Wall-E

"Green-wise", the director of Wall-E and Pixar placed themselves into an indefensible situation in making the picture. There is no higher-ground. The message is there, so is the product. In creating the message, the product is a by-product. So, do you make the picture? Of course you do. And you reap the benefits.

Remember, this is, at the end of the day, a story. Better than any live-action story to date this year. That the zeros and ones characters are more compelling (and better actors) than most of the flesh-and-blood ones is a testament to Pixar's mastery of storytelling and technical filmmaking.

The box-office will back it up - as it usually does for Pixar and the lucky-dog Disney company.

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Erik... my comment about "green" being trendy is hardly vilifying... to suggest I'm demonizing Pixar is a little extreme.

I'm just saying that my exposure to green efforts is making me cynical towards some people (and companies) in the movement. Maybe I'm not choosing the right word... perhaps bemused is better. I'm bemused at how popular the idea is now, versus what most people actually do differently to impact the cause. In a local green production I have a host giving tips such as "when you go out to dinner order your drink w/o a straw... and just think if we all did that how much it would impact the landfills!"... but he used to drive a suburban and still drives a sports car... so the extra 2 or 3 gallons of petroleum needed to make that extra gas probably does more harm then the lone straw that didn't go in the landfill from his outing.

I wasn't taking a stab at the green movement or any efforts that people make... just looking at a bigger picture beyond what feels good. I didn't see how that little blurb in my previous post could have offended anybody, but I'm sorry if you took offense.
 
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Not at all. I'm surrounded by people who don't think there is "a problem" and that we should all continue as we were. I'm farther to the alarmist side. For this reason, we don't often discuss environmental matters (or our politics) at dinner parties.

We all live in glass houses - that was my bigger point. What I'm tired of is seeing companies attacked even as they suggest that they would participate in a carbon-credit system. So, my question to the whiny guy driving the gross-poluting 1975 VW van is, what have you done that compares?

An example of trying to do something, and how unbelievably and unnecessarily difficult it can be... We've been waiting for this VW Sportwagen Tdi, which achieves 60mpg in Europe - real car, real spec. It was supposed to be a 2007, then a 2008. It will deliver to the USA in time to be badged as a 2009. Thanks EPA!

We've had a deposit on this car for three months - despite the higher and higher cost for diesel. My research tells me that a diesel has a higher capacity for future sustainablity and lower impact than other options available today. TODAY.

Now, we went to drive a demonstrator on Saturday (80 miles, each way, by V8 Land Rover) and were then informed that the EPA has revised the same Tdi to a preliminary 40mpg highway North American specification. The VW dealer is very upset about the revision and expects that customers like me will feel the same way.

The point is, it is hard to do the right thing. Driving 160 miles on gas to test-drive a ULEV / high mpg diesel is a compromise. Everything is. At the end of the day, we told the dealer that if the spec didn't come up to at least 50mpg (5 mpg less than the 2005 Tdi Jetta), we would likely look at a hybrid instead. Which is the last thing I want to do.

What you say about drinking straws is an interesting point. Your host will suggest everyone stop using straws, but drives a 22mpg vehicle. Does it make the straw suggestion less valid? Absolutely not. Which is exactly what Pixar is doing - advising us to look at our personal patterns. The film, taken from a pure message standpoint advises that we take the "display" blinders off and assume some responsibility for ourselves. Remember, in Wall-E, the fat people in the chairs were as much consumers as they were victims of consumption culture.

Everyone and everything is a shade of gray. The sooner people get to thinking this way, the sooner we'll all get something done as opposed to arguing white point-by-black point.

:)
 
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Agreed.

All my other points in that post got lost... which was to say that the film is a visual treat and some of the animation was indistinguishable from reality... and a few people mentioned that it was strange to have so much of the audience sit through the credits, but I didn't find that to be so unusual since the story continues through the credits.

SPOILERS!
My favorite elements of the film were related to his relationship with the roach. I like how they handled so many layers... like Wall-E being very attentive, and yet unaware of the roach at times and rolling over him... but the roach scurries around like a roach really does... and is hard to kill... like a real roach. This also plays on the old thing I've heard my whole life... that roaches are the most likely survivors of a catastrophic event. I like how Pixar depicted the roach as both cute, and also a little gross... like diving into the twinkie.
 
There are so many variables to reducing your carbon imprint.

(One thing that is often overlooked is that cattle-rearing actually produces more greenhouse gases than automobiles. Being a vegetarian reduces the amount of pollution that you produce even more so than switching from a guzzler to a hybrid.)

I saw Wall-E with my wife and we both enjoyed it. The 1st half was incredible, the second half played itself out with more predictable results, I thought.

I think the film changes a little when the Pixar shaped humans are integrated into the story(and the dialogue started) , then the photorealism bubble bursted. Still, I managed to get into it even with an annoying little girl who said, "that's no Wall-e" every 10 seconds til she fell alseep. I thought she was saying "that's not funny" for so long.
 
This is one of my most antecipated films of the year. Am trying hard to go without spoilers. From the user and critics feedback, its turning out what I expected from the trailers...

However, whenever I get high expectations, I end up getting disappointed... :)
 
best picture, hands down.

I also feel that wall-e is a character that will be remembered for a very, very long time.
 
SPZ said:
This is one of my most antecipated films of the year. Am trying hard to go without spoilers. From the user and critics feedback, its turning out what I expected from the trailers...

However, whenever I get high expectations, I end up getting disappointed... :)
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It sucks! Worse piece of crap I've ever seen! The kind of film Uwe Boll would make if he did animation...There, are your expectations lowered?
 
Wall-E was great.

It was almost a return to Silent Cinema



And EVERYONE. Remeber the 5P's of DVXuser.
 
Erik Olson said:
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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Had been waiting for this movie for a year. Couldn't agree more.

Did anyone else notice how the crowd sat in their seats a good ten minutes through the credits?

This movie rocks on many different levels, Blu Ray please.
 
My wife and I really enjoyed this. I think it's great that Pixar is not afraid of unconventional stories...this seems like quite a departure for them.

The first half hour was pitch perfect. I was totally caught up in Wall-E's plight. But - I have to say that the live action made it really hard for me to suspend my disbelief. It had a bizarre effect on the logic of the world they had created so effectively. We're attached to Wall-E and we're ok with the Hello Dolly stuff because it's so endearing, but then Fred Willard shows up??? It gets even weirder when you have the cartoony cg people looking at real people. Ugh.

My adult brain couldn't fullly get past the incongruity. I think I see why they did it - so that the Hello Dolly footage wouldn't be the only time we see a real person - but I hated it. I didn't see it mentioned here...I guess this didn't bother anyone else?

Other than that quibble, I thought this was amazing. :) With the exception of Cars, (ha!) Pixar has an amazing track record. I can't wait for "Up."
 
Simon Höfer said:
Damn it. We have to wait until the 2nd of october to see it over here. Even worse than The Dark Knight!
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We can totally ruin it for you by then!

I agree that the live action mix was strange. It is almost as if they're portraying it as a devolution of people into the cartoonly blob things. Or... someone really likes Fred Willard!

fred.jpg


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wall-e runs on leopard operating system :) gotta love it

I wonder if that was corss promotion or if apple had to pay up
 
Batutta said:
Oh yeah, this film has a nice nod to mac owners. You'll know it when you hear it.
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Dude, weren't you the guy absolutely foaming at the mouth about product placement in another thread?

I thought Wall-E was pretty good, though I had read somewhere that it was pretty dark. I guess I had my hopes up too high for the dark aspect.

I don't think it's better than the Incredibles, which to me is not only a great film, but the best stylistic choice for rendering humans.
 
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