*** Official WALL-E Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

Ebert and Roeper, excuse me, Phillips and Roeper both said "See it" on last night's show.

My sister has the kids this weekend, so if I have Friday night off, I think I know what I'm doing.

That would be so rad to see it in IMAX - perhaps if it has a successful run in standard movie theaters (which it no doubt will)... ?

Have you guys seen the new trailer? There's also a few short clips there too....

UPDATED: New Wall-E Trailer and 6 Clips!

A new trailer is something I can definitely use. I've seen the last trailer so many times I'm almost sick of it. It's played in front of every movie I've seen for the past few months.

I expect this movie'll be great, as Pixar's typically are, but I'm not necessarily amped to see it. I've noticed that as far as my viewing habits go with these digitally animated movie, I stick to Pixar. They're a brand I trust. The only other movies of this type I've seen have been Antz and the first two Shreks.

The single bad review at RT, but the talk back puts him in his place. Very funny

http://regulus2.azstarnet.com/blogs/...-review-wall-e

94% today - say no more

Off tomorrow, so wife and I will try to hit one of the early matinees.

Going to see Tropic Thunder tonight, though...

I won't be able to see it Friday, or I'd go then. I think I'll see it Tuesday, as I have family coming into town that day, and Tuesday is also "bargain" night at the local 2-screen theater, so it would be less than $10!

I just scanned through all of the Rotten Tomatos reviews, and while it's not astonishing that it's rating is so high (97% - it is, after all, a Pixar movie), I was impressed to see that nearly every positive review is REALLY positive, not just one of the "Yeah, it was entertaining, but that's about it", type of positive reviews other high ranked movies get.

Just a quick scan on Yahoo! Movies and the critic's score.

All give it at least an A-.

Wow....Has any studio had this kind of string of success? Wow!

There was a glowing review in this morning's Little Rock paper. In a side article, the director, Andrew Stanton said something that I think perfectly explains why Pixar movies are of such a consistently high quality:

You guys probably knew that already, but it was news to me.

Chris my guess is :

test tube babies or something of the sort. I really don't think they had physical contact at all, and that is why it was such a surprise when they did touch each other's hands.

Chris,
Your spoiler question is kind of where I feel that Pixar split the difference between fun movie and full science fiction drama. I also agree that some of those reviews have way overstated the quality of the movie.

In case someone doesn't want to know anything about the movie I'll put my "this movie is like" in spoilers.
Wall-E is a G-rated version of Logan's Run

Why do people always think that animated films have to be comedies? Now, I'm really interested to see this film; however, I'll probably wait until the hubbub dies down before seeing it.

Hmmm, maybe it was because all the trailers and the voice over played up the funny moments like it was somewhat comedic? And no one said it should have been a comedy, what was said that there were almost no funny or light-hearted moments in the whole movie and the scenes that appear funny in the trailer aren't really funny in the context of the movie.

Wall-E is a G-rated version of Logan's Run

Now that's an interesting thought. I didn't think of it that way. I'll say this, I thought it was the most adventurous film I've seen since Pulp Fiction and I've said that elsewhere. I recognize others will disagree, but "WALL*E" is a major risk of a film. This is an animated movie that tries to tell a complex story in a largely DRAMA form, but it has such forward movement that it held every small child in my theater in check.

That is a movie-going feat. The thing about WALL*E is that it tells a complex story about conservation, the environment, personal responsibility, forgetting the joy we find in simple things, etc.

It does it without ever being preachy. Not once do you ever think "please, not this diatribe again". I will make a different argument for a movie it reminded me of after I saw it

An Inconvenient Truth

Except this film had a way to make those complex thoughts simple, basic, and free of any real political overtones.

There are going to be a lot more people who can relate to the message of WALL*E then there are who related to that film.

But the animated Genre has been boiled down to be basic sacharine stories, or in the case of films like "Shrek" and "Kung Fu Panda" they are films that are based on inside references, pop culture, and fart jokes.

WALL*E is in every sense a gutsy film. It treads into ground that has been tried before, repeatedly, with absolute failure because the story line simply doesn't hold up.

When I first saw "Pulp Fiction" I was blown away because of what it did to the genre. It put things on it's head by changing the rules of the game that were acceptable in a film. It challenged the audience to accept it, and they did.

LOTR is a great film. It's a fantastic film. There are lots of film between 94 and now that are "Great Films", but they are great films that follow in a pattern of what films before them have done and improve on it - sometimes significantly.

But WALL*E isn't that. There isn't an animated film of it's sort that ever has really succeeded.

I've seen in twice now, and WALL*E is just ballsy. It was pure gutsy filmmaking that challenges what the audience will expect and what they will enjoy.

It's easily the best film I've seen this year. "Ratatouille" had a moment where the critic looked and made the argument that it was easy to criticize, but accepting change was often hard, and because of it, the chefs themselves didn't change. It was a great scene.

This film follows that - Pixar, the chef, completely changed the recipe. You compare a film like this to the pop culture fluff of the animated offerings you see before and after, and you realize this is the kind of film that has staying power because it's complex story is one that can grow with the kids who see it. My 8 year old watched with me today and thought it was funny and loved the robots. But even he was asking why the sky wasn't blue, and why the captain was upset the sky wasn't blue.

Those subtle moments made me think of my favorite scenes from TV shows and other films.

I think there will be a lot of people who won't see WALL*E that way, but for what it is, it's hard to compare with anything else. And it absolutely is my frontrunner for "Best Picture" for that reason.

This is one thing I disagree with. While the characters never speak a diatribe the visuals are contantly beating you over the head with the message. From the many long slow shots of the skyscraper mountains of garbage to the constant reminders that all of the humans on the Axiom are fat, lazy, and oblivious to all that is going on around them. Plus every time a human speaks it is just an attempt to reinforce the message: "My holo-date was a virtual disaster" Towards the end I was thinking "Enough! I've got the message already".

Basically I realized that for me Wall-E was a serious story that had heart but not fun. I didn't come out of it thinking "That was great. I want to see it again." The Incredibles was serious story (more than I expected) but it was still fun. I guess for me Wall-E crossed the line from serious story with a message to MESSAGE MOVIE.

See, I guess I fall somewhere in between you two. I saw the movie as a love story and really nothing more. I didn't leave the theater thinking, we humans need to conserve or protect the environment or else. I also didn't leave the theater thinking the movie beat me over the head with the message. I think that part of the story didn't effect me one way or the other because of how over the top the depiction of it was. No matter what one believes about global warming or how bad one thinks we treat the planet, I don't think we are heading for a future like Wall-E depicts (but that's really a debate for another thread). I came away thinking more about the love story and just didn't pay much attention to the "destroying the environment" message. Like I said in my post that was moved to the other thread, I also came away thinking more about how babies could be on the ship when humans hadn't touched each other in a long time.
(can we stop using spoiler tags since this has been designated as the official discussion thread?)

I thought it was obvious these were test tube babies, that no human interaction produced them. I don't need this movie to spell out every little detail when the key is clearly there in the subtext. OTOH, if you were wondering about that I don't think the filmmakers would necessarily be displeased, although I think they might be surprised you didn't figure it out during the movie.

I loved the Chaplin-esque character of WALL-E and simply adored the fact that it was a sentimental, singing-dancing-old fashioned musical that was the catalyst for WALL-E's and the humans' transformations.

I don't think the eco message is overstated at all. (I actually think it's actually difficult to overstate.) Stunning visuals. Very bold. I don't think there has been a string of movies this good from any single studio in modern history. I think you'd have to go back to The Archers to come even close. I suppose some day there may be a clunker, but they haven't failed me yet.

I also think Stanton's recent movies other than the Toy Stories (he also directed Finding Nemo) tend to divide people more than Brad Bird's or John Lassiter's efforts.

This is an A- for me. And maybe even more than that on second viewing.

I tend to think the message was fairly well-balanced. There were moments that were over-stated, but some of that was wanting to see where it was going.

Looking at the film in total, it's just sweetly romantic. That's where it's heart is. The eco-message is around it, but it's taken to the extreme for dramatic effect, not for proselytizing. That's my opinion on it, but viewers will have to see if it's balanced for them. I can't wait to see it again. I don't think the film is Pixar's best, but it's worthy of their legacy. WALL*E is a wonderful character, among the best they've ever done.

It wasn't as tight as some of their films, and it did lose a bit of focus. But it got it back strongly to close out.

I enjoyed WALL-E, but I've worked to avoid concentrating on its weaknesses. But I've got a few thoughts.

* I thought Pixar paid attention to new Battlestar Galactica series. The camera shots in the beginning, following wall-e about, were the same technique. Long camera shot encompassing the vista, with wall-e a small feature. Then a rapid, slightly wobbly zoom pulling in tight on wall-e.

* The use of real humans in video was interesting and effective, until the cartoon humans were introduced. Then it was jarring and made no sense.

* There was an internally-inconsistent preachiness to this movie that I saw very strongly in The Incredibles and that I associate with Brad Bird (perhaps incorrectly). Was Bird strongly involved in the story development of Wall-E?

* Was the beginning of the movie hazy and unfocused, or was my theater out of focus? The opening scenes were not crisply detailed in my eyes. After that, it eventually became a gorgeously realized world that Wall-E inhabited, reminding me of the fantastic Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (still my favorite for realistic world creation).

The early part of the film seems to have some objects in the frame in sharp focus and some intentionally not, and the focus can change within the same scene. Or so it seemed in the theater in which I saw it.