Whitney Hendricks Personal #3 UP

Truthfully I am a sucker for cartoon movies, they are just so amusing and exciting to watch. One of my favorites that has come out in the past couple years is Disney-Pixar's UP. This movie was a lot different than most cartoon movies, the symbolism focused on death and old age. I viewed this movie as a spiritual love story of an old man Carl and his wife Ellie. The film first starts off in the past, showing Charles Muntz with his blimp called the “Spirit of Adventure”. Carl and Ellie first met when they were kids, Carl was walking down the street and heard her voice coming from an abandoned house. He goes inside to find a little girl his age wearing the same goggles and flight helmet he is, just like adventurers. His accidentally lets go of his balloon and falls, causing him to go to the hospital. From then on, Carl and Ellie were inseparable. Ellie always had the dream to go to Paradise Falls in South America, Carl “crossed his heart” that he would take her there. They became soul-mates, got married, and fixed up the abandoned house to make it theirs. After many years of being happily together, Ellie passed away. Carl was devastated, he didn't know what to do with his life now that his true love was gone. When she passed Carl believed that she was still alive in the house and her spirit was still there, the house was a representation of her. Losing his wife caused him to live a very isolated life alone in the house until he was being forced to move into a retirement home. This was not an option for Carl so he decided to carry out Ellie's dream of going to Paradise Falls, attaching balloons to the house and floating away. Balloons were a major symbol in UP, they floated like angles. I saw this situation as the balloons lifting Carl's spirit, getting him out of the sad funk he was in. Soon Carl found out that Russell, a little wilderness explorer was on his porch when he floated away, he was stuck with him on this trip. Russell annoyed him at first but then Carl got used to him and started to appreciate him. After hardship in Paradise Falls, Carl realizes two things: 1. Paradise Falls isn't what he was expecting and hoping for, and 2. Ellie isn't the house, she is in his heart. He doesn't need to be obsessed with the house and all the old artifacts, he can let go and have fun again with still having Ellie close to his heart and in his memories.