down and tickling him for the scene where Russell encounters Kevin.[10] Asian Americans have positively noted Pixar's first casting of an Asian lead character,[16] in contrast to the common practice of casting non-Asians in Asian parts.[17]
Bob Peterson as Dug, a Golden Retriever who can talk.[18] He is the misfit of a pack of talking dogs owned by Muntz. Peterson knew he would voice Dug when he wrote his line "I have just met you, and I love you," which was based on what a child told him when he was a camp counselor in the 1980s. The DVD release of the film features a short called Dug's Special Mission, which follows Dug just prior to his first meeting with Carl and Russell. Dug previously appeared in Ratatouille as a shadow on a wall that barks at Remy.[18]
Peterson also voices Alpha, a talking Doberman Pinscher[18] and the leader of Muntz's pack of dogs. Pete Docter has stated that Alpha "thinks of himself as Clint Eastwood". Despite his menacing appearance, a frequent malfunction in Alpha's translating collar causes his voice to sound comically high-pitched and squeaky, as if he had been breathing helium. The normal voice for his translator is a resonant, intimidating bass. With both voices, Alpha has a roundabout speech pattern that causes his sentences to be longer than necessary.
Pete Docter as Kevin. The bird's iridescent appearance is based upon the male Himalayan monal pheasant.[19] Other than voicing Kevin, Docter also voices Campmaster Strauch, Russell's camp master, seen at the end of the film.
Christopher Plummer as Charles F. Muntz. Muntz is an old explorer looking for the beast of Paradise Falls, he vowed to not return to North America until he had captured the creature. He uses a group of dogs to aid him in his hunt. The name of his airship, Spirit of Adventure, may have been inspired by Charles Lindbergh's airplane, Spirit of St. Louis.[18] In various interviews, Pete Docter has mentioned Howard Hughes and real life adventurers Charles Lindbergh and Percy Fawcett as inspirations for Muntz.[20]
Elizabeth Docter as Ellie Fredricksen. The voice actor is the director's daughter,[21] who also provided some of the drawings shown by Ellie.[22]
Jeremy Leary as Young Carl.
Delroy Lindo as Beta, a Rottweiler[18] and one of Muntz's dogs.
Jerome Ranft as Gamma, a Bulldog[18] and one of Muntz's dogs. Ranft is brother to the late Joe Ranft and also part of Pixar Animation.
John Ratzenberger as Tom, a construction worker who asks if Carl is ready to sell his house.[18]
David Kaye as the newsreel announcer.
Mickie McGowan as Police Officer Edith, a police officer who gives Carl a court order to move into a retirement home.
Danny Mann as Construction Worker Steve, a construction worker with whom Carl gets into a fight.
Donald Fullilove as Nurse George and Jess Harnell as Nurse AJ, nurses sent to pick up Carl and take him to a retirement home.
Josh Cooley as Omega, another dog in Muntz's pack.
[edit]Production
have to think about this one
