UP is better the second time around

I didn't like UP the first time I saw it. The first 10 minutes are great and tell the story of Carl and Ellie with a lot of heart and feeling, but Russell annoyed me and the story just felt too fake and silly. Talking dogs? The explorer looked Carl's age? The bird was what everyone wanted to capture? It just didn't make all that much sense to me.

While watching for the second time, I could see that this movie is a romance or "buddy love" between a young boy (annoyingly exuberant Russell) and his chosen father figure (crotchety old Carl). Carl's central problem is that he loved his wife and was never able to take her on the one adventure she truly wanted before she passed away. Now as an old man, he doesn't fit into the mainstream culture of cell phones, high rises and business suits and society wants to force him into a retirement home. Carl's external problem is that he doesn't feel ready to go into a retirement home and let go of his dream adventure. The solution? Why, tie balloons to your house and fly it to South America of course! His internal problem is letting go with the death of his wife. He associates all his memories of her into his house and doesn't like the world if she's not living in it. The triangle dynamic ultimately becomes Carl's choice of holding onto Ellie through holding onto the house, or holding onto Russell, who needs him. The crisis of the heart or the taste of death is when Carl decides to get rid of everything in the house (and later the house itself) when he realizes that he would risk everything to make sure that his new friends Russell, Doug and Kevin are safe from the crazed and elderly adventurer. The world isn't at stake and he doesn't willingly jump into the situation (like an adventuring Bond or Indy would) but Carl does his best to nobly sacrifice everything to save his friends. He learns that he should hold onto the memories of the wonderful adventure with his wife, but can also live to have other adventures as well.

Act I was a view of Carl's previous life with his wife Ellie and the discovery of what his life if like without her when she passes away. He literally separates himself from everyone in efforts to remain with her in spirit. His call to adventure comes when he has the choice of going to the retirement home or going to jail. Rather than succumb to society, he lets the balloons free and flies to South America. The crossing of the threshold happens when he decides to let Russell come along on his adventure. The midpoint crisis occurs when they land at Paradise Falls and they meet the Kevin, Doug and the dogs. Carl begins to realize that this might not be the adventure he'd anticipated. When they meet the old adventurer and he wants to hurt the other birds like Kevin, they realize that he's not a good person so they have to fight to get away. The road back begins when Carl realizes that his new mission is to save Russell, Kevin and Doug from the crazy adventurer. After a long, drawn out fight at the most high intensity action peak of the story, or the climax, Carl sacrifices his home and belongings to protect his friends.  The denouement occurs when Carl, Russell and Doug return back home. Carl takes a paternal role in Russell's life when he pins his scout badge and takes him for ice cream. Throughout a final slideshow of pictures and credits we can see that Carl moved into the retirement home but remained active in Russell's life and kept the dogs from South America. Carl's learned to accept that Ellie is gone, that he needs to be in a retirement home and that it's ok to care about other people.