Daily Dialogue — December 17, 2017

Carl Fredricksen: So you want to assist an old person?
Russell: Yep! Then I will be a Senior Wilderness Explorer!
Carl Fredricksen: [looks around furtively, then leans in close] Have you ever heard of a Snipe?
Russell: Snipe?
Carl Fredricksen: Bird. Beady eyes. Every night it sneaks in my yard and gobbles my poor azaleas. I’m elderly and infirm. I can’t catch it. If only someone could help me…
Russell: Me! Me! I’ll do it!
Carl Fredricksen: Oh, I don’t know. It’s awfully crafty. You’d have to clap your hands three times to lure it in.
Russell: I’ll find it, Mr. Fredricksen!
Carl Fredricksen: I think its burrow is two blocks down. If you go past…
Russell: Two blocks down! Got it!

Russell runs off down the street, calling out and clapping his hands.

Russell: Sniiiipe! Here, Snipey, Snipey…
Carl Fredricksen: [smirks] Bring it back here when you find it!

— Up (2009), screenplay by Bob Peterson & Pete Docter, Peter Docter & Bob Peterson & Tom McCarthy

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Lie.

Trivia: The villain Charles Muntz is named after Charles Mintz, the Universal Pictures executive who in 1928 stole Walt Disney’s production rights to his highly-successful “Oswald the Lucky Rabbit” cartoon series. This led Walt Disney to create Mickey Mouse, who soon eclipsed Oswald in popularity.

Dialogue On Dialogue: This lie by Carl is a great setup to a later payoff in which Russell finds the ‘snipe’ which turns out to be Kevin.