In this animated comedy film, retired balloon salesman Carl Friedricksen decides to escape being forcibly sent to a retirement home after an altercation with a construction worker. He ties a vast number of helium-filled balloons to his house, and flies away to South America - fulfilling a long-held ambition to rediscover the lost world of Paradise Falls. But he hasn't reckoned on coping with a stowaway - an eight year old boy called Russell.
In their book "Metaphors We Live By", George Lakoff and Mark Johnson discuss the "Up" metaphor. They say the central metaphor is the "Journey" metaphor - the journey is a metaphor for life.
Specific metaphors in the film include:
A rainbow of balloons against a a blue sky. This represents the quest for a life less ordinary - a life of adventure (written on the balloon held by eight year old Russell).
This is mirrored by the exotic rainbow bird, representing exotic (lost) lands and rare adventure - fantastic possibilities that no one believes are true.
The story book that regularly appears during the course of the movie represents the chapters and pages of life. Carl Friedricksen discovers that he appreciates each chapter with the benefit of hindsight - and that he hadn't celebrated what had been achieved at the time.
The initial adventure is to reach Paradise Falls (a reference to Paradise Lost - a lost world complete with dinosaurs and other exotic creatures). However, the lesson or moral (so often a part of children's stories) is that the goals you start off with in life are not always the goals that are the most rewarding, nor are they achieved necessarily in the way you think they will be achieved.
A life of adventure - a life less ordinary is what Friedricksen is seeking. However, he finally realises that this goal has already been achieved - this chapter in the book has been written, once he takes the time to turn over the pages. The house eventually reaches the falls after its journey - but that specific goal is no longer the point in life. He has moved on.
What gives life its meaning is not the destination - it's the journey. In the film's final scenes the house is at the falls - but he has a new life with the little boy.
