Pixar's Up Turns 10 Years Old

Films come and go over the years, but there are a precious few that prove so iconic that they stick with us long after we've left the cinema. That includes Pixar's 3D smash, Up, which is now 10 years old - but still a firm favourite with audiences across the world.

After opening the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, the film was released in the States on 29 May, as well as later that year in the UK.

It became an instant hit with audiences and critics alike thanks to its unique blend of gentle humour (most of which derived from Dug and Charles Muntz' canine sidekicks) and poignancy - not least from a heartbreaking sequence that dealt with love, miscarriage, death and loneliness.

All extremely bold topics to tackle for what is essentially, at heart, a kids' film, director Pete Docter has in the past admitted that at one point he worried it would be too much, and almost cut part of it from the film.

"I always feel like you go to movies to be emotionally connected to them - to be moved in some way," Docter told Yahoo back in 2015.

"On Up, for example, some people felt like we were going a little too far... We got some notes from people in the studio that thought that the moment where they couldn't have kids was going too far."

Disney

Docter tried a version of the sequence that didn't include the heartbrekaing scene, but immediately noticed it was crucial.

"You didn't feel as deeply [without the scene] - not only just [with] that sequence, but through the whole film," he said.

"Most of the emotional stuff is not just to push on people and make them cry, but it's for some greater reason to really make you care about the story."

Disney

Another of the standout elements of the film was the character of Carl, our grumpy, grief-stricken protagonist who was voiced by veteran actor Ed Asner.

He's featured in countless movies and TV shows over the years, and since appearing in Up, he's shown he has no sign of slowing down - having starred in everything from The Cleveland Show through to new Netflix hit Dead to Me, in which he starred as Abe, Judy's pal from the nursing home.

Jordan Nagai, meanwhile, who voiced the loveable and ingenuous Russell, has shied away from the entertainment industry since his breakthrough role.

Now aged 19, Nagai's only other acting credits are Pixar short Dug's Special Mission and an episode of The Simpsons.

Topics: Disney, Entertainment, TV and Film, Pixar

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

@Jess_Hardiman