- This show is sponsored by
Better Help Therapy Online. When life gets challenging, it can be difficult to stay
in problem-solving mode instead of focusing on the negative. Talking with a therapist can
help you stay on higher ground. Visit BetterHelp.com/SUPER, and learn to focus on the positive. Hey, brother. Question for you guys. Did the movie "Up" really happen? I mean, obviously it really
came out and was in theaters, and we all watched, it
and we collectively cried, and enjoyed the whimsical adventure. But inside the movie, did Carl actually fly
his house with balloons all the way down to Paradise Falls where he immediately discovered a hyper-rare species of bird, encountered his childhood hero, adopted a talking dog, and subsequently found a child exactly like the kind he and his wife were unable to conceive? Yeah, this has been one of
the longest standing questions about the movie "Up" since it came out. Did it actually happen, or are
we witnessing something else? Could we actually just be watching Carl's metaphorical journey into heaven? Or did maybe Carl just, like,
totally lose his marbles after losing his house? Well, I'm not sure I can honestly
speak to either of those, but after some excellent
new evidence just turned up in "Turning Red" of all places, I think we can confidently say that "Up" is an adventure of the mind, and is mostly all happening
inside Carl's head. (upbeat music) - [Child] Hey, kid. (squeals) - Guys, I have to tell you, one of the most fun things about existing inside of
the world of theory crafting is one tiny new little
morsel of information drops into your lap, and it ends up reframing
everything you thought about an old idea. And that is exactly
what's happening today, thanks to, of all the installments to the Pixar timeline, "Turning Red". Because while it might not seem like Meilin's coming-of-age tale has much to do with the
70-year old man's journey to the acceptance of the loss of his wife, there is one critical element, timing. Now, I'm sure this
doesn't actually require any clarification or anything, but "Turning Red" is not
actually a prequel to "Up". Or is- No, it's really not. Or is- No, it seriously, it's not. But, it does take place before "Up". "Up" came out in 2009,
and takes place in 2009, but "Turning Red", despite
coming out this year in 2022, actually it takes place in 2002. Y2K, am I right? Actually, no one cared about 2002. But it is particularly relevant here because in a blink-and-you-miss-it
Easter egg right here, you can see a skeleton
of none other than Kevin. Well, I say Kevin, but
obviously something is off, namely the size, because while this is obviously
the same species of bird, it's also obviously much smaller. Now, I know what you're thinking. "Perhaps this is merely a juvenile Kevin who died a tragic early death, got caught up in the wrong bird crowd, and made some wrong bird decisions." And I'll admit that's
possible. It's possible. But after this video, I think we are all going
to be forced to conclude that that is not the case, especially when you consider the fact that Kevin birds are
extremely responsible, and would never be caught
up with that kind of crowd. But let me ask you this, dear viewers, why do you assume Kevin is tall? It's because Carl meets a
tall Kevin, right? Right. But remember, it's possible that none of this is
even happening at all. So the real question we have to ask is why is Carl imagining
Kevin to be so tall? And the answer is that because Carl's imagination is being fueled by this video seen at the
beginning of the movie, where Charles Muntz is revealing
a massive Kevin skeleton. But if you will recall
later in that exact video, science tests the skeleton
and reveals it to be a fake. - No! - Yes, I know what is hard
to stomach, Young Carl, In the film you're watching, you're certainly positioned to make you question their claim. And yet, why would they? To tear down the greatest
explorer on Earth? To tear down a man who has
brought back several dirigibles worth of scientific discoveries? Dirigible, by the way, top-10 word. It's a blimp. But honestly, it makes more sense if the skeleton was indeed
fabricated by Muntz. Ah, but J, in "Turning Red",
we saw a real skeleton. Doesn't that prove that
Kevin was a real bird? Yes, that does prove that
this species of bird was real. But honestly, I don't think
whether or not it was real was ever actually in question because if Muntz made it up entirely, he would know that he made it up entirely. So why would he swear to
spend the rest of his life looking for a live thing
he knew didn't exist? - I promise to capture the beast alive! And I'll not come back until I do! - Instead, what I think actually happened is that Muntz did see a version of Kevin, but as ever, was unable
to actually capture it, so instead constructed a
fake skeleton to bring back. But then you might be wondering, "Well then, why would he make it so tall if it was only ever this big?" Well, for one, showmanship. But for two, it's entirely possible Muntz actually perceived
Kevin to be this tall. I mean, we actually
get a firsthand account of how easy it is to
misconstrue what you are seeing at Paradise Falls when Carl
thinks he is talking to a man, but is actually just hearing Dug talk. Mm, I wonder if it's gonna be a problem that I'm using a scene from what I'm claiming
is Carl's imagination to prove my point. Well, as long as I don't say it out loud, that probably won't be a big deal. Wait. Either way, as you can see, what it actually comes down to is whether or not Carl
actually went to Paradise Falls and saw a real Kevin in person. So the question is, can we prove that he didn't
go to Paradise Falls? And honestly, I think we can. And as a refresher, just so
we're all on the same page here, the imagination portion of the movie would start right after this, when Carl finally has a court
date, and loses his house. This is Carl's absolute lowest point. Not only has he lost his wife now, but also the number-one thing that in his mind was
keeping her memory alive, the house they built together. So, from here we have a long
list of suspicious things that seem like maybe
that could only happen inside someone's head. And the first is, well, the balloons. And like, look, I'm no expert zoo-balloon
salesperson like Carl is, but I just don't think this
is actually enough balloons to lift someone's house. In fact, Pixar themselves
have admitted this. They've said there's about
20,000 balloons they animated to lift the house, when in reality it should
actually be several million. And look, Carl, I understand
that in your position you're likely on some
sort of fixed income. Maybe you didn't pay the math budget, but either way you were just
way, way, way off here, man. Unless, of course, all you
need is enough balloons to satisfy your imagination in which case, yeah, 20,000
is probably more than enough. But then the really, really
unbelievable thing that happens is the storm he encounters
inside the house. I mean, it appears to be massive. It pops a ton of balloons, veers the house entirely off course, and knocks Carl unconscious
for almost a day. And yet, despite being unconscious, and unable to steer the house that was thrown in a random direction, Carl manages to wake up with the house landing in
exactly the exact location he was aiming for. Are you kidding me, Carl? That'd be like if I went to
the roof of this building, and attached a note to
a balloon for my wife, and then just let it go. And like an hour from now
she texted me and be like, "Yes, I'd love to have pizza
for dinner. Great idea." Except that I'm only about 20 minutes away from my house right now. That would never happen. And Carl's trying to land his house on a different continent. - South America. It's like America, but South. - And it doesn't stop there. Upon landing at Paradise Falls, Carl almost immediately, and
accidentally, discovers Kevin, the very bird his childhood
hero left 75 years ago to discover and has still not found. That is insanely lucky. But while we're on the topic, let's talk about Kevin for a second because despite being a
rare, exotic, giant bird, she is also very similar to Ellie. I mean, what are the odds? For one, her color scheme is almost exactly like the color scheme Ellie chose for the house. On top of that, and
especially keeping in mind what we know the true stature
of a Kevin bird to be, Carl imagines Kevin to
be larger than life, the same way he thinks of Ellie. She's also a completely wild thing that Carl can't really seem to understand, and yet he feels an absolute
desire to protect her. And Kevin is a mother, just
like Ellie wanted to be. Speaking of which, before Carl
even lands at Paradise Falls, he also picks up another
companion in the form of Russell, Russell who is almost 100% an example of the exact kind of child he and Ellie would've hoped to raise. For example, when Carl meets Ellie, she gives him a merit badge. When Carl meets Russell, he's
trying to earn merit badges, and is missing just
one, one missing piece. And in a lot of ways, a
child is the missing piece from Carl and Ellie's marriage. Russell even feels like
an average of the two. He has that absolute zest for adventure like Ellie always did. But he's also a little lacking in the real-world-experience department. Like, he's got all the gear,
he's read all the books, but maybe he's not quite as capable. It reminds me of a young Carl pretending he's Charles Muntz
trying to leap bound Everest. - [Narrator] He goes around Mount Everest. - But by the end of the film, and in the name of helping Kevin the bird, Russell overcomes tremendous odds, and quite literally flies into action. So in the end, Kevin's impact on Russell is very similar to the
impact Ellie has on Carl. And guys, now we need to pause real quick to give a big shout out to
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Better H-E-L-P.com/super for 10% off your first month. Link is the description down below. But anyway, let's get back to
the ground on Paradise Falls where in about 10 minutes, Carl has located the very bird Charles Muntz has been unable
to locate for 75 years. And let's talk about the
implications of those 75 years. When Muntz leaves at the
beginning of the movie, it is at least 1934, at
least based on the ambulance we see taking Young Carl to the hospital. And the director of "Up" has confirmed that Muntz's age at the time was 23, meaning that in 2009 he is 98 years old. While I'm sure there are a lot of very impressive 98-year
old people out there, I just don't think this is how a 98-year
old man moves around, especially when you consider that Muntz has apparently
been living alone on his dirigible in a remote jungle for 75 years with no medicine
more modern than 1934. However, it might be the way
a 98-year old moves around if they are imagined through
the lens and grandeur of a fondly remembered
invincible childhood hero. And that's not even to mention the giant Somalian leopard tortoise. Oh, you don't know about the giant Somalian leopard tortoise? Well, honestly, I don't blame you. It's only mentioned once, but the implications for the state of Carl's mind are massive. Here's the clip. - I found it on Safari with Roosevelt. - All right, so let's break that down. To be fair, there are two
Roosevelts he could be referencing in this scene. Either Teddy Roosevelt or
Franklin Delano Roosevelt. But not for nothing, it's Teddy. Teddy Roosevelt was a known adventurer, but FDR, I mean he was a great president, but also he had polio. So I'm thinking that
maybe he was skipping out on most of the giant Somalian
leopard tortoise hunts. But it's an important distinction because Teddy Roosevelt died in 1919. That was 10 years after he left office. And if in 1934, Muntz was 23, that means the oldest
Muntz could have been when Teddy Roosevelt
died in 1919 was eight. So really this ends up
being quite the claim. I mean, first of all,
what is an eight-year old doing on safari with the
ex-president of the United States? And two, are you saying that you, eight-year old Charles Muntz, was also somehow a member of the president's nightly card game? - He and I fell into having a playing Gin Rummy in the evenings. - And are you claiming that
inside of that card game he was cheating against you, a child? - And did he cheat. - It's a bold claim,
that's all I'm gonna say. But also, even if you want
to believe the rest of that, in what world are you, an eight-year old, on safari with the ex-president
of the United States, you find a giant Somalian
leopard tortoise, and you get to keep it, not Teddy Roosevelt. Doesn't add up! To me, it makes a lot more sense if you grew up admiring adventurers like Charles Muntz and Teddy Roosevelt and now while you're imagining
this chance encounter with your childhood hero, of course he knew the other
famous adventurer of the day. But I can hear what
you're saying over there, "J, maybe it's more
believable than you think. I mean, doesn't Muntz claim that everything on his
dirigible is less than half of what he actually found?" And you're right, although specifically he
says most of his collection is in museums around the world, but most implies more than 50%, meaning what's left on the dirigible is less than half of what he found. So yeah, you're right. But I see what you're getting at. If what's left in the
dirigible is less than half, and he hasn't added to the collection since he left her Paradise
Falls when he was 23, that means he must have found more than twice that amount
of stuff before he was 23. So yeah, maybe he was on a
safari with the President when he was eight. And you're right on
paper, that sounds good. But in reality, that still
all just points against him because if he really
found that much stuff, made that many discoveries, by the time he was 23, they would have absolutely
no reason not to trust that his skeleton of Kevin was real. If he had found that much stuff, would they have stripped him of his place in this explorer's guild so easily? Of course not. This guy would be their
most famous member by far. He would be the greatest
explorer who ever lived like 10 times over. But ask yourself this,
how realistic is it even that he found that much
stuff before the age of 23? It's almost impossible, unless again, it's all
just the imagined grandeur of your childhood hero. But in the light of the new
Easter egg in "Turning Red", that's not even the most
incriminating piece of evidence against Carl. Instead, this is. - They all tell pretty good stories. A surveyor making a map, (helmet thuds) botanists cataloging plants, (helmet thuds) an old man taking his
house to Paradise Falls. - Do you see the problem? Muntz claims to have killed anyone else who came looking for Kevin. And yet we see a skeleton
of one in "Turning Red". And sure, maybe like a single explorer could have gotten in and out
unnoticed entirely by Muntz. But consider the location of the skeleton. It's in a middle-school classroom. Is that where you would house this otherwise extremely rare artifact? No, of course not. The fact that it's in a classroom suggests that not only did they find one, but they have found so many that there are enough available for some amount of distribution. And again, this is in 2002. Carl's journey is seven
years later in 2009, and his wife worked in the
South American Bird exhibit at the zoo. So there's just no way that the world's two
biggest Charles Muntz fans didn't hear about the
actual discovery of the bird that Muntz left and was accused of faking all those years ago. Which then also explains
why in Carl's imagination he would make Muntz a bad guy. Because as we see in "Turning Red", eventually the real skeleton
of a Kevin was discovered, meaning they could finally
prove once and for all that Muntz had been faking
the original skeleton. So in the end, what I think
we're actually witnessing is a man who's grappling
with the loss of his wife. He's imagining the adventure he and Ellie had always
wanted to have together ever since they were little kids pretending in the very house they live in for the rest of their lives. It's an adventure that features the giant
chocolate-eating colorful bird their hero once sought, a house flown by nothing but
balloon power across the globe, a daring sky-bound rescue
complete with dog fighters. And of course the child
they've always hoped to have. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely still love
this movie so, so much. And if what we're witnessing is actually just someone
dealing with their grief instead of going on an
actual crazy adventure to South America, I am totally okay with that. But I'd love to know
what do you guys think? Did it really happen, or was
it all just in Carl's head? Also, a quick announcement before we go. Next Friday, November
4th at 6:00 p.m. Eastern, we are gonna be hosting
a live trivia night here on the Super Carlin Brothers channel where we will be revealing
our brand new animal mugs for the year. We have in some very,
very awesome designs, I cannot wait to show them to you. And we might have some
new chocolate products you might be interested in as well. Just saying, you wanna be there. One more time, that is next Friday, November 4th at 6:00 p.m. Set a reminder on your calendar right now. (words reverberate) But guys, as always, thanks so much for watching today's video. Don't forget to hit the like
button if you haven't already, and ring that bell so you
don't miss any future videos. If you wanna see some more
Pixar theory action from us, you can check out this video right here to see who does 22 from "Soul" become after they go to Earth. But otherwise, Ben, until next time, I will see you in another life, brother.
