Wall-E (Three-Disc Special Edition + Digital Copy and BD Live) [Blu-ray] | List Price: $40.99
Discount Price: $18.99
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Brand: Disney
Binding: Blu-ray
Release Date: 2008-11-18
Interesting movie about obesity and the environment [Posted on 2009-01-04]
I first loaned this movie to my brother who loved it; when I finally started watching it, I knew it was about love and the robot who found it. Watching deeper in the movie one realizes why and how obesity has become such a major problem. The lazier people get in their own lives (witness how all of the "supplemental" foods that they are now catering to children is to drink everything, rather that eat. This is very much as message on the throwaway society -- if you don't care about yourself, why would you care about your world? Very interesting the way the movie was put together, but it is already happening. Look at the coupons that come in the Sunday paper and look at how many products are professed to the consumer to be a "miracle" cure in a bottle. Pretty sad, but a very important message relevant today. Also, the movie is packed in an environmentally made package.
Deservingly a classic [Posted on 2009-01-05]
Deservingly a classic, for its vision, its artfulness and its clever storytelling. Embrace this movie and let it take you into a dreamlike world where a mystery unravels, a love story blossoms, and just like the pudgy people are starting to notice - there's a whole bunch of stuff happening if you just stop and take a look. Enjoy the movie.
Well done but kitschy [Posted on 2009-01-05]
This freaktastically over-rated film had middle aged movie critics tripping all over themselves adding it to their "best of 2008" lists. It's well done; and the first largely silent half-hour is animation art at its best. But maybe viewers who don't like sugar highs will wonder what all the fuss is about.
I wonder.
The sentimental "robots in love" story and the sappy conclusion made me want to evoke the spirit of Dorothy Parker, who supposedly once declared that "Winnie the Pooh" made her want to "fwow up."
A True Love Story [Posted on 2009-01-05]
This is a true Disney love story; particulary during those first 40 minutes without the dialouge.
Just look at WALL-E's eyes, watch his every move; who could be more in love than a little robot who continually gets struck by lightening in order to protect the love of his life, a little guy who ties Christmas lights around her and takes her off to see a sunset?
I think this is why so many adults enjoyed this film (I am 50 years old, I immediatly recognized the music from "Hello Dolly") too.
This wasn't just a kid's movie, this was made for everyone.
And the music?, what a fabulous mix of tunes through-out the film.
This is by far the best PIXAR film made; I just hope they do not try to make a "WALL-E 2", some films should never have #2s made.
-Katie Wesolowski
Over-rated, Passing Amusement at Best [Posted on 2009-01-06]
I like Pixar. I think they consistently make good movies -- good in terms of narration, character building, and animation. The Incredibles is one of my favorite movies, and I thoroughly enjoyed Finding Nemo and Toy Story 2. I wanted to like Wall-E and I waited to be blown away.
Now even I think that the Pixar hype has gone to a silly level. With Wall-E, I can see that the hype appears to be going to Pixar's head -- which any creative mind can tell you is a death warrant. It's not a death knell for Pixar's profits, not yet; but in trying to keep up with the hype, Pixar must be finding it more and more difficult to keep pumping out the same quality material -- overthinking its creative endeavors, as it were. I feel that this happened with Wall-E: it simply became overwrought.
What are the critics gabbing about? This movie is NOT the best movie of 2008. It's not the best of anything, with the exception of its animation -- which does not, can not, make a movie succeed all on its own. In fact, what this movie ultimately reminded me of was a Pixar television special that was about 68 minutes too long.
The basic plot is that humankind has "made too much trash" (killed the Earth with their blasted industry and consumerism, those cads) and has blasted off into space to hang out on a spaceship, teeing off and drinking slushies. Meanwhile, down on Earth, little Wall-E units work hard every day to clean up the trash. Let's zoom through 700 years to the present day. That's when we meet our intrepid hero, an adorable Wall-E robot -- arguably, the last of his kind. Apparently, he's been working for centuries (one of several "um, what?" moments), fixing himself with spare parts. Over the centuries, he has developed individuality and a personality; he is friends with an adorable cockroach and collects interesting junk in a trailer. He happens to meet a probe called "Eve" who has been sent to Earth by the star-bound humans for a secret purpose. He falls in love with her. They have an adventure. Will Eve return his affection by the end?!
So is there more than that? Well, uh, technically... no. It's a love story between two robots and yet another preachy narrative about how humans suck at taking care of the environment. Oh, Wall-E is cute and instantly lovable, absolutely. The intermittent slapstick is laugh out loud, and the animation glitters. The problem is that it's an incredibly basic story with incredibly basic characters and yet another obnoxious "save the environment!" theme. I was bored out of my mind most of the time.
What Wall-E really reminds me of is Studio Ghibli films, which I suppose shouldn't be a surprise, thanks to Mr. Lasater's closeness with Hayao Miyazaki. There's a quiet, understated, delicious kind of joy, optimism, and simplicity about Ghibli films -- most characters are inherently good and cheerful, and everyday life is infused with magic. Wall-E attempts to capture this same pleasant spirit and fails miserably, veering into hateful saccharine territory instead.
The problem is that the characters in Wall-E have been dumbed down. Whereas Ghibli's characters generally tend to be complex and flawed -- heck, just as the characters of The Incredibles and Finding Nemo were complex and flawed -- Wall-E's characters seem just... stupid. Obnoxiously stupid, obnoxiously one-sided, optimistic only because they are incapable of feeling anything else. When human beings of the future see Wall-E -- this filthy, antiquated little machine -- they show no surprise at him and ask no questions about his appearance or why he's there. Wall-E simply bumbles from one mishap to another, unwittingly teaching little "life lessons" (ugh) to random people and robots, none of whom seem capable of thinking on their own. It's like a series of bubbly Pixar shorts, plot be darned. Heck, there is only one "villain" to surmount -- and it's not a particularly impressive one!
Add to this some heinous dialogue ("Get ready to have some kids!") and some very blah character designs for the humans (all of the fatties look alike, even those of different races... whatever happened to the fantastic character designs in previous Pixar films?), and you have a very shiny, very bland movie.
Am I really supposed to believe that human beings don't ask questions in the future and that they lose all of their intelligence? That consumerism blinds them all and that they all turn into miniature Jabba the Hutts? Yes, I know it's supposed to be a light-hearted judgment at Americans and consumerism in general. How very cutting-edge of them! This has only been the judgment thrown at Americans for at least twenty years.
My favorite silly moment in this very short-sighted movie is the future portraying the humans' return to Earth, which is shown during the credits. A utopia featuring a green and flourishing Earth is seen. Humans are seen fishing with the help of robots, farming, etc... but no factories building said robots are shown, no energy sources for the robots, no houses for the people. Is Pixar serious? With technology comes waste. Heck, with human life comes waste. So it has been ever since the first human set foot on this Earth, so it will ever be. Anyone showing otherwise is painfully short-sighted and ignorant.
Enough of this mindless eco-babble already! We all want and need nature and we need to take care of it, but we all want luxuries and need technology, too. There should be a happy medium; there probably never will be. Hey, I have an idea to chew on -- where would Pixar be without the trucks and planes shipping its movies to movie theaters all over the world? Or the cars and SUVs that its animators drive to work every day? Or the movie-goers who drove to theaters to watch Wall-E, the trucks that delivered that popcorn they so blithely bought? This is arm-chair preaching. It will affect nothing. It only feeds into the same well-oiled machine it hypocritically decries.
Here's another thought. Who did they make this movie for? If it's for kids, it's too long and boring for them. If it's for adults, it's too simple. Commercials seemed made to appeal to the younger crowd, which was misleading. I'm honestly shocked people DO like it to such an incredible degree.
All this movie is is a heavy-handed morality tale related in a series of frustrating Pixar shorts, headed by a cute little robot who simply can't carry the weight of it. Some movies, like Ghibli films mentioned beforehand, manage to teach these themes without effort. After watching My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away, you want to see pristine forests; you want to make sure the rivers are clean. My Neighbor Totoro inspired the Japanese to set aside a special reserve of pristine forests and it didn't have to beat anyone over the head with Captain Planet theology to do it.
I don't need or want lots of action or explosions or shiny things. All the Ghibli films I've seen and enjoyed do not rely on heavy-handed plots, for example; they rely on delicate, delicious character development. That's why most of them succeed where Wall-E fails; Wall-E is just not that complex. It offers nothing that hasn't been seen before. It goes from point A to point B to point C, character unchanging, simply adorable -- as though cuteness and slapstick could carry a 98-minute long movie!
I hope Pixar moves forward and makes something a little more substantial next time, hopefully with the deep characterization I loved in Finding Nemo and The Incredibles.
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