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The wife and I went to see this yesterday. It was very entertaining. The animation was fantastic, and the story was fun without being some annoying Hollywood in-your-face message. The fact that this was so enjoyable when the two main characters get through the entire movie while hardly speaking any real dialogue says wonders for Pixar.
Best movie I've seen in a while. And I normally hate children's fare.
Seriously, this thing better win some awards.
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Best movie I've seen in a while. And I normally hate children's fare.
Seriously, this thing better win some awards.
Pixar's movies are pretty much never "children's fare". Sure, kids like em, but its not because they are being pandered to.
I love how much personality they are able to give the bots without having them vocalize. I'd love to see a short with some of the other bots from the repair depot.
Pixar's movies are pretty much never "children's fare". Sure, kids like em, but its not because they are being pandered to.
"Toy Story" is the devil.
Wayfinder, PaizoCon Founder
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We took our two boys to WALL-E on Saturday morning...I would propose that this is the best Pixar film to-date. They just keep getting better and better.
What impressed me was the scale of the animation. Everything is HUGE, and the animation successfully conveys that feeling.
The short preceding the movie is AWESOME too.
Pixar's movies are pretty much never "children's fare". Sure, kids like em, but its not because they are being pandered to.
I would bet that kids like them because they are NOT being pandered to. :)
(There is no age minimum for the "detect crap" skill.)
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This.
That's an amazing slice of irony! Of course, when I was five, I probably would have liked it. I would have worn it to school and told all my friends that I got it when I went to see the movie; then I would have told them the story; then they would have begged their parents to take them; more watches, more stories, more box office gold.
When I went to see the film on Saturday, the family ahead of me in line was putting one of those watches on their three year old. I just remember thinking it was odd that the WALL-E watch had no WALL-E-ness to it. Not even a logo. Heck, it wasn't even yellow.
I'm looking forward to this one.
I really wasn't too interested in seeing this, but now, I'm not so sure...
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I thought it was a little preachy, but really good overall.
Yep, pretty preachy if you were trying to bond with the humans in the film, but from the Robot's point of view it was more about destiny in finding a companion and fulfilling your purpose in the world. There definitely is a bit of toy story there. The human thing was just a back drop for the real show.
It was an excellent film. I agree with the awards nod.
Cheers,
Zux
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I really wasn't too interested in seeing this, but now, I'm not so sure...
You'll love the bit where Wall-e encounters the trigger happy Terminator Penguin (the other robot). Wall-e is going isnt he cute, then makes a noise and its all ZAP! BLAM! BOOM! WAH! Geez where did that hostility come from? Triggerhappy Killbot.
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I agree with the opinions that the developing relationship between Wall-E and Eve before the story goes into space was very well done. Once in space, I did like some of the other robots as well, especially the anal little cleaner robot :) The chase scenes did kind of take away from the movie's composition, though.
Still, I was glad I saw it.
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Once in space, I did like some of the other robots as well, especially the anal little cleaner robot :)
M-O.
The chase scenes did kind of take away from the movie's composition, though.
Still, I was glad I saw it.
Actually, given the inspiration that the movie took from a lot of old silent films (Chaplin, Buster Keaton) it was pretty much inevitable that there was going to be Keystone Cops chase sequences.
I thought it was amazing how the animators can make you fall in love with Wall-e five minutes into the show, without him saying a word. I thought it was really cool how they got him to display emotions when he doesn't really have a face.
Overall, I really liked it.
Well given the quality of the comments here I will likely go see it.
The premise seemed so ridiculously PC that I was steering clear.
I really enjoyed this movie. Much more than I expected to. I laughed, I was touched by it as well. Great message to be instilling kids with too - take care of our planet.
Everything was really well done. The musical choices were sublime and played into the characterization of the robots so well. Great flick.
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Well given the quality of the comments here I will likely go see it.
The premise seemed so ridiculously PC that I was steering clear.
I have to agree. The way they billed WALL-E as earth's last hope was just silly. There really was no hope in that regard.
The fact is that WALL-E was an enigma on a wasted planet and would sooner or later breakdown like the rest of them. Eve sort of saved WALL-E in a way just as well as WALL-E found what everyone needed to save them. It was complete luck (as well as 700 years of trial and error).
I liked how the CEO of Buy 'N Large said,"Ok, that's enough, let's get off this dump."
Though this was a metaphor.
It really showed how pathetic and shortsighted real companies are when they have hit the end of their rope. I think the real question is, "Do you really think if something is legit that it should be allowed to continue to do the wrong thing toward's everyone's peril?"
Sometimes the wrong thing to do is follow the laws. Nazi Germany would have one follow the law till they were rounded up and killed in a gas chamber. Though this happened in an extremely short period of time in Germany, how would we as a people see a slow change over say 200 years, in the corporate sectors, as they change the landscapes around our world? Do we even notice what is disappearing when generations no nothing of the world that existed before them?
Anyway, it was a good film and this whole thing is starting to sound preachy too.
Cheers,
Zux
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Well given the quality of the comments here I will likely go see it.
The premise seemed so ridiculously PC that I was steering clear.
I thought that at first as well. Then I read an interview with the writer, who basically stated that the movie was, in essence, a love story and that the whole garbage thing was just an easy way to get everyone off the planet so that he could have WALL-E there all by his lonesome.
After seeing the movie, I think he was being very truthful. The entire story really does, in my opinion, center around the relationship between WALL-E and EVE.
Either way, the PC stuff isn't as in-your-face as with some other movies.
Actually the whole save the earth thing seems to be a miss to me. I mean would you be willing to have that future if it meant that you could create amazing technology including star ships and artifical intelligence? The earth's sun is eventually going to run out, the fact that this future made it possible to explore other worlds in other systems (why they didn't is another question, but ...). And at the end the world recovered anyway, which kind of tells you no matter how bad we make it we can't conquer nature. To quote crappy actor Jeff Goldbloom, "Life finds a way." It is only human arrogance to assume that we could actually doom the world forever. And they not only got to live more in harmony with nature, but they got freaken robots as well!
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The fact that this was so enjoyable when the two main characters get through the entire movie while hardly speaking any real dialogue says wonders for Pixar.
Did you notice that Ben Burtt, of Star Wars sound fame, was responsible for the sounds/voices?
He made it work for R2 pretty well, eh?Took the kids to this yesterday. I think I enjoyed it as much as they did!
Actually the whole save the earth thing seems to be a miss to me. I mean would you be willing to have that future if it meant that you could create amazing technology including star ships and artifical intelligence? The earth's sun is eventually going to run out, the fact that this future made it possible to explore other worlds in other systems (why they didn't is another question, but ...). And at the end the world recovered anyway, which kind of tells you no matter how bad we make it we can't conquer nature. To quote crappy actor Jeff Goldbloom, "Life finds a way." It is only human arrogance to assume that we could actually doom the world forever. And they not only got to live more in harmony with nature, but they got freaken robots as well!
I think the move was an allegory. The "return to Earth and save it" had nothing to do with space travel, which, btw, our government no longer has any interest in whatsoever beyond weaponizing it. The "return to Earth" had to do with turning back from the ridiculous course we've set for ourselves, one of a virtual world of consumer economics where we are no longer in touch with what makes us human and connects us to each other. Also, the message of acting as Earth's caretakers as opposed to people who exploit it was well carried out in the movie I thought. I'm just glad to see a kid-friendly movie carrying such a message, especially in this day and age when it's vital to the survival of our species.
I have no doubt the earth will live on without us. I'm pretty sure we'll kill ourselves with pollution and greenhouse gases first though.
Yeah, I don't think the thematic focus was supposed to be on the kewl robots (rather they were a fantastic way of telling the story without being overly didactic, by having something other than humans wrestling with this very human problem), but rather the message of "let's take care of this place, it's our home."
That's what I took away at least. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie.
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I have no doubt the earth will live on without us. I'm pretty sure we'll kill ourselves with pollution and greenhouse gases first though.
I loved the Earth webbed-in by space junk (Thanks Devo).
I remember arguing the point that contemporary approaches to space flight and related endeavors were creating an ultimately inescapable web of fast moving debris about the planet with a couple of space-businessmen on Science Friday (NPR alk show) years ago.They laughed my notion off with the thought of the fiscal opportunity available to the private sector and their companies.
I am no scientist, but I laughed when I saw the web and still hope that they will be unable to escape when the Mayan calendar ticks down in 2012! lol
My nine year old niece leaned over to me during a tense part of the movie and asked me "where did they get that much trash to throw into space from if they've been in a spaceship for seven hundred years?" I am so proud of her! I'll make a gamer out of her yet.
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Great movie. There's a great little dystopian future (somewhat reminiscent of the one in BioShock, although much less creepy). The main characters were fantastic, given they couldn't really speak, and the message was very good, I felt.
Seeing how much people have changed since the Internet boomed in popularity is kind of scary, and they take it to the next level in this. Pretty messed up.
Also, it's visually beautiful and has such... purity to it. I don't know how else to put it.
An all around great film. I recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it yet.
I was skeptical about Wall-E for over a year, and pretty much only went to see it because my boyfriend is a big Pixar-fan. Well, the writer must be contractually obligated to deny everything except the cute robot love story. 'Cause if I didn't know better, I would've sworn that Wall-E was a classic animated entertainment + politics movie, in the tradition of Warner Bros.
From the raped-and-pillaged Earth, to the completely useless and Eloi-like Axiomates (who *parks* an interplanetary space ship?!), to the quasi-fascist robot society (anybody else get shades of "Cuckoo's Nest" from the infirmary?) that there was a political movie with some outstanding graphics and a veneer of cute robot love. If there's any justice in the Academy, they'll win Best Anim. Feat. next year. (Just got blown away by "Persepolis" though, which lost to that rat-in-a-restaurant flick, so there probably isn't any justice.)
And the irony of it all is that I came away from the film dearly wanting an EVE plushie... She reminds me of Aeryn Sun from Farscape...
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If there's any justice in the Academy, they'll win Best Anim. Feat. next year. (Just got blown away by "Persepolis" though, which lost to that rat-in-a-restaurant flick, so there probably isn't any justice.)
I was reading an article earlier today about how its unlikely that Wall-E will get nominated even with critical praise. Before a studio will put the effort out to get a film nominated, they really have to believe it has a chance to win and animated films have a notoriously hard time getting votes because the largest block of voters in the Academy are actors. And while actors enjoy working in animated features and taking the paycheck, a large portion of them simply do not recognize animated films as being comparable to live action works. In fact, it is rare for a movie to get Best Picture unless there is a Best Actor/Actress nomination for the movie (Return of the King was a recent exception). Considering the millions of dollars that Disney/Pixar would have to spend to campaign for Wall-E in the Oscar arena, it is quite likely they may decide that it won't be worth the effort.
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I really enjoyed Wall-E, especially the subtle and not so subtle homages to 2001. My big questions were how did Wall-E learn to repair himself when all the other Wall-E units did not develop that adaptation, and why didn't they just use some of the big Wall-A units instead of the microbot Wall-E units to clean up Earth?
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I really enjoyed Wall-E, especially the subtle and not so subtle homages to 2001. My big questions were how did Wall-E learn to repair himself when all the other Wall-E units did not develop that adaptation, and why didn't they just use some of the big Wall-A units instead of the microbot Wall-E units to clean up Earth?
I just attributed it to survival of the fittest, Wall-E just happened to be one of the last who could scavenge his brethren to keep going.
I really enjoyed Wall-E, especially the subtle and not so subtle homages to 2001. My big questions were how did Wall-E learn to repair himself when all the other Wall-E units did not develop that adaptation, and why didn't they just use some of the big Wall-A units instead of the microbot Wall-E units to clean up Earth?
I figure his ability to repair himself was the precursor to his collecting junk. As for the WALL-A's, my guess is that the smaller units were more autonomous (WALL-A's still have access to the Axiom's repair facilities), and that they wanted to leave things like buildings intact, that the WALL-A's would just crush.
...which, btw, our government no longer has any interest in whatsoever beyond weaponizing it.
That's not necessarily a bad thing. Government weapons reasearch is how we got the very internet we're communicating with now. Weren't the first airplanes purchased by the DoD? I think they're research tends to end up benefiting us all in the long run.
...which, btw, our government no longer has any interest in whatsoever beyond weaponizing it.That's not necessarily a bad thing. Government weapons reasearch is how we got the very internet we're communicating with now. Weren't the first airplanes purchased by the DoD? I think they're research tends to end up benefiting us all in the long run.
Meh. We'll see. Certainly didn't benefit the women and children who lived in Hiroshima or Nagasaki, or the estimated 1,000,000 dead in Iraq.
But that's immaterial really. I do think you're argument is facile. Do you really think we can't focus on discovery without focusing on military application. Just because we spent something like 600 Billion on Defense last year doesn't mean we have to keep doing it every year. We could only spend 500 Billion on Defense instead and have 1,000,000 new school teachers, reinvigorate the space program...and oh yeah, we could feed the homeless, and deal with other petty nuisance-like social issues like the nation's drug problem and crime.
I'm not a big fan of our gross military overspending, and I think we could come up with things like the internet without planning on killing people with it.
In addition, to be honest, it's not like we are that interested in even weaponizing space...more just making sure other countries don't, because then our nuclear edge dulls considerably. Space is a dead end as far as our g-ment is concerned, and that's a shame I think.
But yeah. I liked WALL-E. A lot of interesting commentary, AND it was a very well made flick.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 6
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That's not necessarily a bad thing. Government weapons reasearch is how we got the very internet we're communicating with now. Weren't the first airplanes purchased by the DoD? I think they're research tends to end up benefiting us all in the long run.
Characterizing ARPANET as weapons research is fairly dubious. Militaries depend on good and flexible communications, that isn't the same as weaponizing comm gear.
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That's not necessarily a bad thing. Government weapons reasearch is how we got the very internet we're communicating with now. Weren't the first airplanes purchased by the DoD? I think they're research tends to end up benefiting us all in the long run.Characterizing ARPANET as weapons research is fairly dubious. Militaries depend on good and flexible communications, that isn't the same as weaponizing comm gear.
Yah, ARPANET was being used by those whacky college students to talk about their DnD games too much so the DoD took their part and made "MILNET". :-) I remember bouncing pbp DnD and diplomacy games off !ihnp4 using UUCP.
Related to this discussion - has anyone picked up "Hot, Flat, and Crowded" - the new one from Tom Friedman? I liked the World is Flat (didn't agree with all of it, but thought it was at least readable.)
I really enjoyed Wall-E, especially the subtle and not so subtle homages to 2001. My big questions were how did Wall-E learn to repair himself when all the other Wall-E units did not develop that adaptation, and why didn't they just use some of the big Wall-A units instead of the microbot Wall-E units to clean up Earth?
Setting aside for the fact that there were about 200 different silly little impossibilities... How do you know there weren't a hundred or a thousand other Wall-E units operating in different parts of the world?
So a few other things which were totally broken if you want to get picky:
* Pretty much everything about Wall-E, 5 minutes solar charge powers a robot that compresses garbage all day long, has a laser capable of cutting open refrigerators.
* Space ship has artificial gravity but is incapable of countering the sideways G's in a turn?
* After 700 years of continuously dumping trash out into space the ship still has enough mass to feed and clothe the human race?
* People that have sat in lounge chairs their entire lives getting up and walking?
* Eva's head and limbs attached and powered by ???
* The whole planet is covered in trash?
These aren't complaints... just pointing out that there are tons of little oddball things that were seriously broken according to the laws of physics and common sense.
Oh... and it was a great movie.
Easter Egg: I liked how after he solar charged, the Mac startup chime played.
Easter Egg: I liked how after he solar charged, the Mac startup chime played.
Yeah... that was funny.
Even though it was clearly EVE who was the mac.