10 Astounding Facts About Up That May Have Slipped Under Your Nose

Despite Pixar Animation having released 27 different titles throughout its 28 years of development (including the upcoming Elemental), it's still safe to say Up is one of the best-animated movies the studio has ever created. Some even consider the title to be one of the best in history. The story is very well written, the scenery is vibrant and colorful, and all of the characters have their own charms. I as a kid, absolutely fell in love with Russell's lively and dynamic energy, in contrast to Carl's stoic, grumpy, yet caring demeanor. And who wouldn't love our favorite boy, Dug, who can speak better English than most canines in the world?
Surely we've watched Up not only once, but countless times as kids. But even so, there might be some fun facts we might not know about the movie yet. That's why we're here today, to provide you with 10 little details that you may have missed about Up, that will make you want to rewatch it right away.

#1 The iconic Paradise Falls were heavily inspired by the real-life Angel Falls in Venezuela, the tallest waterfall on earth.

Source: Pixar Animation Studios, Encyclopedia Britannica

For artistic purposes, Paradise Falls is even three times taller than Angel Falls, at 9700 feet!

#2 For these scenic frames, the creative team went on to climb Mount Roraima, Gyuana in South America themselves!

Source: Pixar Animation Studios, Flickr/Pinterest

And the result was worth it.

#3 Our favorite scout boy, Russell, was supposed to have a different name.

Source: Pixar Animation Studios

His name initially was Lewis. It was later changed to avoid confusion with the main protagonist in Meet the Robinson, another Disney animated classic.

#4 To create this iconic scene, Pixar had to use up over 20,000 balloons!

Source: Pixar Animation Studios

To make Carl's house float during the movie, the technical team created a canopy of 10,297 balloons, and they had to double these numbers up to 20,622 for the iconic scene where the house completely lifts off! They even calculated that to make Carl's house fly in real life, a whopping number of 26.5 million balloons is needed!

#5 When designing Kevin, REAL ostriches were brought directly to the studio for research purposes.

Source: Pixar Animation Studios

They had to study the emus and cassowaries as well, as Kevin is the hardest character to design in the film.

#6 Pixar just needed only ONE dog to produce the entire dog pack.

Source: Pixar Animation Studios

All of Charles Muntz's ferocious dog pack was actually a single dog based on Beta, and some adjustments were made to make them look different in size and looks.

#7 Many drawings in Ellie's book were drawn by the director Peter Docter's little daughter.

Source: Pixar Animation Studios

She also voiced Young Ellie as well!

#8 Throughout the process, the Animation Department produced an average of 4 seconds of animation a week.

Source: Pixar Animation Studios

During the peak of productions, there are over 70 animators on the scene, within a crew of 375.

#9 Carl and Russell's character design has a hidden meaning behind it.

Source: Pixar Animation Studios

Carl's square design represents his static and hard-to-move nature, while Russell's circular outlook stands for his flexible and dynamic personality. Make sense, huh?

#10 Up is the first movie in history to be nominated for both “Best Picture” and “Best Animated Feature Film”

Source: Pixar Animation Studios

Very well deserved.