The shape of animation: Pixar Animation Studios once again redefines CG animated features with its 10th film, Disney/Pixar's Up.(Character Modelling: Animation)(computer graphics)

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A square. A circle. Two fundamental shapes in geometry, two iconic shapes in computer graphics. And, the simple basis for the visual style--the shape language--of Disney/Pixar's 10th animated feature, Up, one of the most sophisticated ever in terms of story, design, and technology. Directed by Pete Docter (Monsters, Inc.), co-directed by Bob Peterson, and written by Docter and Peterson, Up is an action-adventure, a comedy, a most unusul buddy film, a circle-of-life story, and Pixars first film in stereo 3D.

Carl Fredricksen, 78 years old and voiced by Ed Asner, is the square and the film's central character. His default expression is a scowl. But, that's now. When the story begins, he's eight years old and enchanted by the exploits of the pilot Charles Muntz, who he sees in a black-and-white newsreel claiming to have found a prehistoric bird, a "missing link," in Paradise Falls, South America. On his way home from the movies, little Carl meets Ellie, a bouncy tomboy, who is also a fan of Muntz and his motto, "Adventure is out there." Ellie is Carl's first circle. They marry, and we watch their lives spool forward. Carl becomes a balloon salesman. They save money for an adventure "out there," but something always stops them--a flat tire, a house repair, medical bills. Even so, they're happy as they grow old; life is colorful. And then, Ellie dies. The color fades from Carl's life. He stays in his house and talks to Ellie's picture. He becomes rigid.

But, two events happen. First, Russell, an eight-year-old Wilderness Explorer, shows up on Carl's doorstep, much to the grouchy old man's annoyance. Russell is a round little boy, full of joyful enthusiasm. He needs to help an elderly person to earn his last badge. Second, Carl finds himself sentenced to life in a retirement home. That spurs him to fulfill his promise to Ellie. As the retirement home orderlies wait at the curb for Carl to emerge from his house, 10,000 balloons rise up from hind the house and lift it from its foundations, Carl is on his way. He sits back, content, in his easy chair as his house floats past skyscrapers. And then, Russell knocks on the door.

"When Pete and Bob pitched the story, with Bob reading, it brought John to tears," says Jonas Rivera, producer, referring to the directors Docter and Peterson, and to John Lasseter, Pixar's chief creative officer.

The idea originated with Docter and Peterson noodling around with an escape fantasy, of just floating away. They wanted to find a unique character, one they hadn't seen before in an animated feature. Docter drew a grouchy old man holding a bunch of brightly colored balloons. They laughed, the brainstorming began, and soon the balloons were floating the old man in his house.

All they needed to do then was discover why the old man was in a floating house, where he would go, and what would happen when he got there. It took three years or so--Peterson, Docter, and story artist Ronnie del Carmen started in 2004. When the Ratatouille production pulled Peterson off the Up project for a while, Docter brought in Thomas McCarthy, writer and director for The Station Agent, who "took notes for six to eight months," as Rivera puts it.