It was a lot of fun, though definitely the most geared toward younger audiences than any other Pxar movie I've seen.. For me Monsters Inc. and A Bugs Life are my two favorite offerings but this studeo never lets your down. They are so creative.
It's nice to see that an essentially silent film can still do well in 2008!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Knightfall1972
The movie has a lot of political and social commentary imbeded into it — almost too much, in places. The commentary didn't ruin the movie for me but it did make the movie less enjoyable for me.
*checks location* Alberta. I have no doubt that you felt that way.
Just saw this movie and thought I would give a few comments, although I'm surprised that there isn't a thread already for this excellent movie.
If I had a single word to describe it, I'd say BOLD. The first half hour has almost no dialog and is set on a post-apocalyptic Earth -- pretty daring for a family oriented, animated film. What makes the movie work is the amazing design (both the visual and audio) of the main character WALL-E. If R2-D2 was inhabited by E.T., he would be WALL-E. He is such a lovable character that you even buy the love story element of the movie.
If I had two other words, I would add artistry and story. The entire look of the film is great. No one is as technically capable as Pixar right now in this regard. The story is also surprisingly deep and dark in a sci-fi sort of way. I won't go into too much detail to avoid any spoilers, but the movie does have an interesting message regarding consumerism and it's effect on the planet.
In short, this is another great effort from Pixar -- well worth the price of admission.
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What I enjoyed was there was no real villians. Yes, AUTO and gofer (under AUTO's direction) did some unpleasant things, but they did it because they were told to and had good reasons to do what they did. Spoiler on what: prevent human extinction.
What I think the core theme for the human is one that applies to us today- we don't pay attention to the things around us. It doesn't matter what, we have blinders on and only see what we want to see.
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At this rate, I'm starting to think it might just be impossible for Pixar to actually create a bad movie, given the constant string of successes they've had to date.
I'd long held Incredibles to be their best effort prior to this one, but Wall-E has to rank as one of my top ten favorite movies of all time.
Finally got the chance to go see it this past Thursday by myself (got out of work early so opted to hit the theater) and again today with my folks. And if anything, I enjoyed it even more the second time. This as to be one of the best done love stories I've seen on screen, with more chemistry between the two robots than most on-screen couples. Probably doesn't hurt the title character is this lovable well-intentioned little goofball, or that the soundtrack meshes so well with the scenes (listening to it as I type).
Too bad there's not a voting poll, as I'd eagerly give this one a 9.
I saw it this afternoon and it is my favorite movie of the year. It was amazing (particularly the scenes on Earth). It is the first time our 3 year old son has sat through an entire movie. He was into it the whole time.
Fantastic movie.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rl'Halsinor
It was a lot of fun, though definitely the most geared toward younger audiences than any other Pxar movie I've seen.. For me Monsters Inc. and A Bugs Life are my two favorite offerings but this studeo never lets your down. They are so creative.
Couldn't disagree more. Wall-E was great but definitely not kid-friendly, especially when compared to Monsters Inc or Bug's Life. Not that Wall-E was scary or anything just that's the concepts are so beyond a younger audience.
I would argue that even 9-10 year-olds, unless they were fairly advanced, would understand the concepts of Earth being abandoned, the pile-up of trash and garbage, and the sedentary life-style that the humans lived. Even the relationship between Eve and Wall-E would probably go over the head's of younger children.
My brother went with our 3 and 5-year olds cousins and he said they were bored for most of it. They liked Wall-E and the characters but overall, they didn't "get it".
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Couldn't disagree more. Wall-E was great but definitely not kid-friendly, especially when compared to Monsters Inc or Bug's Life. Not that Wall-E was scary or anything just that's the concepts are so beyond a younger audience.
The love story is pretty easy to follow. And, ultimately, kids don't need to "get it." All they need to be is entertained.
Quote:
My brother went with our 3 and 5-year olds cousins and he said they were bored for most of it. They liked Wall-E and the characters but overall, they didn't "get it".
This has a little more substance. But it's anecdotal. From what I've heard from at least one parent, his six year old enjoyed it. So experiences vary.
And the general content itself is kid friendly, entertaining or not.
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What I enjoyed was there was no real villians. Yes, AUTO and gofer (under AUTO's direction) did some unpleasant things, but they did it because they were told to and had good reasons to do what they did. Spoiler on what: prevent human extinction.
Indeed, and take BnL.. While it's implied that it's constant encouragement to consumerism is what caused the crisis in the first place, they're shown to have spent the last of their energies working to fix the problem they caused.
I've just come back from seeing it and... it was OK.
I really liked it on a technical level - the imagery of the desolate earth and some of the depth of field work they did was amazing - and Wall*E was a likeable character.
However, I sometimes found I got a little bored by it, and it was far less entertaining for me than Kung Fu Panda (I thought it was going to be the other way round, but there you go!)
Cheers
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Wall-E is truly a gem of a movie. I saw it with my wife and three boys (all under 9 years old) and we all enjoyed it immensely.
With respect to BnL, and talking messages/themes here, you have to understand something - BnL is the *only* entity shown ever. This implies not crass commercialism, but absolutely monopoly over business, economics, and even government. With no competition, you have no Capitalism, and thus any statement attempted to be made concerning Capitalism becomes, in fact, a very accurate statement concerning Communism. From this perspective, a lot more becomes clear - the similarity of all the humans in what they do, wear, and "eat", even their slovenly nature from a life of invariance and lack of effort.
Wall-E is, whether by design or accident, a movie with an absolutely excellent message - one of what it means to be human, the strength of the human spirit in its individuality, and the appreciation of life that we're all capable of when allowed (taking the blinders off) to see things as they are. That it takes a lovable little sentient robot to show these people how to be human is part of the charm of the movie.
Couldn't disagree more. Wall-E was great but definitely not kid-friendly, especially when compared to Monsters Inc or Bug's Life. Not that Wall-E was scary or anything just that's the concepts are so beyond a younger audience.
I would argue that even 9-10 year-olds, unless they were fairly advanced, would understand the concepts of Earth being abandoned, the pile-up of trash and garbage, and the sedentary life-style that the humans lived. Even the relationship between Eve and Wall-E would probably go over the head's of younger children.
My brother went with our 3 and 5-year olds cousins and he said they were bored for most of it. They liked Wall-E and the characters but overall, they didn't "get it".
Well, I went to see the movie with my 3 year old (Well 3.9, it was a few days before his 4th birthday) and he enjoyed it immensely.
I was curious about this, so I asked him what was the movie about, and he said:
"Wall-E is all alone, and then he meets EVE, and then they become friends, and then EVE has to take the plant to the spaceship, and then Wall-E wants to go with her, and then they find each other and are friends and are happy."
So, yeah, he missed the consumerism warning and the jabs at Walmart but he did enjoy the movie... I mean he watched it entirely without making a noise, and he rarely does that... he usually becomes distracted on the slow parts or just goes asleep.
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