Carl and Russell the Perfect Pair

Up is an extremely up and down kind of movie. It takes you through all the feelings, quite literally. The two main characters are Carl an older man and Russell a friendly boy scout. These two characters are so different in many ways. However, the way they mesh is what makes up as brilliant of a movie as it is. First, we meet Carl. We watch his life and see him grow up and fall in love. Then we see his heart get totally broken by the death of his beloved wife Ellie. This breaks Carl and eventually, he becomes a grumpy old man. He keeps to himself and we never see him really talk or interact with anyone else after she dies. Even sadder he never had kids so he doesn't really have much to remember Ellie by. Then we meet Russell a dopy bright-eyed boy scout. All he wants to do is help Carl and earn his wilderness badge. Unfortunately, we do not get a back story on Russell like we do for Carl. I feel like that would for sure push this movie over the top if we had a little more background information on Russell. Moving on, Russell also decides to stowaway when Carl attaches all the balloons to his house and starts his journey. The journey with both characters is arguably the best part of the movie. These characters together are stronger. They are also super opposite. That is up until the end when Carl has a change of heart. But throughout the middle of the movie he’s still an old grump. Carl’s biggest character flaw has to be the way he let’s his heartbreak consume him. He let himself become alone and isolated. He shuts people out and almost quite literally flies away from all his problems. Sure the loss of a spouse is hard, it can’t be easy, especially since he has nothing but his idol to remember her. But the way he let it turn him grumpy and lonely adds to the plot. Russell’s biggest flaw is how naive he is. There really isn’t much anyone can do about it, but it still a big issue. However, these flaws are what make Carl and Russell mesh so well. In Carl’s loneliness, he kind of becomes almost like a caregiver to Carl. This whole ordeal makes Carl grow as a character. We also see Russell become a little less naive. We watch Russell literally grow up. Both characters help out each other. I feel like if their personalities were even slightly different the movie would not be as great as it is. Plus the flaws and personality differences make the growth so much better. Carl’s grumpiness adds some humor to the story as well. Sometimes you just laugh at somethings he does. Sometimes he is just so relateable it’s great. The ending really brings everything together though. When Carl stands in for Russell’s dad at the Wilderness ceremony and then the most amazing part when Carl gives Russell the Ellie award.