Character Analysis
Who’s your hero? J.K. Rowling? LeBron James? Batman? Imagine meeting your personal idol, and then finding out he wants to bump you off.
That’s exactly what happens to Carl when he meets Charles Muntz.
On the Road to Recluse Town
Muntz wasn’t always a maniac. When we first meet him, it’s in the newsreel that begins the film and entrances young Carl. Muntz is a celebrated, swashbuckling explorer who travels the world in a monstrous, extravagant airship, The Spirit of Adventure. He even has a cool, Errol Flynn style mustache. You can see why Carl and Ellie would admire him.
But when Muntz’s discovery of a rare, bird-like creature is widely discredited, it’s the beginning of the end for Muntz—and his sanity. Humiliated, he heads back to South America to clear his name, and that’s where Carl meets him, many decades later. Muntz has become a recluse, just like Carl—except instead of hiding in his house and watching daytime TV, Muntz is holed up in his dusty airship with only his damaged pride and a pack of mechanized dogs to keep him company. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
The Madness of King Muntz
As far as movie villains go, Muntz ranks pretty high on the Menace-O-Meter. First, there’s the fact that he’s still alive after all of these years. How is that even possible? Second, there’s his pack of canine henchmen. He’s not only trained these treacherous pups to cook his meals and fly fighter planes, he’s outfitted them all with special collars that allow them to talk. Evil genius much?
Then there’s the monologue that he delivers to Carl and Russell over dinner, which suggests he’s also a straight-up murderer.;
MUNTZ: You know Carl, these people who pass through here, they all tell pretty good stories. A surveyor making a map... A botanist cataloging plants...an old man taking his house to Paradise Falls. That's the best one yet. I can't wait to hear how it ends.
We have a pretty good idea how that story would end if Muntz has his way, and Carl does, too; that’s why he grabs Russell and gets the heck out of there. In all of his years of self-imposed exile, Muntz has gone bonkers.
We Can Be Heroes
Ultimately, Muntz teaches Carl an important lesson—you know, in between setting his house on fire and trying to kill both him and Russell. It’s a lesson echoed by Russell’s stories about his deadbeat dad, and it goes a little something like this: Your heroes may not be as awesome as they seem. Sometimes they turn out to be crazy old hermits who live in a flying shrine to their younger self and teach pit bulls how to cook hot dogs. So if you’re seeking inspiration, your best bet may just be to look within yourself. You might be surprised by how fearless, intrepid, and downright heroic you can be.
Charles Muntz’s Timeline