The Academy Award-winning Pixar movie Up has a script filled with some fantastic quotes that can have audiences either laughing out loud or holding back tears. Often ranked in the highest echelons of Pixars’ vaunted movie library, Up tells the story of the elderly widower Carl (Ed Asner) who after the death of his wife, Ellie, decides to hitch thousands of balloons to his home and float to Paradise Falls, fulfilling a promise he made to his late life. He’s unintentionally joined by a young, eager boy scout, Russell (Jordan Nagai), as he sets sail across the skies.
Up earned five Academy Award nominations, winning for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score, and is only the second fully-animated movie to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, after Beauty and the Beast in 1992. Some would even argue that Up is the last great Pixar movie. It’s an incredibly moving story, and while most fans will remember the heavy emotion of the silent opening ten minutes of Up, there are plenty more heartwarming quotes throughout the film that will bring a smile to one’s face or a tear to one’s eye.
10 “Don’t You Worry, Ellie. We’ll Get Our House Over There.”
Carl
When Carl first gets to Paradise Falls in South America, his journey has been anything but smooth. He’s had a pesty stowaway in the form of Russell, and now he’s landed off-target from where he and Ellie had planned to plant their home all those years ago. However, Carl is undaunted, and holds up a keepsake picture of the falls and proudly talks to his dead wife, telling her they’ll get the house where it belongs, even if it means dragging it himself.
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It’s a sweet note that Carl still whispers to his deceased wife, something he does throughout the film, talking to her as if she’s still there. It also shows how determined of a character Carl is and, even at 70, and using a walker, he’s more than prepared to make the trek to Paradise Falls if it means fulfilling a promise he made to the woman he loves.
9 “I Don’t Want Your Help; I Want You Safe.”
Carl
From the moment Carl meets Russell, he’s already sick of him. Carl is a grumpy, proud man who has no time for a young, hyperactive boy who seems insistent on helping an elderly man in order to earn a scout badge. He pushes him off any way he can, but like Carl, Russell does not give up easily and always returns with a big smile on his face. As Up continues forward, Carl very slowly begins to warm to his young ward.
Carl has changed and, while he’s not going to change his grumpy personality anytime soon, he’s willing to accept that he does care about Russell.
When Carl decides to get up and rescue Kevin the Bird and Dug the Dog, Russell jumps up to help him as well. Once again, Carl has to figure out a way to get rid of the pesky kid, but this time it’s out of love. When Russell offers to help, as he’s done all movie, Carl turns him down with his trademark gruffness, but he adds a disclaimer, “I want you safe.” Carl has changed and, while he’s not going to change his grumpy personality anytime soon, he’s willing to accept that he does care about Russell.
8 “A Wilderness Explorer Is A Friend To All, Be A Plant Or Fish Or Tiny Mole!”
Russell
Russell is as genuine a “Wilderness Explorer” scout as can be and his adherence to the many credos and rules of his club is inspiring. If someone tells him to go find a snipe, Russell will do his best. If he’s charged with protecting an endangered species, that’s what he’ll do. He makes this clear when he recites the “Wilderness Explorer” motto, explaining he will be a friend to all. Despite the creed not rhyming, as Carl points out, Russell follows this motto to the letter.
Not only is it a funny reminder of the grade school club mottos many viewers will remember committing to memory, it also explains Russell’s actions throughout the film. He immediately becomes attached to Dug, and he’s the first person to even encounter the legendary giant, flightless bird, which he names Kevin. His wish to be friends with everyone extends to Carl and, through sheer kindness and persistence, he manages to break through the hardened man’s shell.
7 “You Don’t Talk Much… I Like You!”
Young Ellie
At the beginning of Up, before the crushing opening montage, a young Carl meets a young Ellie for the first time. While Carl is timid and shy, Ellie is wild and outgoing. Their differences in personality are immediately apparent when Ellie introduces herself in a long speech and Carl can barely respond. That’s OK though, because Ellie likes that about him, and that quote shows why they are a perfect match. Carl is a quiet young boy, but this girl shows him kindness and even appreciation.
It’s a quote like that one that helps explain the long relationship between Carl and Ellie that powers the film. She was the yin to his yang and understood him on a level that he’s found it hard to be understood on since. This natural gravitational pull between them makes her absence all the more pervasive throughout Up and helps the audience understand why Carl would go to such lengths for her memory.
6 “Hi There! My Name Is Dug. I Have Just Met You, And I Love You.”
Dug
Dug is one of the weirdest movie pets ever, and he’s also one of the most lovable. A member of Charles Muntz’s (Christopher Plummer) pack of dogs who all wear dog-to-human translator collars, Dug is a pushed around Golden Retriever who the other dogs mistreat at any opportunity. He’s a sweet, loving, and constantly distracted animal who just wants a friend, so when he runs into Carl and Russell for the first time, he’s quick to announce his love for them.
Dug appears in
Ratatouille
(2007) as a shadow on a wall that barks at Remy the rat.
As his name suggests, Dug is the living embodiment of a loving dog. He wants to play and help anyway he can, though his absent-mindedness means others usually get frustrated with him and end up abandoning him. His loyalty isn’t false, however, and though he loves quickly, he also loves with all his heart. So when Dug introduces himself, Carl may not know it yet, but he has just made a lifelong friend.
5 “Adventure Is Out There!”
Charles Muntz
Charles Muntz is the reason a young Ellie and a young Carl first find friendship in their childhood years. A famous explorer, Muntz traveled around the world, inspiring kids like Carl with his motto, “Adventure is out there!“, a call to action and a promise. However, Muntz is discredited and returns to South America never to be heard from again. His motto becomes a catchphrase for both Ellie and Carl, who never let go of their dreams of visiting Paradise Falls.
What Carl forgets, however, is that there is more than one adventure. He thinks going to Paradise Falls is finally claiming the adventure that he and Ellie promised one another, but the truth is that they’ve been having adventures their entire lives. Adventure is indeed out there, and Carl is lucky enough to have experienced a lifetime of them with the woman he loves.
4 “That Might Sound Boring, But I Think The Boring Stuff Is The Stuff I Remember The Most.”
Russell
A smaller plotline that’s purposefully kept in the background of Up is Russell’s relationship with his father. Though Up is an animated movie where anything can happen, it’s still notable that Russell is always alone, and therefore in the position to go along with Carl on his adventure. He makes a couple of comments throughout Up that his parents are divorced or separated, and he’s been a bit forgotten in the process.
Russell says how he remembers the boring stuff most of all. Beyond being a tearjerking insight into Russell’s life, it also nudges Carl to realize the times that he shared with Ellie that weren’t an “adventure” per se, were just as important.
Usually these lines are played for laughs, but in one rare moment of Russell showing some adult depth, he tells Carl about how his dad used to take him out for ice cream, something that doesn’t happen so much anymore. Russell says how he remembers the boring stuff most of all. Beyond being a tearjerking insight into Russell’s life, it also nudges Carl to realize the times that he shared with Ellie that weren’t an “adventure” per se, were just as important.
3 “Good Boy, Dug. You’re A Good Boy.”
Carl
Dug just wants to be a good boy. That’s all he’s ever wanted throughout Up, and even his quest to capture Kevin is simply because he was asked to, and he wants to be the obedient good boy. He doesn’t have a mean bone in his body like Alpha or some of the other dogs in the pack. While his general demeanor may lead viewers to believe he’s so happy-go-lucky that it doesn’t matter if others like him or not, it’s shown throughout Up that Dug is lonely, and he is affected by no one considering him a good boy.
When he shows up on Carl’s porch, eyes downcast, and paws tucked in, it’s poised to be a heartbreaking moment. Instead, the usually curmudgeonly Carl gives the Golden Retriever the greatest gift he can, and calls him a “good boy”. There are probably few things in the world Carl would ever refer to as good and that he declares Dug so is a real honor.
2 “It’s Just A House.”
Carl
At the climax of Up, Charles Muntz is in full villain mode. He chases Kevin, Dug, and Russell across the top of his airship and into Carl’s home, which is attached to the ship by only a few strings. Following close behind him is Carl, who manages to grab onto a hose attached to the house to keep it from floating away. Carl manages to save his friends while Muntz plunges to his death, but his house disconnects and floats away for good.
As it disappears into the clouds, Russell says sorry, but Carl smiles and says, “It’s just a house.” It was not just a house for nearly all of Up, it was Ellie, and it was Carl, and it was their dreams as Carl saw it. By the end of the film, however, Carl has come to realize Ellie did not really care about where their house ended up, she cared about the years she spent with Carl. They could have been on an airship, camping, or in a dilapidated clubhouse, all that mattered was they were together. The house is just a house.
1 “Thanks For The Adventure – Now, Go Have A New One!”
Ellie
After Carl allows Muntz to take Kevin, Russell and Dug leave Carl to go after him, disappointed at Carl’s willingness to give up. Disheartened, Carl goes back to his house and reads through an old scrapbook, sad that he wasn’t able to fulfill his promise and that Ellie wasn’t able to finish her scrapbook. Then he turns the old, worn pages and discovers that Ellie had in fact finished her scrapbook, filling it with images of hers and Carl’s long life together.
She kept all the moments they shared and put them in her adventure book. At the end of the book is a handwritten note from Ellie to Carl, “Thanks for the adventure – Now, go have a new one!” Carl had always fulfilled his promise to Ellie. Her entire life was an adventure, and looking back on it, Carl realizes his was too. With this new understanding, the final act of Up begins, one with Carl realizing his new friends are the adventure, not some old house he’s been dragging around.
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8/10 Up pgAdventureFamily
Pixar’s Up follows widower Carl (Ed Asner) who travels to South America with young wilderness explorer Russell (Jordan Nagai) by attaching thousands of balloons to his home after the bank threatens to foreclose on it. Discovering the legendary Paradise Falls, Carl meets his childhood hero, explorer Charles Muntz. However, Muntz isn’t the kind-hearted man Carl hoped he would be, and the grieving widower finds himself pitted against his former idol.
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*Availability in US Director Pete Docter Release Date June 11, 2009 Cast Ed Asner , Bob Peterson Runtime 96minutes Budget 175 million