Up is a 2009 American animated adventure comedy-drama film directed by Pete Docter and written by Bob Peterson and Docter. Produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures, the film centers on Carl Fredricksen (voiced by Ed Asner), an elderly widower who, by attaching numerous helium balloons to his house, travels to South America with youngster Russell (voiced by Jordan Nagai) in order to fulfill a promise that he made to his late wife. Along the way, they befriend a talking dog (voiced by Peterson) as well as an exotic bird and encounter Carl's childhood idol Charles Muntz (voiced by Christopher Plummer), who has sinister plans to capture the bird.