Thursday, July 3, 2008

Walt Would Be So Proud


I saw Wall-E this past weekend and just like most everyone I enjoyed it very much. I'm going to spare you an additional review, because to me what Pixar did here is a lot bigger than deliver another successful movie. What Pixar did is bring back the glory days of Disney, when animation wasn't just for the kiddies but a more artistic way to tell a story. Some have compared Wall-E to 2001: A Space Odyssey, but I was thinking more Fantasia, a pure experiment in storytelling through moving images. Quite the opposite of 1000 mph spectacle that was Cars. With Wall-E, we're not just witnessing a cute little robot move across the screen, we're witnessing American animation putting itself at the forefront once again. And they're doing it smack dab in the middle of summer blockbuster season, so everyone can see.

On a scale of 1 to 10, my respect for Pixar is at 11.3 because at a time when it would be so easy for them to phone it in, they didn't. At a time when they could so easily crank out 10 more movies like Cars and make money every Christmas selling Cars beach towels and Cars pajamas and toothbrushes, they wouldn't. Instead they offer up Ratatouille and now Wall-E. Cartoons that act like the finest cinema. I hope the kiddies know how good they've got it.

8 comments:

Foodie said...

So you promise this is one I won't fall asleep while watching? We'll see.

PIPER said...

You shouldn't. Unless you're really sleepy.

Garrett Sorrels said...

I'm going to go ahead and say it- Best Summer movie of 2008.

I want to see this movie multiple times in the theatre.

Anonymous said...

I saw it over the weekend, and I darn near cried at the end. Awesome movie. (Even more awesome is that it out-grossed Hancock yesterday.) I had read there wasn't any dialogue for the first 30-35 minutes, and sure enough, that was the most captivating part. My wife saw it twice in two days, and I'll be seeing it again too.

Anonymous said...

I loved it! Unfortunately, I missed about 10 minutes toward the end while taking my nephew to the bathroom, but I'll definitely be going back to see it again and find out what happened.

Megan said...

I'll go. I'll go. Jeez. (Who am I kidding, I was totally going already.)

Damian Arlyn said...

Beautiful. Simply beautiful.

Incidentally, there's a word you don't hear enough anymore to describe movies (or anything really): "beautiful." And yet this truly is a beautiful film... and not just visually, but in so many ways.

whitney said...

I'm really excited to see this one. At first I was sceptical because it came from Pixar. I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but their grown-ups-playing-on-the-kids-playground attitude always annoys me. Then I heard that a large part of WallE was without dialogue. That's so mature of them.

-Whitney
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