If you try to rank Pixar movies by how much they make you cry, 2009’s Up is surely somewhere high on your list. There are full-length movies that don’t do as good a job of eliciting emotion from an audience as the first ten minutes of the Ed Asner-helmed flick do. In the first minutes of the movie, we watch as a young Carl Fredericksen (Asner) meets a girl named Ellie. He falls in love with her, marries her, renovates their childhood clubhouse into a home of their own, they grow old together, and just before Carl and Ellie are about to fulfill their lifelong dream of visiting Paradise Falls, Ellie falls ill and dies. Tragic. Well, get ready to feel all the feelings again because Pixar Animation Studios recently announced the heartbreaking plot of their upcoming Up spinoff short film, Carl’s Date. The new short, which we recently discovered will be presented with Elemental, will bring back Pixar’s beloved Carl Fredricksen and give the love story between him and Ellie a bit of closure. However, fans cannot get on the same page about how they feel regarding this plot announcement.
The new short will follow Carl as he faces a new challenge: going on his first date since the passing of his beloved wife. As touching as Carl and Ellie’s story is, it is not surprising that some fans are not into the idea of Carl moving on. Some have even taken to Twitter to let their feelings out. One user turned to the infamous “woman yelling at cat” meme, albeit the cat substituted for the official poster for Carl’s Date, to express their feelings about the plot announcement. You can see the meme for yourself below.
UP fans seeing Carl move on from Ellie pic.twitter.com/1XrInzW4AhMarch 29, 2023
Another Twitter user seems to agree with @blurayangel’s sentiment. @Lizzie_AR isn’t on board with Carl finding anyone to love other than the “love of his life,” Ellie. They commented:
Noo no. I won’t tolerate this. Ellis was the love of his life.
Another Up fan got a bit harsher with their criticism. A user named @abIondedlife sees Carl moving on as tantamount to cheating. They commented:
his cheating whoring old ass moved on what happened to undying love?
Of course, not everyone believed Carl should be sentenced to loneliness following his wife's passing. Some welcomed the short film’s plot details with an open mind, even pointing out that moving on is precisely what Ellie would have wanted her dear husband to do. One user shared a screengrab from the movie of Ellie’s final message to Carl. You can see it below.
Did you not notice this in the movie? Ellie would want Carl to move on, and it is the main plot for the movie? To let go pic.twitter.com/52kD9xQWygMarch 30, 2023
Twitter user @disasterp1ants agreed with the idea of Carl moving on. He writes that he is with those calling Carl a cheater. The user came to Carl’s defense, exclaiming:
I’M SO SICK OF PEOPLE SLANDERING MY DUDE CARL SAYING HE’S FAKE AND A CHEATER FOR GOING ON A DATE WHEN ELLIE’S LAST MESSAGE TO HIM WAS “THANKS FOR THE ADVENTURE, NOW GO HAVE A NEW ONE!” AS IF THAT IS NOT EXPLICIT APPROVAL OF HIM MOVING ON!!!!!
Some users shared some pretty funny memes on the subject that sort of fall somewhere in the middle of the debate. Like user @deathofzero, who shared how they thought Ellie might look if Carl were to bring a new boo to their “their special tree,” and honestly, this one got a chuckle out of me. See the Donkey meme for yourself below.
Ellie when Carl brings another women to their special tree pic.twitter.com/5M96jA7waSMarch 30, 2023
Carl’s Date reportedly follows Carl as he nervously gets ready to go on a date with the help of his talking dog Dug. The idea was conceived by Up writer, co-director, and voice of Dug, Bob Peterson, while he and Kim Collins were working on the Disney+ short series Dug Days, which dropped on streaming in the fall of 2021.
Some Cinemablend reporters were treated to an early screening of the short, and by all accounts, not a single dry eye was left in the room after it was over. Our own Sarah El-Mahmoud called Carl’s Date a “beautiful follow-up.” So no matter where you fall on the debate, it seems like the Pixar team has approached the topic of Carl moving on with care and nuance, which only makes me more excited to check it out when it premieres ahead of the upcoming Disney movie, Elemental, which you can check out the latest trailer for here.
The forthcoming short does star the late Ed Asner, who recorded his part in a single day before he died in August 2021 at 91. Perhaps some fans will find it worthwhile enough to check out the short to see Asner’s last performance as Carl.
No matter your feelings on the plot synopsis for Carl’s Date, one thing should be clear, the team behind the original film has bought a lot of good storytelling-will with the gutwrenching opening sequence to Up. Fans and moviegoers should have confidence that the team behind the movie probably has a beautiful and poignant take on what it means to move on after losing a loved one. Still, I suppose we won’t know until we see the short for ourselves when it lands in theaters on June 16, 2023. Until then, maybe I’ll use my Disney+ subscription and give Up another watch. I think I’m ready to be hurt again.
