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This family oriented movie is a great piece of film for all the right reason, the colors, the story, the characters, the images, the music, and for me, the flying house. The story of Carl, Ellie, and their house is a three person tale where their dwelling takes on many characteristics and fills a non-speaking role. Ellie and Carl meet at the house as children, they dream of living next to a waterfall, they fall in love there, they nurture the building back to health. Unfortunately, the human occupants can't bear children, but their residence becomes a child that is raised in a loving home. The couple dreams of taking a vacation to a South American waterfall location, constantly saving and having to repair each other and the house. As they grow, so does the house with broken bones and other ailments, just as a child develops in real life. After Ellie passes, Carl protects his home from the scary outside world of development. He does what many parents can't really do, remove them from the poor environment. We see Carl as a person who has no trouble leaving people, but his possessions are important, for they haven't left him or changed. Carl withdraws into the house to release the balloons that will set him and the house free from the ever encroaching city life. These events described above occur with very little dialog and brilliant cinematography. After taking to the skies, Carl realizes that there is a stowaway on his voyage to South America, Russell, a scout looking for his last merit badge. Many shenanigans occur after their arrival in South America, most of them include the house being tethered to Carl and Russell, this is symbolically the college years of the houses' life, still reliant on a parent for direction, but learning to navigate the world. A breaking point with the antagonist, an adventurer from ages past, Russell leaves Carl with the house, near the waterfall, too heavy from the baggage of two lives lived in it. Carl, in an effort to save the boy, purges the house, but for the necessary equipment to steer the house. The house can be seen a active in this scene, pursuing the boy and blimp, caring for those that have cared for it. After another thrilling action scene whereby the house brought Carl to the adventurers' blimp, Carl must decide on whether the house is more important than the lives that have lived in it. Freeing the house is the way for to release the building to it's future, where it should be. Carl lets go of the past, the loss of Ellie and their dreams together for a present reality and future necessity. The couple of Carl and Ellie could be seen as projecting their love of the waterfalls on the house, and then their dreams reach the waterfall. Imbuing their love into the house, it finds it's way home.

Another interpretation shows there are five stages of the house, similar to people, babyhood, in the beginning, an incomplete structure, unsure of how to handle the people inside of it. Second being childhood or adolescence, the house is repaired and clumsy, needing care from the occupants. Next is adulthood, working for years as a steady domicile for Carl and Ellie. In the penultimate stage, possibly retirement, actively aiding those that need help and shepherding them to the waterfall. In the last years, only hours, resigning to the place it occupies in the world and resting peacefully next to the one it loves, the waterfall.

As an architect, both interpretations work, especially since I am also a parent and a son. We are more than one thing, one viewpoint, we see multiple viewpoints. The story is complex and difficult for some people to emote due to the fact that a major character is an inanimate object, a house. The directors, writers, animators, etc., hit the right notes to make us feel for the house and the people in this great story.