The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe

The laws of physics in UP

The film “Up” is one of my favorite movies of all time, because it is heart warming and is very inspiring. The movie centers around two characters Carl Fredricksen and a young boy Russell. Carl is a 78-year-old man who finally fulfills his and his deceased wife’s dream of traveling to a remote jungle to live. Russell is an 8-year-old Wilderness Explorer that is seeking his next wilderness badge. Since Carl was young he had dreams to travel and so as his best friend Ellie who later becomes his wife. Ellie’s biggest dream in life was to travel to South American and live in Paradise Falls. As Carl and Ellie age together, Ellie became ill and dies which leaves Carl alone in their home. As a way to honor Ellie’s memory and escape a court ordered assisted living, Carl ties thousands of helium-inflated balloons around the house and takes off. While in the high above the city, Carl hears knocking at his door and to his surprise it’s Russell who was grasping to the porch of the house. The unlikely pair goes through a life changing adventure where they encounter talking dogs and an extinct bird. The movie seems to follow the laws of physics until Carl decides to fly away in his house taking Russell with him. The movie “Up” is an incredible story that takes the audience trough a rollercoaster of emotions, but it bends the laws of physics in order to create a compelling and entertaining movie. To demonstrate how the laws of physics are bent; lets examine how the animators bend the laws and allow the characters room to challenge gravity, air resistance, force, air pressure, impulse and momentum.

First, lets follow Carl and Russell through their amazing adventure to South America. In the scene where Carl decides to take off and travel with his house with just helium balloons does not follow the laws of physics.

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The fact that it takes Carl ten seconds to lift and move an entire house slightly to one side of a frame, then in the next frame the entire house is in mid air in less than 1 second is not an accurate portrayal.

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The house is relying on the forces of pull of the balloons to get lifted and on the air pressure for direction. If the house had an added force like a gas or electric power motor the scene would be more realistic. The animators do make the house move to one side when is five feet of the ground to indicate that they are following laws of physics of our universe but in reality that is not enough.

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In addition, one would have to factor in the force of gravity, the weight of the house, the force on the ground, and the force off pull of the balloons. Further, one would need to calculate the air pressure to find out in which direction the house is moving and how far. While it is not impossible to lift large objects of the ground using a hot air balloon in our universe, the force pushing up has to be grater that the force pushing down. In Carl’s case in the real universe it would have being in possible to pull out the stunt in such small time frame.

Moving to the next point, let’s examine how the animators bent the law of air resistance to give Carl the ability to travel through the air with speed and precision.

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In this scene, Carl manages to catch up to a moving blimp by speeding up with the house using the air current. Once he does catch the blimp, Carl manages to slow in to almost a complete stop next to blimp to save Russell from falling off the blimp.

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In order for that to happen in our universe Carl would have to move up into an air current strong enough to allow him to achieve high speeds. In addition, the shape of the house and how much air resistance is pushing back against the house would need to be factored in.

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In another scene, Carl moves close to the blimp and manages to slow his house to almost a complete stop. In the movie it takes Carl three seconds to slow down and two turn the house around. However, in order for this to happen in our universe we will have to factor air resistance the weight of the house and the time when he started turning to stop the house. At times like this the animators treat Carl’s flying house as if it was a car moving on the ground, because it is able to make quick turns and stops. In order to make such maneuvers an object needs friction to absorb the force of that is changing direction. I was able view pass the bend laws of physics because the characters actions fit within the story and that a low the characters to grow.

Moving to the next rules of physics we are going to examine how the animators deal with characters strength, force, impulse and momentum. In two to three scenes Carl and Russell direct the house from the ground pulling on a water hose. They manage to walk and pull the house in high and low altitudes. In one scene they are high up on top a rocky surface and drag the house using only their strength and body weight.

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In this particular scene we would have to factor in the air resistance, the force of the

balloons pushing up, weight of the house, the body weight of Carl and Russell and their

strength. In order for this to happen in our universe, Carl and Russell’s body weight and

strength would have to be greater than the air resistance and the balloons force that is pushing

the house up.

In the next scene, Carl stops the house from sliding down a moving blimp by pulling on the

water hose that is attached to the house.

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In this scene there are many laws happening at once. First we have to consider Newtown’s first

law, the Law of Inertia, which says that an object wants to keep doing what it is doing unless a

stronger force comes along to stop it.

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The house is sliding down the wing of the blimp and by doing so it is gaining momentum based

on its mass. Also the blimp is moving, which is creating an air pressure force that is pushing the

house faster down the wing. If Carl had done this action in our universe, his strength has to be

greater than the mass of the house, the air pressure and the force that is pushing the house

forward. Also, there would need to be strong friction between Carl’s feet and the floor of the

blimp to allow Carl to stop the sliding house. Additionally, the surface of the blimp has to be

strong enough to absorb the force from Carl’s feet. If that was to be true we will see a

significant dent on the blimp surface were all the force was absorb from Carl’s actions.

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Off course this happens in Carl’s universe, which allows him to bend the

laws of physics and by doing so he looks like a hero. The action follows the bent path of the

movie’s universe and this allows the action to feel ordinary and credible.

Continuing to the next scene, the animators of the movie also bend the laws of impulse and momentum. In this particular scene, three of the characters jump down from one moving object to another. Kevin the bird puts Russell and Doug the dog on his back and jumps out of the moving house and manages to hold onto a hanging water hose. If this was done in our universe Kevin’s impulse has to be greater than the force that is pushing him down. Also, the force created by Kevin’s legs when they leave the ground needs to create enough momentum in order to allow Kevin to break the houses glass window and move across the air.

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In addition, Kevin’s momentum needs to be strong enough to allow him to break the air resistance and the gravity force that is pushing him down. We also have to factor in his total mass including the two characters he is caring on his back and the velocity of the house from where he is jumping.

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The stunt is done within the rules of physics of the movie so its credible because it follows the laws of the movie’s universe.

To conclude with my analysis of the movie let’s look back and recap on how the animators bend the laws of physics to add a sense of adventure in the movie. By bending the laws the creators allow the characters to grow and move within the storyline. The characters are carefully placed in the story and have human like behaviors, which makes them believable. Once the audience is invested emotionally into the story the characters have room to move and bend the laws of physics. Being an action adventure movie, “Up” breaks many laws including the Physical Law but in animation films it is acceptable because we enter the universe of CGI. In the world of animation, we don’t hold the characters accountable if they don’t move within the laws of our universe. We push our reasoning to one side and follow the characters throughout the story with our imagination and emotions. In the end, “Up” is a fun and uplifting story allows the audience to enjoy the characters and adventures within their universe, rather than, the various laws of our universe that were bent and broken. Animation allows filmmakers to tell these fantastic stories and create exciting sequences and universes.