WALL-E

[Mark_Stevenson]

Magical. Simply magical. It would be a cold heart indeed that didn't fall in love with this little fellow.

Go and see it.

Mx

[grahamthomson]

I am keen to see this but I may well wait for it to come out on DVD, since I hate to go and see family films at the pictures during the school holidays when there are unable-to-shut-the-fuck-up children everywhere.

[Deleted]

Has anyone noticed the similarities between WALL-E and Johnny 5 from the Short Circuit films?

[grahamthomson]

Just wait until Mainframe finds out what his Action Master partners been up to!

[Cullen]

I want to see this more than any other film in recent memory.

[charlesrocketboy]

It was BRILLIANT.

[Bogatan]

Truly fantastic. One of the most beautiful films Ive seen.

Almost zero talk from the main cast really made the animation and the animators shine. I will own a blue ray player just to buy this in HD.

Andy

[Grand Moff Muffin]

I suppose I'd better see it at some point, given people's views expressed here, though I can't stomach Pixar films to date, and the rough plot outline doesn't sound great.

Martin

[Bogatan]

To me comparing this to any other Pixar offering is like comparing any other Disney Classic to Fantasia.

Its at least different to be worth a try.

Andy

[Deleted]

I might catch it when it comes onto Sky Box Office but if I do It'll be the first Pixar film I'd have seen as their other offerings don't quite interest me.

[grahamthomson]

A wonderful film.

[The Doctor]

Dear parents:

Please educate your children that the cinema is not your front room and that consideration for others is nice thing. CONSTANT NARRATIVES UPSET THE OLD MAN DOWN THE FRONT.

-Ralph

[The Doctor]

Oh, and the movie was pretty good.

-Ralph

[Dark Stranger]

Have to see this again, fell asleep halfway through it.

Serious amount of children asking stupid questions throughout it too.

I dunno, I found it a bit boring to be honest, and I normally love Pixar's output.

[Fortmax2020]

I shall hopefully catch this at a later showing this weekend... to avoid the kiddies.

[Cullen]

I went to a 9pm showing and avoided all the kids. Loved it, loved it, loved it.

[Fortmax2020]

Finally saw this late last night. Great fun!

Could've done without the false fire alarm at the start and the very annoying CBeebies over-long trailer that proceeded it though.

[The Doctor]

I agree. The never-ending CBeebies trailer irritated the hell out of me in the same way the never-ending BBC Radio trailer does. Whoever makes the Beeb's cinema's trailers needs to be visited by an ice-monster.

-Ralph

[Fortmax2020]

In the showing I was at the (rather vocal) consensus on the trailer was what was it doing on at a late evening showing with no kids in the audience??

[Grand Moff Muffin]

SOME SPOILERS FOLLOW

Decided to catch this this morning before Cineworld took it off completely. Came out with mixed feelings, which is a big improvement on my feelings coming out of any previous Pixar-type movie.

The robots were all done brilliantly, though the standard ploy of lumbering WALL-E with big sad eyes to emote and gain sympathy betrayed a lack of confidence in the film's ability to make him sympathetic through his actions and the situations he found himself in, which lowered the level of the film somewhat. On the whole, though, the robots were great, both in design and animation. There was some superbly imaginative robot humour in there, and OK, I'll admit I failed to keep my eyes 100% dry at certain points.

My respect for the film was hampered by a couple of things more significantly than the mere use of eyes for cheap emoting, however. The first was the awful, AWFUL decision to put a Disney-type anthropomorphised animal in it, namely the tame cockroach. Why oh why in a film about an Earth in which 99% of nature has been wiped out do they make the one surviving animal an insect that interacts with the hero as if it was a dog? It would have been moving had WALL-E's only companion been a _real_ cockroach, dooming the poor robot to a one-way relationship. But no. Disney has to blunder in and mess it up.

My second gripe was the jarring use of Pixar human characters in the second half, after using live-action humans in all the video clips and photographs. Surely they could have found or made up enough fat actors to play those roles, and thereby kept it feeling real? Having photos on the wall in the same scenes as CG humans made them look all the more out of place.

And finally, I thought the end was a bit confused in terms of purpose/message. It almost went in some interesting directions, but I felt the presence of some irresitible force at the studio laying down the law and insisting on a sugary no-worries, feel-good conclusion that didn't convince me for a second. It very nearly went in a courageous direction, re-booting WALL-E to his original hard-working rubbish-processing setting, and sending a harsh message to the humans that this was what was required of them now, and it was going to be hard work from this point on. But they didn't have the guts for that, they gave him a happy ending and gave the human captain a joke about growing pizzas. Pull back to show plants growing, and end.

Truth is, it wasn't a happy ending at all. The last thing the Earth needed, just as nature was starting to take its first steps to recovery, was the return of a ship of the most unfit and pampered examples of the species that ruined it last time - humans who, rather than let nature take its course, see a patch of ground that may support plant life and resolve to farm it for food. And it wasn't a happy ending for the humans either, as they'll realise once the credits have finished rolling. If they're wise they'll take off again and go back into space for a million years or so before even thinking about trying to exploit the homeworld again.

So, robots great, other characters and overall premise poor. But more worth seeing than anything else I've seen these companies churn out.

Oh, the short piece Presto at the start was brilliantly choreographed and directed, a true rarity in this day and age. Sadly, the CG characters had none of the spark of life behind them that comes from hand-drawn animation. But very well scripted and directed, nonetheless.

We didn't have a CBeebies trailer, but trailers for several mediocre-looking CG animated films that I shan't be touching with a bargepole.

Martin

[charlesrocketboy]

Sept 7, 2008 14:45:28 GMT Grand Moff Muffin said:

It very nearly went in a courageous direction, re-booting WALL-E to his original hard-working rubbish-processing setting, and sending a harsh message to the humans that this was what was required of them now, and it was going to be hard work from this point on. But they didn't have the guts for that

Why do you want me to burst out crying in a public cinema?

[The Doctor]

I agree with Martin that the ending was bobbins. I had to resist the urge to throw things at the screen. It just about got away with it on the strength of the goodwill much of the rest of the film had built-up.

Overall, it was an enjoyable enough feature in a watch-once way.

I rather liked the 'Presto' short.

-Ralph

[grahamthomson]

I agree about the cockroach and the ending. Bad moves, both.

Sadly, this is what happens when a company like Pixar becomes wholly owned by Disney. I think Disney prefer more return in terms of ticket sales over telling a braver story.

But despite that I still thought it was an enchanting film.

[Bogatan]

SPOILER: Click to show

SPOILER: Click to show

I dont think Disney can be blamed for the story. Its not as though Pixar have ever made a heavy hitting dark story or anything. In fact compared to Cars which was the last film released before the merger it is quite a mature film. For every film were you feel Disney are just out for money theres another were the creators really are allowed to make the film they want and if Disney do interfere its to the benefit of the film.

I could be wrong but I thought the real actors we're a clever decision. The idea that after centuries in space the humans would have physically altered especially when they had no need to exercise or work made perfect sense. Having live action characters used for the before abandoning Earth clips showed the extent of the physical change very well. The panning shot of the previous ship captains I felt was very effective. And obviously live action actors interacting in the CG world of the film would have robbed it of its beauty as the humans on board arent so much fat as underdeveloped like a baby. So you couldnt use fat people and I dont think make up would have been a better option. Or do I have to remind people of Martin Lawrence's oh so funny fat suit comedies.

The cockroach could have been less dog like, again i you've watched other Pixar films blaming Disney is I feel unfair.

SPOILER: Click to show

Even then its presence is worth it for the shocking moment Wall-e rolls over it. Unless you see a trailer before hand that spoils what I fond really horrific.

The end? Am I the only one that wasn't really bothered about the end? It didnt seem important. Getting back to Earth was the way to bring the film to an end, it was basically a given. Sadly in the western market I dont think an animated film could survive with selling to kids. The important stuff, true love, humans over coming their reliance on technology and showing why we need to be concerned for the environment, those messages had been delivered. Cut to happy ending.

I did love the periods of art credit animation. Probably my favourite one to date.

Andy

[Grand Moff Muffin]

I reckon I saw influences from Wallace and Gromit's 'A Grand Day Out', with that slot-machine robot on the moon who dreamt of skiing and glued bits of rock back together when vandalised by visitors. He incidentally demonstrated that eyes are not a prerequisite for conveying emotions, doing it all instead with his arms - everything from anger to dejection to frustration to joy. Anyone else find this?

Martin