Jordan Nagai

In Up (2009), Jordan Nagai's Russell and Ed Asner's gruff Carl are funny together without either sounding foolish for needing company. Nagai's natural child voice helps make the unlikely friendship believable, and we rate that contribution highly. We were moved by their companionship because the performances let us recognise the loneliness without insisting that we learn something from it. Pete Docter and fellow screenwriter Bob Peterson give the pair room to get along, and Nagai makes good use of it.

Docter's handling of the voice matters here: he made Russell calmer and more relaxed in response to what Nagai brought to the part. That is a useful instance of a director listening to an actor and adjusting the character accordingly. The apparent ease took work, with Docter using games and physical prompts when Nagai was shy in the recording studio. Those methods helped produce energetic lines and laughter, so calling the finished performance natural should not mean pretending nobody directed it.

Nagai's acting career was brief, running from 2009 to 2014, with Russell remaining his signature part. He also voiced Charlie in The Simpsons (2009) and Johan in the English dub of Beyond Beyond (2014), though those credits alone cannot tell us what a longer career might have offered. Dug Days (2021) used archive recordings of his Russell from the original Up sessions.

The chases in Up cannot quite sustain the promise of its near-silent portrait of married life, and Nagai cannot solve that imbalance. What he and Asner supply is a reason to keep caring about Carl and Russell when the adventure becomes less absorbing. That makes the performance central to our affection for the film, even if it does not account for everything the film does well. When you return to Up, listen to Russell as closely as you watch the opening.