Up (2009)

Screenplay Genre: Animation / Adventure / Comedy / Family

Movie Time: 96 minutes

1. INCITING INCIDENT

Carl Fredricksen, an elderly sour recluse still grieving from the loss of his wife, opens his door to discover Russell, a Wilderness Explorer scout, who explains that if he assists an old person, he will achieve his "assisting the elderly" badge, and then he'll become a "Senior" Wilderness Explorer. Annoyed with Russell's persistence, Carl sends him off to hunt a fictional Snipe that supposedly "burrows two blocks down." (00:15:26)

2. LOCK IN (End of Act One)

After Carl escapes the court order to move into Shady Oaks Retirement Home by using tens of thousands of helium balloons to lift his house off its foundation, he sits down to begin his adventure to Paradise Falls in his floating house, but then... he hears a knock on his front door. Carl opens the door to discover Russell has stowed away on the porch, leaving him no choice but to let Russell inside. (00:24:35)

3. FIRST CULMINATION (Midpoint)

After landing on a plateau across a ravine facing Paradise Falls, Carl and Russell begin pulling the floating house around the ravine, but they run into a loyal and lovable dog named Dug with a translating collar and eventually end up being escorted by a platoon of dogs into the lair of the sinister explorer Charles F. Muntz, who invites Carl and Russell into his dirigible: The Spirit of Adventure. (00:52:23)

4. MAIN CULMINATION (End of Act Two)

After Carl chooses to save his burning house over protecting Kevin, the tropical flightless bird that Carl promised Russell he would never abandon, Muntz captures the bird and Carl refuses to go and save Kevin. Instead, he refocuses all his energy to make it to Paradise Falls even if it kills him. Disappointed, Russell follows Carl to the Falls, only to throw his sash of Wilderness Explorer badges on the ground, yelling "Here. I don't want this anymore." Carl picks up the sash, leaving Russell, and enters his home alone. (1:08:59)

5. THIRD ACT TWIST

While inside his home, Carl looks through his wife's old scrapbook, but when he gets to the page titled "Stuff I'm Going To Do", he discovers that the blank pages that used to follow are now full. As he turns the pages, it's clear that Ellie completed her book by filling in the pages with the adventure of their marriage together. On the last page, the final note reads, "Thanks for the adventure. Now go have a new one." Now, when Carl picks up Russell's Wilderness Explorer sash, he knows what he must do: help Russell save Kevin from the evil Charles F. Muntz. (1:11:01)