Up - discussion guide

Summary

As a boy, Carl Fredricksen (voice of Ed Asner) longed for adventure and idolised the world explorer Charles Muntz (voiced by Christopher Plummer). When he met and fell in love with a fellow adventurer, Ellie (voice of Elie Docter), he made her a promise: one day they would follow in Muntz’s footsteps and travel to South America to live at Paradise Falls. They have a long and happy marriage, but Ellie dies without ever making it to her dream destination. As a widowed senior citizen with a dodgy back and dentures, Carl longs only to live an undisturbed life. Until one day when he is forced to move out of his home and into a retirement community, and decides to do something radical. He attaches thousands of helium balloons to his house, intending to fly it south.

Carl still imagines that this will be a solitary venture that doesn’t greatly disrupt his comfort. But all this changes when he discovers eight-year-old Wilderness Explorer Russell (voice of Jordan Nagai) clinging to his porch as the house ascends. Russell had approached Carl in the hope of earning his ‘assisting the elderly’ badge, but this odd pair must now join forces as they navigate their way to Paradise Falls and encounter all sorts of bizarre creatures and life-threatening situations.

Background

Up is Disney-Pixar’s tenth feature film, the first to be made in 3-D. In America, Up has become the second-highest-grossing Pixar film after Finding Nemo (as at 10 November 2009). It was well received at Cannes film festival and has received 234 positive reviews out of the 240 collated on Rotten Tomatoes. The story began with the idea of making the hero a grouchy but loveable old man. Academy-award-winning executive producer John Lasseter explains that this hero, ‘learns that the big adventures in life are all the small things that happen in everyday life.’[1] This concept came from director and academy-award-nominee Pete Docter who realised while travelling with his family that, ‘It’s great to see the world, but spending time together as a family is equally if not more important.’[2]

Up reveals the adventure to be had in pursuing meaningful relationships. It explores other adventures which people devote their lives to such as personal comfort, accomplishments and prestige, but it commends those who live to help others.

Questions For Discussion

1. How did the film make you feel? What did you most like about it? Was there anything you didn’t like about it?

2. What did you think about having an old man as the hero? In what ways did your expectations of Carl change through the film?

3. Ed Asner says of his own character, ‘He dreams beautiful dreams, and he’s willing to fight the dogs of society to maintain them.’ Do you know other people who are like this? What do you most admire about Carl?

4. What makes a dream worth fighting for?

5. In general would you say you crave a quiet life or an adventurous life? Why?

6. What are some of the things that hamper us from chasing our dreams?

7. Do you identify more with Russell or Carl? In what ways? How do their ideas of adventure differ?

8. Carl and Russell make an odd pair. Do you think they learn from each other? If so, in what areas?

9. Why do you think Carl found it difficult to let go of his home? How did it affect him when he did?

10. Are there things in our lives that we feel we cannot live without? Have they got too great a hold on us? What is the danger in this?

11. Why won’t Muntz let go of his dream? Do you think his dream is less worthy than Carl’s? Why or why not?

12. What do you think the film is saying about how we should live our lives?

13. In what ways was Carl and Ellie’s marriage an adventure? Do you think this is true of some marriages in reality? In what way?

14. Do you think that all of life can be an adventure? Why or why not? If so, how?

15. Jesus said that his purpose was to give people ‘a rich and satisfying life’ (John 10:10). Part of this was bringing us into a loving relationship with God and part was teaching us how to love other people. Do you think loving God and loving others could be a ‘rich and satisfying’ experience? Why or why not?

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