Wall-E

c.g._eads said:
Okay, here's the thing with Wall-E. No, here's the thing with Pixar. You cannot get within 2 weeks of any Pixar opening without hearing that the film is the greatest animated film in the history of the world. I swear it's been like that for every one of their films save for maybe Cars. That's why I don't trust anything I hear about these movies because I feel like they have some secret underground marketing trick where they claim these films as classics, therefore tricking the masses into believing they're classics as well. How can they be classics if they haven't even come out yet??

Anyway, onto Wall-E. What an interesting film! Do I think it's great? No, definitely not. Did it have moments of brilliance? Yes, it did. However, these moments were mostly contained within the first 40 minutes of the film. I thought from that point on, while the movie was entertaining, it lost its focus a bit and got repetitive. From the visuals on the ship to Wall-e and Eva continuing to say each other's names over and over. I admit that it was cute but I feel they went a little overboard.

But the main reason I can't say this movie is a classic is for the same reason I tend not to like other Pixar films save for Toy Story. There seems to be an... emptiness to the world. I can't put my finger on it. But despite their being all these humans in this movie, I never saw them as real people, and that left the movie to revolve around Wall-E and Eva, which was fine. They were both great characters. But again, it just felt lonely. Then again, that may have been intentional - as Wall-E was lonely.

Despite this (I'm trying to lower your expectations - can you tell?) I think this is one of, if not the, best movie of the year. There are little touches that are amazing. Like that Wall-E, stuck on this planet for so long picking up garbage, sees these skyscrapers, and starts building his trash piles into skyscraper models. I mean, I could just see someone/something that lonely for that long coming up with an idea like that.

I was and am still disappointed that Wall-E is a blatant ripoff of the Short Circuit robot. I didn't know you could just steal a robot model from another franchise like that. But I guess if it's been long enough...

Yes, I recommend this movie. But don't go in expecting a perfect film. It runs into a little trouble in the middle.
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Do you work for IGN?

" What an interesting film! Do I think it's great? No, definitely not."

then

"I think this is one of, if not the, best movie of the year"


really? seriously.. you don't work for IGN do you....
 
I dont have to repeat what everyone is raving about... But I personally thought that this movie had a surprising mix of visuals and the state of the human race- which is probably the only sci-fi theme that has been repeated over and over many times- and yet this one managed to show us something unique. Pixar knew how to tell the story for both young and old. I would say they are a rather inspiring and a fun bunch.
 
haha. no, I don't. i just think the standard for films is very low this year. I admit, however, that the review sounds a little contradictory.
 
I've got a meeting this afternoon... and I'm probably going to see Wall-E by myself... I watched the trailer days ago... that got me curious about the state of animation. Even if the story was so-so... in the trailer there's a little clip where the Wall-E robot is anxiously playing with his "fingers" and the dirty mechanical action of that was hypnotic... (admiring the animation)... so I think I have to see it.

I find some films to be better when augmented with a beverage... and for this one I'm undecided about RockStar Coffee or Houlihan's GIANT LIIT... (first two letters are "Long Island").
 
I loved this movie. It was very brave of Pixar to withstand the urge to have a pratfall or joke every 5 seconds and let the movie breathe, and yet my 4 year old daughter was mesmerized and barely squirmed the entire running time. In fact, the theater was packed with kids and most of them made nary a sound...Yes, Wall-E bears an immense similarity to Number 5 from Short Circuit, but they both look like E.T., so who ripped off who?
 
Same here. My 4 year old was riveted to her seat.
Great movie that really made me care about Wall-E and Eve. Even though they barely said a word.

Cheers,

Mike
 
Just got back from a packed theater.

First, some observations about the crowd. People were either pin-drop silent or laughing happily - the silent part was amazing because there were 3:1 kids to adults. What is amazing about Wall-E is that there is very little dialogue - let alone dialogue you'd necessarily think was funny on paper during a read. The quality of the humor and (rare) gags that are used to elicit a few of them is trademark Pixar. Not too much - the audience is smart enough to find it.

Pixar, with almost no exception, treats every moment in their films as if they are the most important moment - the only moment. Yet they don't belabor a point, they don't beat you up with it.

A credo Mr. Spielberg would have done well to remember in his latest outing. I saw Wall-E the day after watching Semi-Pro. I laughed during the Will Ferrell picture less than three times. And those were little more than polite guffaws.

Wall-E has some really magic moments, where the entire audience has a great time experiencing a staggeringly depressing world through the eyes of an amazing character.

Pixar makes optimistic movies. This picture is handily in the same league as Forrest Gump. Wall-E is a simple, good character who does extraordinary things while in pursuit of love. In the end, in front of a teary-eyed audience of hundreds, he finds it.

How can you not fall for Wall-E? He brings humanity back to human-kind and even to the robots he encounters. In fact, he is nothing less than the unwitting savior of humanity - packaged in a rugged metal casing.

I found the idea of ignoring one's pattern and protocol to be a very interesting concept. Message is all through the movie, but instead of a lecture, we discover it along with the captain.

Wall-E is hands-down the best picture I've seen in long time and might be Pixar's best work to date. It represents a maturity not present in any of their prior work, but takes a cue from everything that has come before it.

Worth a second viewing on the big screen. Maybe even a third.



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I just got back.

Wow.

The social commentary was a little heavy at times, but not necessarily unwarranted.

but wow. So well put together with the main characters saying what, two different words? I'll see it again on the big screen. And the quality of the rendering of the world (animation) was fantastic. Those scenes on earth at the opening was unreal.
 
Thats' odd... I never ever thouht or seriously considered going to see that movie. The previews looked like good animation for a really bad film.

But now i might check it out with all these great reviews it's getting.

(plus it used a real DP to assist in lighting... making it not a pure animation hahaha)
 
Hmm... I'm a little surprised that you'd need a top notch DP for the lighting... but it was pretty good. I felt like it was a smaller story then I expected... and yeah, the social commentary was a little heavy at times.

Overall I'd say it was pretty darn good... I've got a far more involved connection with GREEN then 99% of you guys... and there's a term called "green washing" which is basically just wanting to LOOK green for the social benefits, since it's currently TRENDY to show global environmental awareness... but I see a lot of situations where the green thing is a very calculated move... so the heavy environmental message is starting to make me cynical.

I enjoyed the movie... and nobody should be surprised if the audience sits through the credits because the rest of the story is told through the credits. If the credits were scrolling words over repeated stills from the movie then nobody would sit through them... but in the first few frames you realize that the credits are continuing the story.

I give it about 8 of 10. Very solid B+ Enjoyable yes... but perhaps a little higher reviewed then I'd have expected after seeing it.

Some of the animation was absolutely photo-realistic and phenomenal... worth seeing on the big screen for sure, but it didn't hit all of my buttons, just some of them.
 
MattinSTL said:
Hmm... I'm a little surprised that you'd need a top notch DP for the lighting... but it was pretty good. I felt like it was a smaller story then I expected... and yeah, the social commentary was a little heavy at times.

Overall I'd say it was pretty darn good... I've got a far more involved connection with GREEN then 99% of you guys... and there's a term called "green washing" which is basically just wanting to LOOK green for the social benefits, since it's currently TRENDY to show global environmental awareness... but I see a lot of situations where the green thing is a very calculated move... so the heavy environmental message is starting to make me cynical.

I enjoyed the movie... and nobody should be surprised if the audience sits through the credits because the rest of the story is told through the credits. If the credits were scrolling words over repeated stills from the movie then nobody would sit through them... but in the first few frames you realize that the credits are continuing the story.

I give it about 8 of 10. Very solid B+ Enjoyable yes... but perhaps a little higher reviewed then I'd have expected after seeing it.

Some of the animation was absolutely photo-realistic and phenomenal... worth seeing on the big screen for sure, but it didn't hit all of my buttons, just some of them.
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The green message is definitely there on the surface, but for me, what the film is really about is not accepting your programming. The heroes are those who can think outside the box of their programming and act independently, and the villains are those who can't.
 
And all the other pixar movies aren't about that? The battle of conformity versus non-conformity? Or to put it another way... acceptance vs. non-acceptance?

I got it... I liked it.
 
I was thinking why my daughter sat silent through this movie, when typically she gets squirrely after about 30 minutes in most films, and I realized it is BECAUSE there is little dialogue. Most animated films these days communicate a lot of the humor and story through dialogue, much of which goes over kids heads, so they lose interest. This film engages them using a purely visual language, so they understand every emotion and development being communicated and thus are completely involved in the storytelling. Lesson learned. Take note Dreamworks.
 
The green-washing argument can be applied to any person or company nowadays. There is little that is black and white. I developed a green show and drive a Land Rover. I recycle. We buy locally. We use cloth bags when we shop - even when we shop at WalMart.

Pixar and Ford and anyone else who does anything green or environmentally responsible / sustainable can be vilified. I'd rather encourage good behaviour from corporations than bemoan them for moving toward a greener disposition. Demanding more and more is fine, but this demonization of those who have started is a tired and juvenile campaign.

It's a big, nasty world out there and no one is going to be perfect. Pixar will sell hundreds of thousands of tons of merchandise relating to this picture - most of which will end up in landfills. And?

e
 
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