Ben & Charlie (1972)

Do you love a good heartbreaking cry within the first fifteen minutes of a movie? Then you will love Disney/Pixar’s Up! It’s a story of an unlikely friendship, and a reminder that it’s never too late to pursue your dreams, even when those dreams involve you accidentally kidnapping a neighborhood kid, crossing borders, and putting you both in very dangerous situations (just kidding, of course). If nothing else, Up is a catalyst for some important conversations about media representation and societal norms. Here are some of the topics that are worth discussing as you watch or rewatch this lovely movie.

My favorite part of Up is the love story between Carl and Ellie because Ellie is one of the most interesting and exciting characters in any children’s movie. We meet Ellie when she is a little kid, and she is the opposite of characters like Alice from Alice in Wonderland. She is scrappy, adventure-seeking, smart, and fun; but she is still nurturing and open-minded to young Carl. She leads Carl out of his fears and loneliness. There is a quick montage through their life together, and it is lovely — even the lows. The first set of tears will grace the viewer’s face when Carl and Ellie go through an assumed miscarriage. After recovering from that horrible experience, they move on to their lives together as a couple until the devastating death of sweet Ellie.

As Linda Holmes writes in an article for NPR, why can’t we have a movie about Ellie? In 2009, when Up was released, we hadn’t been fed any animated female leads who weren’t princesses. Ellie would have been a perfect choice to lead this revolution! Six years after Up was released, we were given Inside Out, which has female protagonists who are not princesses and are just as sweet as Up, so moves are slowly being made. Maybe next there can be a… dare I say it… Black, non-princess hero? Fingers crossed!