‘WALL-E’ Out Now!
Saturday, June 28th, 2008Pixar’s newest film WALL-E opened in theaters this weekend. What did you guys think? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Fantastic. That’s just about all I can say about the movie. Time will tell if this ends up being my favorite Pixar movie or not. Right now, I’m leaning toward “Yes”, but we’ll see when I back away from the moment a bit. I’ve always loved The Incredibles, but this movie is the definition of Heart and Soul in a movie.
I had two problems with the movie, and they are minor at best. First, it sometimes seemed a bit preachy. But from a cartoon perspective, it didn’t seem like that big of an issue. It was actually quite funny to see the habits of humans blown out of proportion. The second problem is just an on-going thing and a tiny spoilerish. Do we ALWAYS have to have a scene toward the end of a movie where the hero’s life hangs in the balance? Perhaps if heroes died a bit more often in movies like this, that would be acceptable. But as it stands, you are just sitting there going, “5…4…3…2…1… Yep, there he is again.”
Again, only the most minor of problems. Otherwise, it is a work of art and near perfection. When Pixar has their A-Game on, they really have it going. It kind of makes me sad that they are wasting their time on a Cars sequel. But I guess that just goes to prove that with them, it’s often about what works from a creative point, and not necessarily what everyone demands.
As a side note, am I the only one that thought “Bolt” looks like one of the most charming Disney movies since Lilo and Stitch? Meanwhile, I really hope they stop attaching that God-awful Beverly Hills Chihuahua trailer on movies. Even with the cheap ‘Kid Humor’ that they use in the trailer a lot it barely got any laughs/squeals of joy in a theater of knee biters. In an adult audience, it generally creates groans.
It’s adorable (yes, I am a guy and I used the word adorable to describe a movie I liked. Not afraid to admit it.) This movie has little speaking parts, but still translates a fun story and depth to characters. How you care for two robots that barely talk in a movie is amazing. I liked this alot. So glad I saw this over Wanted. Just a good time.
Does anyone know what movie Wall-E keeps watching? I couldn’t figure that out.
Randy: I understand the problems with the hero always having to be near death (and in a Disney movie, they never die), but I liked the dynamic the movie played on it at the very end (Trying to avoid spoilers here). Sure it was essentially the same Disney formula (go to the edge, but never cross it), but I liked how they did it.
Also my movie did not have the Chihuahua trailer, but did have Bolt. I liked Bolt up until they announced John Travolta as the voice. Not sure why but it just changed it for me. Not a fan. That and I thought everyone was saying the dog’s name was Volt for the entire trailer until the title.
Wall-E is watching “Hello Dolly” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello,_Dolly!_(film)
Yeah, it was an interesting take on the “back away from the edge”, but I still think that whole thing is overdone quite a bit. Still, it’s not like I stress over that, it’s a teensy problem. Nothing more.
The first half hour or so of this movie blew me away. Seriously, it’s classic for the ages great. Then he gets on the space ship and it settles into a much more conventional film. The turning point when it became a story about the humans and not Wall-E; it felt wrong to me.
And Randy, I don’t think that “death” scene at the end is a small problem at all. It’s emotional manipulation at it’s most blatant and hollow. It’s completely unearned emotional catharsis; we’re supposed to be all invested in this scene but it’s so flimsy and obligatory that the movie doesn’t seem invested in it
Think about it like this: if there were some fucker in real life who was always pretending to die but then “miraculously” spring to life no one would like him. We’d all avoid him and rightfully so.
Oh, an my theater erupted into laughing fits during that rapping Chihuahua thing, while I sat in my seat silently contemplating strangling them all to death (by the way, there were very few children in my screening. I’m not a ghoul.)
Randy, your impeccable spelling is not lost on me.
This movie was beautiful. I loved it. A masterpiece. It was the only movie I’ve seen this year that qualifies as a work of art. On the surface it’s a great kids movie with a wonderful lead charecter that I think will earn his place among the great movie heroes. But if you dig deeper, it’s a fantastic piece of science fiction that has a really deep message, but in the Disney fashion, delievers it in such an optimistic and human way. I think that kids watching this movie now will be able to revisit it as they get older and see just how effortlessly deep it is. I cried twice, but the entire film I was just so moved and in such a state of bliss. I didn’t have a problem with the “fake death” at all. Maybe I’m just too naive, but I didn’t think it was out of place at all, certainly not hollow. Sure you had to stretch your belief a bit, but I had no problem with it. The audience that I saw it with were just so wrapped up in that scene, I think some of the kids were whimpering and whispering to their parents, asking them if Wall E was going to be ok. I walked out of this movie with a spring in my step, and so did everyone else. Best movie of the year. I don’t think even “The Dark Knight” could top it.
Kids always fall for fake deaths. They are gullible. It’s the nature of being a kid. In a way, I miss that innocence. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a cheap tactic.
You want to emotionally move the audience? Take a cue from the Lion King and use truly moving scenes, rather than scenes that have been done so many times before. As it’s been said before, at least this time they had a vaguely unique twist on the whole situation, but I think that could have stood on it’s own with out the “OMG! Is he dead!?” scene.
That said…best movie of the year? Possibly. I’m not sure that I want to limit my enjoyment of the films that came before it as being “less” than this. Granted, I always enjoy rating movies based on how I enjoyed them. In this case however, I’m just happy to have such a freaking awesome year of movies. Without a doubt, it’s been great so far. So for the moment, I’m going to enjoy Wall-E, Iron Man, Hulk, etc for what they are. I’m going to go into Hancock, Hellboy, Dark Knight, and Harry Potter with them out of my mind. And I’m going to wait until the end of the year to decide what was my favorite.
That would take some balls to just end with EVE cradeling Wall E’s lifeless corpse in her arms, then cut to the chipper end credits of humanity rebuilding Earth.
I never thought for a second that he would die, it just still never struck me as fake.
I agree this summer has spoiled us film geeks. Iron Man, Kung Fu Panda, Hulk, now Wall E? Its like Hollywood is making up for the somewhat dissapointing 07 summer.
Impressing kids is like winning the special olympics. As long as you try you can’t fail.
but seriously, they’re a great organization.
I thought Wall E was brilliant. It has amazingly detailed and beautiful visuals. It has great characters with heart and soul. It even has some great music in there as well. I loved every second of it.
I was actually moved by the “fake” death at the end. Perhaps because of the melancholy beginning to the movie, I actually expected the “fake” death to be real. Of course you don’t want to make the kiddies sad when they leave the theater, so I understand why they didn’t go through with it.
@ “Of course you don’t want to make the kiddies sad when they leave the theater, so I understand why they didn’t go through with it.”
I think what we’ve all forgotten is that some of the most memorable deaths in movie history are from disney cartoons.
This idea that kids entertainment has to be emotionally sterilized is a recent trend.
Man, Rusty wants that robot dead.
Deaths in movies can be done well, even for kids. See also Lion King, Transformers (The animated movie, not the recent one), etc. I’ve always admired Pixar for getting back to intelligent “cartoons” so I think that they can do a better job than pulling something out of the pre-used bin.
But again, it really isn’t a big deal, just something that bothers me from time to time.
Speaking of Transformers, did anyone ever notice that when Jazz died, Optimus just kinda shrugged it off like it was no big deal?
@ “I think what we’ve all forgotten is that some of the most memorable deaths in movie history are from disney cartoons.”
I think the studios have forgotten it as well.
For anyone interested (probably nobody), this is the “trailer” I saw for Beverly Hills Chihuahua:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMemofWApVs
The one I saw was different. It had singing/rapping chihuahuas. The audience laughed hysterically.