Wall-E

Jeremy Ordan

Jeremy Ordan

Major Contributor
I normally don't get into animation in any way or shape (outside the scene in Kill Bill which was freaking awesome), but the top notch reviews of this film are really making me second guess my initial response. The NYTimes gave it a huge review almost claiming it to be the second coming of brilliant cinema so.... like the title says, I think I'm actually going to see the G-Rated Wall-E this weekend.

Anyone else interested?
 
Definitely seeing it this weekend. It helps that I have a daughter who will be 5 in a few months. :)

I love all of the Pixar films. They really manage to bring the animation to life. Usually entertaining for both the parents and the children.

Cheers,

Mike
 
Jeremy Ordan said:
Anyone else interested?
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In going? Heck yea!! Does this mean you'll pay for the ticket? :)


This movie is going to be HUGE!!!! It already has a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an average of an "A" on Yahoo's movie critic list. It's rare to see films with this many positive reviews.

Check out this review:
I would say that Pixar had never attempted anything this grandiose before, but really, I can't think of anyone that has. It is a singularly perfect endeavor, a monument to what can be done both in terms of animation and storytelling. It is genius. Absolute genius. And it is adorable.

Wall-E is without a doubt a message film, but one that has been carefully honed to deliver razor sharp observations and profound assessments on the nature of our society.

Most importantly, while it satires modern life and attacks a number of issues - from our rampant consumerism, our growing obesity problem, our slow progression towards a big box/one corporation world, and of course our blatant disregard for the beauty of the world around us for the sake of all those other things - it does so lovingly and through humor.

Wall-E is in a class by itself, a nearly indescribable masterpiece of epic proportions that will, regardless of commercial success, be regarded in the film community as one of the very best films in the history of animation. This will no doubt be spoken of in the future alongside such works as Fantastic Planet and Fantasia. It is arguably the best thing Disney has ever had their name on and clearly the best with the name Pixar. It will take the Academy Award for best animated next year without anything resembling a fight and will no doubt be on almost every Top ten list you read at the end of the year.
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A must see. For sure!
 
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I am going to see it tonight because the character seems genuinely hilarious, but mainly because of Roger Deakins' contributions to the imagery.
 
my brother called me right now, he just got back from seeing it, "amazing in every way" "best film I have seen all year" is what he said and he is 21 and a film critic for the local newspaper
 
Yeah, I am a huge Pixar fan and I am hearing amazing things about this.

Unfortunately, my GF wants to go see Hancock. You know, that summer blockbuster where Will Smith wise-cracks his way through the role?
 
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.
 
I just got back from watching it. Its the best movie I have seen so far this year. Not my favorite Pixar film...I would rank it below Finding Nemo and the Incredibles, but I loved watching it.

Pixar is making better films than most live action filmmakers right now.
 
Yup, it's amazing. Just really beautiful. The first act is the best animated big-screen stuff I've ever seen.

What was really telling was that the film sold out and about 70% of the audience stayed in their seat through the ENTIRE credits....and were still sitting there when the lights came up. They didn't want to leave. Neither did I.
 
The look of it was so photo-realistic. I even noticed that anything out of focus had anamorphic distortion! I didn't get to see the whole film though. Maybe about halfway in, or so, the film stopped and an alarm went off. Everyone was ushered out of the building as the fire department arrived. Apparently, there was some gas leaking into the air vents. They gave us re-admission tickets for any movie, anytime. But what I did see, I enjoyed immensely. I love the minimal dialogue, and especially the dialogue-less beginning of the film. It's a very inspired little film. I was very into it, so I'm looking forward to seeing the rest.
 
c.g._eads said:
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.
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I have not seen the film but, from what I've read in interviews, I think the emptiness was intentional. The filmmakers talked about how they wanted the robots in the film to be more human than the humans. To have the robots live and experience life more than the humans. Since the human's world had become empty, the robots mission is to teach humanity how to be human again.

Can't wait to see this movie!!!! :)
 
sean90291 said:
Yup, it's amazing. Just really beautiful. The first act is the best animated big-screen stuff I've ever seen.

What was really telling was that the film sold out and about 70% of the audience stayed in their seat through the ENTIRE credits....and were still sitting there when the lights came up. They didn't want to leave. Neither did I.
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Yeah, that happened in my theater too. It was strange. Not used to seeing that. I stayed because I'm a huge Peter Gabriel fan and wanted to hear the end credits song. Was not disappointed.
 
I saw this last night. I went with three of my friends, one friend and I loved it, the two others reallllllly hated it (they were pretty hammered though...).

Something about this movie just really blew me away. It was almost like a silent film, almost chaplin-esque. Something about the lack of speech really helps to make an impact, it almost reminded me of Koyaanisqatsi at some points just because so much of what was happening relied on the visual element and some music or subtle sound effects.

Wall-E, with his inability to speak, really made his emotions paramount. His feelings were very raw and earnest, and it really struck a chord with me.

I feel the ending could have been handled a little differently, but really, that's my only complaint.

I don't know if I'd jump up and scream BEST PICTURE or anything, but I really enjoyed it. A cute story, extremely well made, an incredible attention to detail, etc.

If anything, it was original, simple and yet complex, and held emotional resonance, so I give it my seal of approval.

EDIT:
Alas, since my friends were so drunk and pissed over the movie, they stormed out as soon as the credits hit, and so I followed out after them and missed the story continuation that rolls with the credits. I saw a few snippets but I'm hoping I didn't miss anything too important.
 
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