"Please do not try this at home," jokes Director Pete Docter, referring to the release of Pixar's latest animated feature, Up. As part of the ramp-up ahead of the commercial release of the film, the studio offered journalists a sneak peek oat their latest baby, with Docter and Producer Jonas Rivera on hand to explain how they brought the project forward, and the journo's liked.

Up follows Carl Fredricksen, a 78-year-old curmudgeon, who, feeling life is passing him by, and to make good on a promise he made to his late wife, sets out to fulfill his dream of a great adventure by tying thousands of balloons to his house and flying away to the wilds of South America – a cheerful 8-year-old boy named Russell coming along for the ride. It’s a charming and imaginative scenario, but also one, shall we say, slightly out of the ordinary. Docter however recognized the potential danger from the start.

"We knew it was a risk, but there is a rich history of grouchy, old characters," he laughs. "A crusty, old guy just felt appealing. There are a lot of entertainment possibilities. Also, it hadn’t been done yet. One of the big things for us at Pixar is not treading the same ground, and this being the tenth film, that’s getting harder and harder to do."

Pixar of course is the uber-studio which has come to change an entire entertainment industry, through the production of such critical and commercial hits as Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille and, recently, WALL•E.

All eyes are on Docter and Rivera then as they attempt to maintain the studio’s run of commercial successes. No pressure, then, though their formula to succeed is to make films that they themselves love and that will entertain, but also strike an emotional chord with international audiences. And the question they constantly asked themselves whilst making Up? "What are we giving the audience to take home?"

It is this approach that has made them two of Pixar Animation Studios’ most prodigious talents. Joining Pixar in 1990, Docter was part of the team responsible for Toy Story. He then served as a storyboard artist on the softer A Bug’s Life, and wrote the initial story treatment for tricky follow-up Toy Story 2.

Docter made his debut as a director on Monsters, Inc. (Academy Award® for nominee for Best Animated Feature Film) and as one of Pixar’s key creatives, gained an original story credit for early story development on WALL•E (which won an Academy Award® nomination for Best Original Screenplay). Things are looking up then.

Rivera joined Pixar in 1994 and worked on Toy Story. Most recently, Rivera served was production manager on the Golden Globe® winning feature Cars, so when the duo teamed-up in 2004 to work on Up, they knew the look of the characters was going to be an artistic breakthrough for animation, unlike any they had ever dreamed in the past.

"We have these amazing technical directors who know how to do almost everything, and on this film we said, ‘we want you to do everything wrong!’ Ignore the way things work in real life," Docter recalls. "The look was very hard to achieve both artistically and technically. Hopefully it’s something that is not obvious but invisible. We didn’t want real, we wanted caricature,” Rivera adds. “It is a little more throwback to old Disney."

The look of the film was so important to Docter and Rivera that the Up team traveled to South America to ensure that the landscape in the film was perfect. Paradise Falls, the fictional location of the film, was sketched from the actual table top mountain, like an island in the sky, where Brazil, Venezuela and Guyana meet.

They chose the locale because they needed someplace isolated that Carl could get stuck, without any outside influences so that he could grow and evolve as a character. "The mountains are over a mile high, there is no way to get up or down," said Rivera. "This location felt like a cool place because it is a lost world and very detached, and also sets the tone for making an adventure film."

But it’s not all expensive animation and sweeping vistas that make Up so distinctive. Through a brief yet poignant segment early on in the film, an emotional foundation is also established, which is the bedrock for the story. Through a glimpse into the charming relationship between Carl and his wife, Ellie, we learn that Carl was a balloon salesman. Together they had one big dream – to take a great adventure to Paradise Falls. But as life’s little unexpected nuisances got in the way, their dreams never come true and, after Ellie’s death, Carl disengages from the outside world.

Upon the harsh realisation that he never fulfilled her wish, he takes immediate action to keep their dream alive. It is from this very real-life, human montage, that serious wackiness builds, and there seems to be no shortage of it.

When asked what they hope to achieve with Up for both themselves and the studio, Rivera is reflective. “Hopefully it has the flavor of an action-adventure film, but a little softer then some of the movies that are out today. We are hoping this film is an extension of where the Pixar movies have gone, and at the same time reaches back into the past and grabs on to the things that we love from the classics."

Look out for something colourful and touching on 16 October, when Up will also be presented in Disney Digital 3-D™ in select cinemas.

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