One UPservation (and an obvious on, at that) is: NOBODY HAS NOSTRILS!!! 
I’ve always thought that humans were one of Pixar’s “weak spots.” For example, pause that scene in The Incredibles when Mr. Incredible trips over the skateboard: His ankles are super thin!! And all of the girls are smaller than toothpicks!! Sheesh. Creeps me out… 
Something I never would have thought of: Someone on the Animated News & Views Forum brought up a Dug observation:
At the end, when they’re sitting on the curb counting the red and blue cars, Dug calls out “Gray car!” The poster on the other forum wondered if this was a joke referring to dogs being color blind. Do you think so?
Also, I have a confession to make (and yes, I really am this dense):
Early on, when they are flying over the city and Carl is wanting to send Russell home - when Carl lowers Russell from the house and ends up dropping him - I didn’t get that Carl was just imagining that. I thought, when it cut back to the two of them looking out the window, “How did Russell get back into the house?” Boy, am I dumb! 
. And if I hadn’t read someone else’s comment about Carl imagining that bit, I don’t know how many trips it would have taken me to figure it out! I admire Pixar for not thinking they have to hold our hands and explain everything in words of one syllable, but man, that went totally over my head.
All of that is intentional. It’s more of a style preference to make the characters disproportionate and cartoony. Although the thinness of the girls in the Incredibles is pretty ridiculous.
OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH. Didn’t know that. Well, I got another UPservation: [spoil]Carl calls Kevin and Dug a traveling flea circus. Flea circus? That travels? Hmmmm, where has that been in a Pixar movie…? Was there a box of Casey Jr. Cookies in Russel’s pack? (For those who haven’t figured it out… it’s P.T. Flea’s circus!!). AND, P.T. was singing about being rich, and says that the roads will be paved with GOLDEN RETRIEVERS!!! Isn’t DUG a golden retriever?! Furthermore, in TS2, Rex suggests an idea to get to Al’s apartment. He said that they could get a bunch of balloons and FLOAT to the top!!![/spoil] WHEW!!
I don’t know if this is visible in the film, but in The Art of Up they show a picture of a page from Ellie’s Adventure Book. One of the clippings on the page is cut out of a newspaper with the headline “Explorer in the Wild” with a picture of Muntz. Around the photo and caption, there is text that references Ratatouille. I caught the snippets “Linguini”, “Gusteau”, and something about DNA tests. They probably just took the text from some newspaper in Ratatouille.
A bit I finally got during Trip # 6 yesterday, involving Kevin, Russell & Carl:
When they first meet Kevin, and, after playing with Russell, she comes down out of the tree (digressing, I love the animation on that, where her head stays still as her body rotates down from the tree) and threatens Carl - when Russell stops her and tells her, “Mr. Fredricksen is nice!” Russell pats Carl on the head. THAT is why Kevin’s gesture of affection toward Carl, for the rest of the movie, is patting him on the head with her beak! I’m sure everyone else got this the first time, but I’d never caught Russell’s original gesture before.
I noticed most of these (I thought of the TS2 one during my Pixar Marathon Burn-E, I thought that was pretty nuts, but I didn’t catch the ABL ones)
It took me 8 visits to notice the [spoil]colorblind joke, it’s so subtle, you have to think about it for a bit[/spoil]
Anyone ever notice that during the liftoff, right before it shows Carl waving at the window washer, the scene just before, the window he’s hanging out of is closed? It’s the same one he’s hanging out of when taunting the Shady Oaks employees. Check it, I know I’m right! Also, it never shows Russell on the porch during the liftoff at any point. you can see the porch very clearly when Carl first turns the house after extending the curtains and blanket. There’s some moving shadows, but no Russell. The same can be said [spoil]about Dug later in the movie when he “was hiding under Carl’s porch”, it shows his cane sitting next to the door a couple of times, but still no Dug.[/spoil]
It kinda started to bug me that during the opening, [spoil] Ellie hands Carl the Adventure Book, and she’s sitting next to some tape and craft-like stuff on the table in her bed. To me, it looks like she wants Carl to look through the book, like she’d added things (which we all know she did, we find it much later in a crazy tearjerker of a scene), but he never looks through it until that scene. Then again, if he had, he never would have gone on his adventure.[/spoil]
Another thing, anyone else wondering what’s in the suitcase Carl hands the guy from Shady Oaks? O.o
This was mentioned in some behind the scenes stuff, but I love how in Carl’s room, on the left side, Ellie’s side, the nightstand and lamp are round, and Carl’s side is rectangular. Same with their chairs, picture frames, etc. Pretty cool little details in there.
Let’s all not forget I might be the first person to notice a THIRD Pizza Planet Truck! 
Wow, I never noticed the Square vs. Round of Carl’s & Ellie’s decor (beyond their easy chairs). That’s what I love about Pixar is how they put in so much detail that rewards repeat viewings.
About the Adventure Book, [spoil]I didn’t spot the craft supplies with her, either. I know people have questioned why Carl never looked at the book - and it’s true, he should have known just by handling it that there was Stuff among the later pages. I just figured that he was so distraught at Ellie’s death, he couldn’t bear to look at the book, so he put it up in the closet and left it untouched, until he “finds” it again, and is inspired to move the house. Even then, the fact that he never looks past that one point until the Big Tearjerker Scene, and seems surprised that there’s more in the book than he knew - well, that’s such a great scene, I’m gonna cut them some slack for that, but it is one of those “nitpicks” that crops up.[/spoil]
On your other topic - yeah, this is becoming probably one of my biggest nitpicks (and don’t get me wrong, I love love love the movie) - When Carl begins his flight, not only do we see the porch at various times, we see, I think, pretty much the entire underside of the house at one point or another, and there is no sign of Russell. I know they don’t want us to see Russell, but the way the thing is “shot,” it’s like he has to be moving around under the house and up on the porch in such a way that he is always (theoretically) in the exact spot (whatever it may be) that isn’t on screen at that exact moment. [spoil]Dug doesn’t bother me quite as much, because there’s not such a long, lingering series of views of the underside and/or exterior of the house before he turns up.[/spoil]
I think Carl’s suitcase should be full of [spoil]PRUNES![/spoil]
BURN-E those were excellent observations.
This isn’t in the ‘Continuity Errors’ thread or in the ‘Aspects that DIDN’T work’ one because it seemed to work and wasn’t really an error:
[spoil]Didn’t it seem unrealistic that the house balloon traveled nearly 3000 miles overnight during the storm? It was less than 24 hours. The Jet Stream doesn’t go due south to Venezuela. I would gather that any balloonist would tell you that a straight shot that far, that fast, is impossible.
Also, we really don’t know for sure that Muntz died. He fell with 5-6 balloons, which isn’t many, and he might have been able to steer himself toward the falling house, where he resides now, dangnabit. I don’t know why everyone assumes he died.
And then there is the Disney trailer that shows Carl sticking out his tongue at the world as he ascends in the house. But after repeated viewings, this mysteriously doesn’t happen in the actual movie. Why not?[/spoil]
DarkHand [spoil]it’s impossible for Muntz to have landed in the house, he falls OUT of it. Therefore, we can safely assume he fell to his death. Sure, people have survived ridiculous falls before, but I think it’s to be assumed that he died. Besides, Muntz did mention the mountain is dangerous.
Also, I do agree with you on the overnight trip to the falls, but I think they just wanted to skip anything else happening while flying, it would have been a bit too pointless for the plot. Pretty much every scene in the movie up until the final act has a set purpose, so they probably wanted to avoid that, by skipping the trip there. I do think it’s a bit of a bummer, but I don’t see a huge problem with it.[/spoil]
The mountain is “dangerous” because [spoil]Muntz is there killing people! (Not that it isn’t also naturally dangerous, but that’s obviously how we’re meant to interpret his remark.)[/spoil]
As for what happens to Muntz [spoil]in the context of the movie, he has to be killed off, because Kevin and her babies would never be safe, otherwise. I’ll admit, though, it’s nice when they leave the door open, even the tiniest, unlikeliest crack, in case one wants to imagine that, hey, no, he survived![/spoil]
Something that occurred to me, though - talk about a great, unwritten tragedy - [spoil]What if Muntz did capture Kevin and take her back to civilization - and no one cared. Probably very few people younger than Carl would even know who he was. Here he’s spent 70 years in exile, obsessed with clearing his name, regaining his fame - and all for nothing.[/spoil] Cue Twilight Zone Music… 
I know that’s what Muntz meant, I was just saying. I do admit, there is a small chance,…
As for what you said about [spoil]Muntz actually going back after 70 years, [/spoil]that would be insane, I couldn’t imagine how he would feel, I bet [spoil]The National Explorer’s Society doesn’t exist anymore, imagine THAT!!! Maybe the WE’s could induct him! 
[/spoil]
I know you know. And yeah, the mountain is dangerous anyway. I just love that moment in the movie. I tell ya, I really have grown to enjoy Muntz as a character. (I like your sig pic, too, by the way.)
Eh, not a huge fan of Muntz, but thewisecookiesheet did a FANTASTIC job with this sig, I’m using it til she manages to get me the one I want (which is actually pretty much impossible at the moment, gotta wait for,… something,… to happen, or the DVD to come out)
Thanks again!
Muntz just stoops so low for what he’s going for, but I could imagine he’d get a bit off his rocker for as much as he’s gone through. Just makes him look so evil, some of the stuff he does.
Oh, yeah, I think he is definitely one of their scariest, most deliberately menacing villains. The first time I saw the movie, I was 
when [spoil]he set the house on fire![/spoil] And of course I’m rooting for the heroes, but I think he’s turned out to be a really interesting character. Even though Little Carl & Ellie thought he was a hero, he probably was always something of an arrogant, self-absorbed so-and-so even in his youth.
Yeah, he seems a bit too proud and self absorbed in the beginning, kinda cocky. As for the [spoil]part where he lights the house on fire, [/spoil] the first time I saw it, I was so tempted to scream OH NO YOU DIDN’T! Made me SO angry! Wanted to slap his face!
Anyone else notice that the jungle kinda disappeared after that part, you never really see it again, but it was RIGHT there! Also, if you think back to after the [spoil]chase scene[/spoil], they walk straight to [spoil] the labyrinth’s entrance[/spoil] , but Carl walks BACK the other way after that scene, and there’s no jungle, and if you keep the whole area mapped in your head while watching the movie (thinking back ALL the way to the [spoil]campfire scene, after they wake up[/spoil]), it doesn’t make that much sense. [spoil]The cave where Muntz is staying[/spoil] takes them FARTHER from the falls. I guess it could work if I’m getting my general sense of direction a bit off, but just saying. It’s hard to get it to work right in my head.
[spoil]Ok, so he fell out of the house, but he did have some balloons with him and it does indeed leave a backdoor in people’s minds. Besides, I’m the head of the Muntz Lives! society, and serve as its President, V-P, Secretary, and Treasurer.
‘We’ are trying to get the Nat’l Geographic Society to get back down there and get up on that mesa and photograph what the Pixar people saw. They have taken pictures from a distance with the falls for some past issue, but haven’t busted booty and gotten up there to see what the Docter team saw. Maybe they will find the big cave, and maybe they will find something extinct or nearly extinct, maybe they will find a small Victorian house up there, erected by the mischievous Pixar team. Who knows.[/spoil]
Nat’l Geo has an issue, May 1989, ‘Venezuela’s Islands in Time’, about some of these table-top peaks. For many years, this immense natural wonder of the world was hidden. It wasn’t revealed to the world until 1935 by an airplane, and [spoil]Charles Muntz[/spoil] wasn’t far behind, it seems. Hopefully, something as large as The Spirit of Adventure will be found and photographed there, and spare the Venezuelan authorities and Nat’l Geographic any further embarrassment. Legend often has its foundation in truth.
Here’s one thing that kinda confused me about the whole Charles Muntz thing that maybe one of you can clear up or justify. He’s gotta be at least 20 years older than Carl, right? Yet [spoil]when he shows up later he looks younger than Carl does! Not mention he’s surprisingly agile for a guy who’s gotta be at least 90 if not older…[/spoil]
lennonluvr9 we actually had a topic over this not too long ago
pixarplanet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5140
We have a pretty much definite answer as to the true age difference, of 14 years, considering it came from Lee Unkrich and Pete Docter himself! (thanks again Lee and Hannahmation!)
::sigh:: I know this is Pete Docter’s Movie and he gets to have the Last Word on this, but… I’m still having a really hard time with the idea that Muntz had achieved everything he did, and rounded up that whole trophy room full of artifacts, plus enough for exhibits at several other museums, by the time he was 21 (and it would have to be 21, because the newsreel says he’s spent the last year in South America). I would still find it a lot more believable that he’s 98 (which would make him 28 in the newsreel) and in such good shape due to a combination of a healthy organic diet, an athletic physique, and just being stubborn as all get-out! 