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

[BrettB]

WALL-E - 9.5/10

Wall-E is stunning. The beginning of the film set on Earth with just Wall-E and then Eve is the best Pixar has ever done. I had watched the trailers enough times that I was really worried about this opening section. I guess I was thinking probably some of the best stuff was in the trailers that I had watched many more times than I should and how are they going to make this interesting for 30-40 mins. No fears. This thing just goes and goes, much like Wall-E, purpose-drvien, explaining Wall-E without words, using the tiniest details in the most masterful way imaginable. Andrew Stanton, take a bow.

After Wall-E hitches a ride to the Axiom in pursuit of Eve it is quite a change, both visually and in tone. It takes a while to re-adjust. At this point the film more closely resembles what we have come to expect from animation, cgi animation, & film in general. I'll just say that there is a lot of chasing going on in pursuit of the goal of getting back home. The film recovers nicely for a strong ending.

Some might have iissues with the messages or the execution. I think that part is handled quite well. The over-riding message I got from the film is that humanity is capable true greatness. We might lose our way some times, but hope is never lost.

The primary story here is a love story between robots and it is surprisingly real and touching.

(copy/paste from another forum)

 

[Bryan Beckman]

The opening 30 minutes of “WALL-E” reminded me a lot about another science-fiction film set in a dystopian future: “I Am Legend.” In both movies the protagonists essentially wander the streets of a desolate city alone, doing what they can to stay alive while throwing all their energy toward the accomplishment of a Sisyphusian task (one compacts and organizes the world’s garbage, one searches for the cure to a lethal virus that has eliminated 99 percent of the population). Both movies feature male characters whose lives are irrevocably changed by the entrance of a female into their world, an interesting variation on the Adam and Eve story. But whereas “I Am Legend” was nearly undone by its third act, “WALL-E” uses it to soar to a grand finish, in large part due to the momentum generated by those astounding first minutes.

“WALL-E” is not just a cautionary tale about global consumerism run amok (though it is that), or a movie about a cute little robot who looks like either a distant cousin of R2-D2 from “Star Wars” or the younger brother of Johnny Five from “Short Circuit” (though I can see the resemblance). It’s also one of the most genuine love stories I’ve ever seen, one of the few that nails it perfectly from a storytelling perspective. You may be amazed to discover just how much empathy you end up feeling for these metallic objects as they roll, whirl, fly, and dance across the screen. I know that I was often moved tremendously by what I saw on display here.

I want to avoid saying too much in order to preserve the film’s surprises. I do note that there are several thematic undercurrents at work in this film. One of the most powerful of these is that of overcoming one’s programming to achieve a greater good, whether it be in the form of hard-wired instructions on a circuit board or of habits that have gone unchecked and unchallenged for centuries. Somewhat related to this theme is one of awaking from a deep sleep and realizing that what was constantly before one’s face was obscuring one’s view of a much grander reality. By the end of the film, those characters who have overcome their programming—awakened from the malaise of mere existence—are the ones who triumph.

I found it interesting that there’s a fair amount of live-action footage embedded within the film. I was reminded of the little notice at the end of “Ratatouille” in which the filmmakers confidently proclaimed that none of what we had seen was generated by motion capture or any other performance or animation shortcuts. Yet here we are a year later with a new Pixar film containing several minutes of flesh-and-blood actors performing their scenes. So what gives? In thinking about this, I’ve concluded that this was a storytelling decision, not a gimmick. The animators rendered much of WALL-E’s world with breathtaking realism, surpassing anything we’ve ever seen from the studio before. But that realism breaks down when we enter another “world” in the film’s second act, and the difference between the real-life actors in the archival footage and the characters we see in the present-day timeline of the film is meant to illustrate just how dramatically they have de-evolved, almost to a protoplasmic state. (The level of detail in these characters is not even quite up to the level of “The Incredibles” from four years ago; again, I believe this was a conscious storytelling decision, not an indicator that the animators spent so much time giving WALL-E’s world a photorealistic look they couldn’t bring the rest of the movie up to a similar polish.)

To the film’s everlasting credit, it features very little intelligible dialogue outside of WALL-E’s realm. The story is so compelling it really doesn’t need much talk at all – another nod to “2001.” In fact, when the dialogue does start flying in fast and furious in the film’s second half, it’s almost tedious to listen to. As an audience, we long to return to the robots and their quaint clankety-clank sounds. I believe that this too is by design. The robots become more human than their overseers. It does make one reconsider just who the real “winners” are by film’s end. In whose place would you rather be? I’ll take the antiquated waste collector’s.

I could go on further (and probably should in order to justify my final score), but I’ll let this rest for now. The year’s not quite half over, but once again Pixar has released the movie to beat for best film of the year.

10/10

 

[Pete-D]

I saw it ... and I have to be honest ... I didn't like it as much as I thought I would.

I really enjoyed Ratatouille and to my surprise even Cars. On paper if you put three Pixar concepts down for me, Wall-E would be the one I would have chosen as the one to see, but somehow in execution it didn't quite hit a home run for me.

The film felt disjointed to me, a lot like Steven Spielberg's A.I. of a few years ago. While the beginning was pretty bold, it also runs pretty long, and the whole situation with the 2nd half of the movie ... I felt like the human characters weren't really developed very well. And the protagonist were really kinda shoe-horned into the plot.

Also Wall-E's romance sometimes was touching, but other times honestly felt a bit creepy to me (not unlike the character of David in A.I.).

It's worth seeing though. Some great vistas of a deserted planet Earth, probably some of the best CGI Pixar has done. I prefer Ratatouille and Cars overall as films though.

I give this 3/5.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I was disappointed. i thought I'd like it a lot more.

When it was over and I was thinking back on the story, I thought "this would have made a "great" Pixar short film. The lead animation on the Wall*E character was just incredible. He was quite charismatic and watching him closely was a LOT of fun!

The beauty was in the visuals and the creativity surrounding the relationship between Wall*E and Eve. High marks for those. But, it's all about the story. And, it seemed as if the rest of the story development was rather forced--from the major "messages" about the environment and personal inactivity to the battle with the autopilot. How lame that after the "climactic struggle" with the autopilot the ship's captain realizes there's a "manual/auto" switch that he can throw to wrest back command of his ship. :rolleyes
And can anyone help me and explain what exactly was the turning point for Wall*E after he was rebuilt at the end by Eve. That is, what exactly caused him to "remember" and become the old Wall*E again? It seemed, to me, to be rather sudden and not brought about by any physical catalyst.


There was a lot to like here. A lot. But the story, to me, seemed lacking.

The audience of which we were part reacted enthusiastically to Presto but rather tepidly to Wall*E. That made it seem to me that the animators really knew what they wanted to accomplish in Presto but were meandering through the second half of Wall*E.

My personal favorite part of the film was the use of Hello Dolly--especially the Put on Your Sunday Clothes references. Put on Your Sunday Clothes is one of the songs that Disney uses as part of it's musical landscape on Main Street, USA at its themeparks. Walt's personal charge for Main Street was to create the atmosphere of idealized America at the turn of the 20th Century. I'd like to think the choice of that particular piece of music was a little tip of the hat to Walt by the Pixar team...as well as to provide a stark comparison between "the good 'ol days" and Wall*E's world.

 

[Chris Atkins]

9.5/10

Brilliant execution (as usual), fantastic visuals, and just a whole lot of creativity on the screen.

But, neither my kids nor my wife liked it that much, and I think that was due to the fact that Wall-E was really trying to straddle the line between a very fun "kids movie" about 2 robots falling in love, and a very serious eco-warning movie about the importance of "loving the earth." Now, I think the film managed to straddle that line quite well, better than most films in fact, but the line was still very much there, and it makes the film somewhat inaccessible to family audiences.

And that is what makes me somewhat concerned, because I (selfishly of course) want Pixar to put out films that are accessible to all members of my family (like pretty much every film they've ever done except The Incredibles). So, there is absolutely nothing wrong with Pixar releasing a film like this, and I will enjoy it for years I am sure, but I hope they don't get away from the family films (by my count, three of their last four films have been their most "inaccessible" to kids: The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and Wall-E).

 

[derek]

Magnificent. Pixar hits another out of the ballpark and Andrew Stanton and crew deserve a Best Picture nod. The film is just mesmorizing and you can't wait to see what adventure WallE stumbles onto next. While much has been made of the eco-future/consumerism subtext and such I just found it part of progressing the story and didn't get hung up on it. Yes there are a few messages to be found about humanity's consumerism and the social disconnects of our current/future world but the main driver is the love story. And boy it is heartfelt and tugs at the soul. They say you can't put love into words...but with an amazing story, a few beeps and some incredible animations Pixar succeeded mightily well without them.

btw my kids all liked it but this film is more adult oriented vs Monsters/Nemo/Incredibles. I don't see it quite as marketable or memorable to the happy meal age group but glad Pixar stuck to their creative guns and it deserves all the accolades it gets. '2001' quesioned our origins/future. 'Blade Runner' asked us if androids dream. And now 'Wall-E' postulates the question of love. I have no problem seeing those scifi classics side-by-side.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Just a couple quick comments (it's been so long since I've posted in the movies section...):

I loved this movie. It looked and sounded perfect, was entertaining, and certainly told a good story. I didn't take the social commentary very seriously (I mean, come on. It's made by DISNEY, one of the largest corporations on the planet, responsible for countless books, DVDs, etc. so how seriously can you take just about any social commentary in one of their movies?) and I feel like the love story was handled perfectly.

A couple people mentioned that there wasn't enough comedy, but I thought the comedy was simply appropriate where it was appropriate and only where it was needed. It wasn't as fun as some of their other movies, but I would say it was actually better this way. Maybe it's going to take a company with the background, skill, and expertise like Pixar to move mainstream animated films in a more mature and serious direction. Not everything that's drawn by hand or in a computer needs to be aimed at children.

Also, the ending credits sequence is probably the most inspired way to end a movie I've ever seen.

 

[John Kilduff]

I loved this movie. To me, it's this movie and not "Enchanted" that re-affirms the magic of Disney movies. It's a wonderful mixture of comedy and drama, much like the Disney classics, and it does so without turning a jaded eye towards the past or having Disney veterans play ball-busting cynics (both of which can be found in "Enchanted"). I would gladly see it again.

Sincerely,

John Kilduff...

And the Peter Gabriel song was good, too.

 

[Brian-W]

(moving to discussion thread)

 

[Dave Nibeck]

I did not see it but one of my 10 year old boys reviewed it as "Two hours of pure glory."