'Up's' literary antecedents

The title of the new Disney/Pixar movie "Up," as well as its signature image of a house floating beneath thousands of tethered balloons, reminds us how frequently the theme of Lightness appears in children's literature. From Mary Poppins to Peter Pan, from Tarzan swinging on vines to Harry Potter scooting on his broomstick, children's stories seem to feature the quick, the lithe and the aerial. Maybe that's not surprising. While adults seem earthbound, youngsters zoom by on skateboards or jump from heights as caped incarnations of Superman.

The mature, in fact, seem to suffer from the debilitating effects of kryptonite; they are victims of Heaviness. While children "play all day long" in J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan," presumably their parents go to work or attend meetings. Indeed, the tragic moment in "Peter Pan" occurs near the end when the ever-youthful Peter comes to invite Wendy on another adventure and is shocked to find a gray-haired lady in the shadows; she can no longer fly, Wendy sadly explains, because "I am old." It is the accumulation of "body armor" over the years and in response to trauma that, psychologist Wilhelm Reich theorized, explains the change of fluid and flexible youngsters into stiff, sclerotic seniors.

The movie "Up" presents this as a clash. In one corner is 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen (voiced by Ed Asner), a once-upbeat man who has become a grumpy widower. In the other corner is an eager and talkative 8-year-old named Russell (voiced by Jordan Nagai), a Wilderness Explorer intent on earning his merit badge for assisting the elderly when he knocks on Carl's door. The way they are drawn emphasizes this contrast between Heaviness and Lightness, old age and youth: Carl (with a square head and square glasses) is all hard edges, while Russell (egg-shaped and balloon-like) is a soft and babyish Humpty Dumpty.

These two opposites are thrown together when Russell ascends the porch just at the moment Carl releases the balloons that lift his house free from its foundation and send it flying. Here, apparently, is a hybrid vehicle inspired by "The Wizard of Oz," combining Dorothy's mobile home and the Wizard's hot-air balloon. But Carl isn't headed to Oz. His destination is South America -- more specifically, Paradise Falls, "A Land Lost in Time."