Fredricksen's journey is interrupted when he discovers a stowaway aboard his ‘craft' - an overly optimistic nine-year-old wilderness explorer named Russell. What follows is a hilarious voyage into lost worlds and a sensitive discovery of the true value of friendships by what is possibly, the most unlikely duo on earth.
Up is the tenth film from Disney Pixar and follows an unprecedented string of back-to-back successes from this stable including Wall-E, Ratatouille, Cars, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc, Toy Story and Toy Story 2, and A Bug's Life.
Many of the acclaimed crew who worked on these box office hits have once again had a hand in crafting the film which John Lasseter, executive producer and chief creative officer for Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, has described as “the funniest and most beautiful film we've ever made.”
In addition to Lasseter, Up is executive produced by Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, Wall-E), produced by Jonas Rivera and co-directed by Bob Peterson, with the screenplay by Peterson and Docter.
The voice cast includes legendary actor and multiple Emmy Award winner, Ed Asner as Carl Fredricksen; nine-year-old Jordan Nagai (acting debut) as Russell; acclaimed Emmy Award-winning actor Christopher Plummer as Charles Muntz; and John Ratzenberger - the only actor to voice characters in each of Pixar's feature films - as a construction foreman named Tom.
Award-winning composer Michael Giacchino (Ratatouille, The Incredibles) lends his musical talents to creating the evocative score that accentuates the film's emotions, humour and spirit of adventure.
Pixar filmmakers have experimented with a number of different styles in past films, but opted for a completely minimalist approach in Up to set it apart from other Pixar features.
“In this film, we have a story about a man who floats his house to South America with balloons. We knew we needed a certain amount of whimsy and caricature, which is sort of my general aesthetic anyway. We were trying to reach back and connect to the great Disney films that we grew up with, like Peter Pan and Cinderella, and the great sense of style and caricature that they had,” explains Docter.
This posed several challenges for the animation team, which had to learn how to bring nuance, emotion and a full range of movement to the small, almost square figure of Carl and egg-shaped, overly-dressed Russell character.
Another tough assignment was creating the balloon canopy that carries off Carl's house. Filmmakers wanted realistic balloon simulations and - with about 30 million balloons needed to lift this size house in reality - the team grappled with how to simulate the movements of the 10,000 - 20,000 balloons eventually featured in the film.
Up is the first Disney Pixar feature to be released in Disney Digital 3D, ushering in a new era of possibilities for the animation studio that brought moviegoers the first computer animated feature 14 years ago.
Disney Pixar combines the historical Disney franchise with the animation genius that is Pixar Animation Studios. In 1991, the two entered into an agreement for the production of up to three computer animated features to be marketed and distributed by Disney. In January 2006 they entered into a second agreement, to merge the two companies, and in May 2006, Pixar became a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company.
For those who cannot wait to see this highly anticipated adventure, there are sneak previews of Up at all 3D cinemas on Sunday, 30 August 2009.
