The Laws of Physics in an Animated Universe

In an animated universe, the world can be whatever its animator wants it to be. That said, the more you change a certain element the more distracting it is. This is why in most movies the Universe closely resembles ours in the laws of physics, because doing otherwise would be too distracting for the story – unless otherwise established and maintained from the beginning of the movie. However, animators use suspension of disbelief many times to create unbelievable stories and universes that appeal to the audience and add story, humor and striking visuals.
  

Pixar’s UP! was released in 2009 and is produced by Pixar animation studios, directed by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson. This movie is an example as one of the many that uses the bending of laws to their advantage. It tells us the story of Carl Fredrickson; who flies his beloved house to Paradise Falls as a promise to his wife using thousands of colorful balloons. Along the way he encounters an overly eager and rotund boy, Russell, an ostracized dog Dug, and a huge rare bird from Paradise falls that Russell has named Kevin. Even though unwilling, Carl takes them on his journey along with him and slowly begins to care for them.

    The most obvious modifications to the physics of this world is the use of balloons as a mode of transportation. We can see from the beginning that the helium balloons in this universe is much stronger, there is a scene in the montage sequence of Carl’s past where it shows that balloons can lift up a cart.

However, in the sequences before and after that scene we also see the balloon behaving normally as a singular object.

Of course later on we see that Carl escaped his old life in the city by using balloons to float his house and fly away from all his worries.

Later we can also see Russell using this mode of transport with a leaf blower as a way to propel himself.

While it looks spectacular and it gives us a sense of wonder, this is impossible if done in real life. While the movie adds in other things that physically happen; such as the helium deflating over time and how the house lowers down with less helium balloons attached to it. On an episode of the popular mythbusting shows “Mythbusters” they had an experiment where they tried to fly a little girl with balloons. This can be seen here as we can see, it takes thousands and thousands of balloons just to unsteadily lift one girl. It took much less to float Russell away. And while Carl did have a lot of balloons, those clusters of balloons are all made from those normally sold in the zoos and he could not have possibly inflated more than enough in one night to carry the weight of the old Victorian house, the furniture, piping and everything else, as well as Carl and Russell. However, because it was so carefully done, Pixar is able to suspend the audience’s disbelief and entertain them with this very beautiful and imaginative way of flying that adds so much to the look, story and wonder to the film.

    Another part of the movie where it is improbable is Carl’s and other characters’ strength throughout the movie. We can see that the weight and strength of the character fluctuates over time. Carl and Russell who’s weight was supported by the house can somehow weigh down the house enough for them to walk it over to Paradise Falls. Carl also gets stronger as the movie progresses. We see him as slow and sluggish in the beginning of our journey, but at the end he has gathered enough strength to be able to climb a zeppelin while it is in motion, strong enough to hold onto Russell, Kevin and Dug from certain death – which is slightly unbelievable when we consider Carl’s age and how heavy his companions are.

 This is in contrast to the parts of the movie where Carl acts his age – such as the fight scene with Charles Muntz where they both had trouble with their backs and holding up heavy objects like the sword and cane. Of course this isn’t the first time where animators disregard the range of strength that the character should and might have had in real life. By making Carl stronger at the end the audience understands that he became a new person after going through everything in the movie.

    The next one is a classic trick animators used. There is a saying “always follow the laws of gravity; unless going against it is funnier” we see this everywhere, whether It be Looney Tunes cartoons or UP!. This technique is often used to great effect when a character is falling. Waiting creates anticipation and that enhances the shot because after waiting the audience will get more of a pay off or satisfaction from watching the scene. A couple example of the movie is when Carl falls in the old house and when Russell put up the tent.

Both of these shots feel real and funny because we identify the way they feel. It also adds excitement and gets laughs from the audience – which is always important.

We can go on forever about the way animation strays from real life. But one must remember that this is actually the strength of animation. If this was not an animated short I don’t think it would have been as believable because it would have been so jarring and almost impossible to replicate. By choosing to let go of certain laws animators extract the most out of their moments and entertain the audience. This is why animation is a strong medium for telling stories, it takes an audience outside of expecting normal things to happen and instead transport them to another universe where everything is possible. Pixar’s UP! is successful in doing so because the audience is transported into  Carl and Russell’s universe – where houses fly with balloons and where they would want to visit again and again.