A tech genius made this intricate floating LEGO house that plays the theme to ‘Up’

22 February 2022, 17:28 | Updated: 1 March 2022, 09:41

Cool clip sees Lego house start off the theme to Disney's UP

By Siena Linton

The most heartbreaking theme of any Disney Pixar movie, played on the metallophone in a satisfying chain reaction set off by a floating house and a golden ball.

In a viral video on TikTok by @enbiggen, who describes himself as a ‘maker of silly things’, a LEGO model of the house from UP begins to float up, up and away into the air, setting off a series of ‘cogs’ that in turn hit pitched metal bars, causing them to chime.

As the house soars gently upwards, the beginning of the melody to the ‘Married Life’ theme from the Disney Pixar animated film UP rings out in sweet tones.

When the house reaches the height of its ascent, a small gold ball is released from the front door, bouncing down the steps onto a rail.

It bounds along on its way past polaroids, postage stamp souvenirs and other visual cues from the film, ricocheting off metallophone bars to complete the theme in a satisfying loop that plays the melody on repeat.

Read more: You can now play LEGO’s functioning 3,622-piece grand piano

Carl and Ellie in the opening sequence of UP.
Carl and Ellie in the opening sequence of UP. Picture: Alamy

The opening scene that this music is taken from is a major tearjerker, and has become one of the most iconic moments in any animated film since its 2009 release. In a minutes-long sequence it tells the story of childhood sweethearts Ellie and Carl, and manages to stir every emotion from elation to heartbreak without a single word.

Over the course of a matter of minutes, we’re brought along on Carl and Ellie’s journey from their wedding day to fixing up their dilapidated dream house, matching it to a childhood drawing. We watch their dreams and aspirations, both realised and crushed, as they share their love of cloud-gazing together, struggle to conceive a child, excitedly save their pennies for the trip of a lifetime, and sadly see Ellie fall ill and die before they are able to go.

The stirring score is the work of three-time Grammy Award-winning composer Michael Giacchino who, at the request of director Pete Docter, scored the sequence to a piece of music that “plays as if from one’s grandmother’s music box”.

The remainder of the film follows Carl as a rather grouchy old man who flies away in a house suspended by helium balloons to the fictional location of Paradise Falls in South America, all the while with an accidental stowaway on board: eight-year-old ‘Wilderness Explorer’ Russell.

Read more: Michael Giacchino’s 7 best film scores

There are more film music and other favourites in the same style, including Indiana Jones...

... Moon River...

... and Spirited Away.