Carl Fredricksen = Dr. Malcolm Crowe?
by Honk Mahfah on Jun.13, 2009, under Movies, Pixar
On their most recent podcast, KUFO-Portland’s Cort and Fatboy had an interesting talk with local film critic Mike Russell in which they discussed Pixar’s current box-office goldmine Up.
Russell floated an interesting theory about how to interpret the film … one involving Carl dying at an early point in the movie after being court-ordered to vacate his home. In this reading of the film, everything in the movie beginning with the morning on which Carl and his helium-powered home take flight represents a deathbed fantasy of how the elderly widower wishes his life could play out.
I have to say that I definitely come down on the Fatboy side of this argument in feeling like this particular reading is probably the wrong way to go. However, Russell makes some good points, and it’s an entertaining discussion no matter which side of the issue one lands on.
What I ended up taking away from the conversation was no small amount of amazement that a summer kiddie movie could spark this type of conversation. That, and a renewed conviction that Pixar is the best thing going in Hollywood.
Click here to visit Cort and Fatboy’s website. The podcast in question is the one labelled Thursday, June 11, 2009 (Part II). The talk about Up begins at about the 28-minute mark, but as always with Cort and Fatboy, the entire show is well worth a listen.
