Up (2009)

This children’s film showed up on TV last weekend. If memory serves me, the one we saw in the cinema was in 3D. I had totally forgotten how emotive it was, especially when retelling Carl and Ellie’s story.

It was like watching all the seasons of “This Is Us” in ten minutes. (Hmm…)

The situation that Carl found himself in after Ellie’s death (with developers wanting to buy and demolish their house) is probably an echo of the Dido video of her song “Thank You“. The escape using balloons attached to the house was inspired, no doubt, by “Around the World in 80 Days” by Jules Verne. So there are a lot of visual references here.

But did you know that there is a real life Up house? Normally, I would provide you with a link, but Google says that the site is “not secure”, so I will give you the wording only, then you can decide whether you want to take the risk or not: therealuphouse.com

After Russell and Carl succeed in freeing Kevin and commandeering the Spirit of Adventure away from the villain of the piece, the house is left to drift, ostensibly to its demise in that South American location. The final shot tells a different story…

Ellie’s vision was confirmed in the end. Their house was where she had pictured it as a child. Up!