I thought it was time to start a thread for various observations about UP. If what you’re posting contains story elements, please use the spoiler tags.
Here’s one observation I noticed just in the cast/crew list (no spoiler):
The film’s main character is named Carl Fredricksen.
In looking at IMDB, one of the crew (a Lightspeed Techincal Director) who has worked on Ratatouille and Cars as well as Up, is named… Carl N. Frederick.
Pete Docter has a relative with the last name Fredricksen, so it may be a combination of both.
Nice topic, miafka! Both you and Bryko614 made some interesting points.
I can only think of three observations at the moment, and each one of them is infested with spoilers… to an extent…
[spoil]- In one of the behind-the-scenes featurettes, Mr. Fredricksen is shown wearing Russell’s sash (on which all of his badges are pinned). I’ve been trying to figure out what this means exactly, although I can’t help but shake the feeling that something unpleasant has happened to Russell. I’m probably just jumping to conclusions, though…[/spoil]
[spoil]- After having bought an Up book entitled Spirt of Adventure, which chronicles the basic plot of the film from Russell’s point of view, I finally realized something that tied in with another Up clip that was released some time ago. The clip that I’m referring to is this one: Up Clip. At the end of that particular scene, Russell says, “I’ve always wanted to try this”, as he walks off into the jungle with a trowel and some leaves. Well, he had to go to the bathroom at that time, sooo… Heh. I never actually got what he was doing with a small shovel and foliage until I read that Spirit of Adventure book. Once I did get it, though, I started crackin’ up, along with my sister. Hilarious.[/spoil]
[spoil]- In yet another behind-the-scenes featurette, Russell is shown steering some sort of mechanism in mid-air towards Muntz’s blimp. I’m guessing that it was a tricyle of some sort, but the shot goes by so fast that I can’t quite make out what’s going on.[/spoil]
– Mitch
Mitch…
The first thing is sort of an interesting plot point…it’s not a massive spoiler, but it’s an emotional thing;
[spoil]Earlier on, Russell throws his sash on the ground in anger saying “I don’t want this anymore”. Carl probably puts it on to show that he really does care.[/spoil]
[spoil]Heh…I always found it clear what he was doing, but I can see why some people may have gotten confused from the sort of vagueness of it.[/spoil]
[spoil]It’s a leaf blower, so he can steer himself.[spoiler][/spoil]
Bryko614 - Man, I’m spoiling myself big time reading these things…
Hmm. That’s interesting. I can kind of guess at what Russell’s transition is – seems rather obvious, but I’m only estimating. What you said supports that speculation further.
Yeah, I guess it should have been pretty obvious, but I always thought that he fibbed about having to use the bathroom so that he could do something else entirely different.
Are you serious? Ha! That’s great.
Thanks for the information. 
– Mitch
BIG SPOILER DO NOT READ UNTIL AFTER YOU SEE UP:
Pixar redesigned their logo to be 3-D. It’s the same logo of Luxo Jr. jumping up and down, except this time the camera pans around the Pixar logo from the left until there’s a front view of the logo while Luxo Jr. hops around. In addition, the “Animation Studios” words below kinda pop out for a second.
That’s all the observations I have to share for now. It just got me really excited.
Wow! That sounds really cool! 
being a sucker for Pixar movies and 3-D, I’m getting really pumped Up to see this!
All right, here’s another UPservation:
[spoil]Did anybody notice that the only thing Russell ate throughout the whole movie was chocolate and ice cream? Even when the dogs served Russell the hot dog and milk, he never got a chance to eat it! No wonder he’s so pudgy…[/spoil]
Let’s keep this thread alive and well!
All of Russell’s badges are real Boy Scout merit badges. I have many of them.
During the credits there are a few weird badges shown, though. One of them is the [spoil]radioactive symbol[/spoil] and another is a [spoil]nuclear bomb exploding.[/spoil]
They probably based many of the badge models off real badges and made a few of their own in the process.
I definitely saw Drafting, Reading, Electricity, and Small Boat Sailing.
There is also a Luxo ball badge.
[spoil]I kind of thought the dinner scene was meant somewhat to prove that they don’t starve to death, but I didn’t notice that Russell doesn’t eat at all. Interesting.[/spoil]
Couple of quick observations:
Leading up to the dinner scene: [spoil]when the dog offers Muntz a menu and he says “Surprise me” - I immediately thought of Anton Ego ordering dessert at the end of Ratatouille![/spoil]
Another Muntz thing: [spoil]Obviously, his whole obsessive pursuit of Kevin made me think of the Coyote and Roadrunner - so did anyone else find it sort of creepy/ironic that Muntz’s fate is to end up plummeting out of sight into the abyss?[/spoil]
Oh, and this just made me think of a couple more “favorite scenes.”
Did anyone notice:
[spoil]
Oh, and when Russel hits his head with the tent pole, there is a large line of red, and then when the camera turns back to him, it’s gone? And then, there is this random scratch (that could’ve argued as a product of the smack) but it’s on the other side of the eyebrow.
And I think that the big picture of the dog in the little girl’s room (with the green background) is one of the little dogs from Partly Cloudy, but that’s only my guess.[/spoil]
The newer “sweep around” Pixar logo is only on the 3D prints. The 2D prints have the normal version of the Pixar logo.
Here’s an interesting thing that someone on the IMDb forums noticed. (not really a spoiler)
-At the beginning of the film, Carl’s beard is shaved.
-About halfway through, you can see a very light beard on his chin. ( 4.bp.blogspot.com/_dS9o2xQUbsU/S … unning.png )
-And by the end, he has a clearly visible beard and mustache.
A very nice detail by Pixar.
Well, it would make sense, I noticed the same thing but only halfway through the movie…
I love just looking at the subtleness of their expressions.
Something that made me think of Monsters, Inc. (LOL, is this a Pete Docter thing?):
When Russell first calls the bird “Kevin,” Carl says, “Kevin?!”, and Russell says, “That’s his name I just gave him” - it made me think of Sully dubbing the little girl “Boo,” and Mike arguing that you’re not supposed to name it, because once you name it, you start getting attached to it. 
