We took the boys to see the Pixar movie “Up” last night. My kids liked it, but I absolutely loved it. It was perfect: sweet, exciting, and a little sad. It was about love and expectation and what you make of your life when you aren’t able to do the things you dream of doing.
Carl starts out as a shy little boy looking for adventure and finds it in Ellie, the love of his life. They meet as kids and eventually marry, dreaming of someday taking off in search of Paradise Falls in South America. But life gets in the way. The car needs a new tire, the house needs fixing and they end up getting to the end of the lives never having gone on that big trip. After Ellie dies Carl must go on without her and the smile is gone from his face.
When it looks like it’s all over for Carl, he takes off on the adventure he and Ellie dreamed of, and he does it for her. Along the way, he learns to love others and embrace the unexpected.
The boys are too young to understand those big picture problems of love and death and the responsibilities of adult life. But I hope what they take from the movie is that they should make the best of what life gives you and love the people who are good to you.
When Carl finds Ellie’s childhood scrapbook, he expects to see the pages she left empty, to fill after Paradise Falls. He’s touched to see that pages filled with pictures of the two of them together living their simple, happy life.