I just finished watching Up on Starz (cable channel), and I wanted to comment on a couple of things that didn’t strike me until after multiple viewings:
I may have mentioned this before, but - We never see the head of the “Monster of Paradise Falls” until we see the skeleton in Muntz’s dining room. In the newsreel, when Muntz unveils the Monster, the shot cuts to Carl’s reaction before we see the head, and the diagram the scientists have doesn’t show the head.
The music near the end, when Kevin and her babies are reunited, echoes the music when Carl sees Paradise Falls for the first time. It’s like, Carl’s original goal was reaching Paradise Falls, but by the end of the movie, his goal has become getting Kevin home to her babies. Neat musical touch.
Am I the only one who thinks that Russell’s pose/expression when he is waiting on stage at the badge ceremony is an awful lot like Muntz’s in the newsreel when he’s waiting to have his badge ripped off? It’s that stoic, chin up, “I’m upset but darn it I’m tough and I’m not going to show it” attitude. It’s something I didn’t really notice for a long time, and maybe I’m crazy, but that’s what I’m getting from it.
Anyone else have little things they’ve picked up on after repeated viewings?
One thing that I just noticed on my last viewing, somehow:
When Dug tells the joke about the dead squirrel, Russell’s animation is pretty funny. During/right after the joke he has a smile on his face, but then about 5 seconds later he realizes how morbid the joke is and frowns. The reaction time is pretty much what makes it funny, so check it out when you’re watching next time.
Yeah, I discovered Russell’s animation during the squirrel joke a while back, it’s so funny.
I noticed that during the Married Life scene, when Carl buys the tickets, If you look at some information paper things on the lady’s desk you see the girl from Knick Knack
That’s a great way to bookmark the movie. I never noticed that before. Guess that Russell as an urban adventurer, a Wilderness Explorer Scout, becomes a real adventurer, like Carl.
The squirrel joke takes most people in the audience a while to get. Only the true Pixar fans or college students seem to get it right off the bat. On the first Friday evening it came out in my country, May 19th 2009, only a clot of younger late teen / early 20’s-somethings got that joke. None of the other 250+ got it.
I’m not sure if this has been pointed out before, but I’ve never encountered anyone who’s noticed:
There appears to be a minor background character who shows up in a bunch of different roles throughout the movie. I’m not sure if it’s just clever reuse or a reference to somebody, but a certain older guy with white hair shows up a bunch of times.
Here’s all the places I’ve spotted him:
-The scientist who tries to connect the bones in the opening
-The back of his head is visible in the audience of the movie theater
-The priest at the wedding
-He’s also the doctor during the Married Life sequence
-He’s the judge when Carl goes to court
-He’s one of the dad’s during the award ceremony at the end
-Finally, he’s shown playing with Beta during the credits
I’m pretty sure that’s all the spots he turns up. Anyone else ever notice this?
Toodles: I’ve seen that guy, haha. He kind of creeps me out, how he has followed Carl through his whole life.
One of Carl’s relatives at the wedding also appears in the background of the Bingo picture in the end credits.
Also, I’m not sure if I’ve ever posted this here, but Russell’s mom (or a lookalike) is there for one or two shots when Carl hits Steve with his cane. That must’ve gave her a bad impression of Carl at first.
I guess I also didn’t “get” the dead squirrel joke - I thought it was just part of the whole “dogs hate squirrels” thing.
I did go back and pay attention to Russell’s reaction, though - hah, that’s good.
One big thing I just finally saw for the first time today: OK, in the climactic sequence, when Russell flies the house to pick up Carl, Kevin & Dug from the top of the dirigible - when we see Russell flying the house toward them, the house still has both sails. But, when we see the house landed on the dirigible, when they’re all trying to get in, the sail on the viewer-left side is gone! We don’t see it knocked off, or anything, it’s just suddenly not there. The viewer-right sail is still there, and then we see that one get knocked off when the house slides from the top of the dirigible down to the tail fin. I’m a little surprised they didn’t mention this in the commentary.
