“Up” is charming, illuminating, uplifting entertainment
Sometimes, as a break from the usual, I combine two of my favorite activities, elder law and movies, to come up with a movie review to pique the interest of readers. A few months ago, on March 2, I did just this with one of my favorites, “Gran Torino,” starring Clint Eastwood. (f you missed it, see www.collitonlaw.com/09/030209.htm.)
As wildly different as these flicks might appear to be, a new adventure in Pixar animation titled “Up” makes the short list of movies I would recommend that seniors or those aspiring someday to be seniors see. The best way to view “Up” would be with a younger, think age 12 or under, viewer unless they are fearful of some mild animated violence later in the movie.
“Up” is charming, illuminating and uplifting. The visuals are worth the price of admission. Important to me, it demonstrates the same kind of guts to make as “Gran Torino.” Although they are very different in theme and execution, both movies highlight a senior creating new meaning in a world that, generally speaking, does not understand, but younger people understand. Both movies raise the question: What do you do with the rest of your life when your spouse and most of your friends are gone?
These are difficult themes but effortlessly combined in stories. Incorporating the past and using it to find new purpose in the future are what these movies portray. Still, with all of that, they would not be much fun if they were not entertaining, and they are.
Here is what “Up” is about. For those who plan to see it, I will not spoil the ending.
Carl Fredricksen, voiced by Ed Asner, is 78 and a cantankerous gentleman who lives alone in a town that could be Anytown, USA. What his neighbors do not recognize is his past with his wonderful wife, Ellie, who is now gone. When developers build around his home, leaving him almost completely isolated, matters escalate until it is clear that Carl’s secure but currently unsatisfying lifestyle cannot be maintained.
Where other movies might descend from here, this movie takes off, both literally and figuratively, and, therefore, the title “Up.” Hint: balloons seen in trailers of the film are a dead giveaway. Carl has more of a sense of adventure than anyone recognizes and expresses it flamboyantly. He also, reluctantly, discovers a new friend, his young stowaway, Russell, a Boy
Scout trying to earn his merit badge by “assisting the elderly.” In meeting Russell, it is tempting to think that Carl may have recognized some of himself in the boy. We know this because the movie has shown us Carl’s earlier life and dreams.
In a sequence of less than five minutes mostly without dialogue, “Up” depicts Carl’s lifetime love with Ellie, from his boyhood and through their marriage until her death.
Bonded by a common thirst for exploration, Carl and the captivating, mischievous child Ellie build their dreams for travel to the South American wilderness. As many married couples could identify, as they built their savings to fly off together, life intervened. Problems with the house and eventually her health caused them each time to break the glass jar holding their precious escape funds and take care of the moment.
In the meanwhile, it was their journey together at home that took on significance. Still, Carl never forgot the dream or the scrapbook they were going to fill together with photographs of things they would do.
How Carl pursues his dreams, restores his spirit, regains his confidence, battles a childhood hero, and, with Russell, befriends the rare bird Kevin occupy most of the rest of the movie. In the end, Carl learns to redefine his dream in an interesting way and all with the blessing of Ellie.
If movies could speak, this one would say all of the following:
Appearances do not matter after all.
Things are not what they seem to be.
Dreams do not end, nor should they end, as we age.
You do not have to be one of the beautiful people to be important.
If you have a dream, go with it.
Taken together, these thoughts remind me of an expression my mother used when describing aging. She said, “You are still the person you were inside. It is just that (sometimes) you tell your body to move and it will not.”
I suspect Carl and Ellie would agree.
About the Author Janet Colliton
Esquire, Colliton Law Associates, P.C. Janet Colliton has practiced law for over 38 years, 37 of them in Chester County, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. Her practice, Colliton Law Associates, PC, is limited to elder law, Medicaid, including advice, applications and appeals, and other benefits planning including Veterans benefits, life care and special needs planning, guardianships, retirement, and estate planning and administration.