First of all - yes, I finally saw WALL-E and I loved it to bits. Fanart on the way.
Second, the point of this thread - I was browsing the boards for WALL-E on IMDb, and one user made a very interesting analogy on the relationship between Presto! and WALL-E…
[i]"Presto is a bag of potato chips, whereas Wall-e is a steak.
Little effort is used to open the bag and PRESTO! You have a delicious snack that tickles your taste buds. It’s over quickly, and you can go to the store to get enough bag anytime you want.
Steak, the more expensive of the two, takes careful preparation, and a decent amount of time and skill to cook. When you taste it, you know you’re having something rich, meaty, satisfying and spectacular.
Sure, there are plenty of vegetarians out there, who’ll hate steak.
And there’s lazy people, who don’t want to put the effort in to making a steak.
And There are those hasty people who just don’t feel like such an involved food, and just want their hunger met.
Moral of the story is: I like both potato chips and steak."[/i]
I’ve heard the WALL-E/steak comparison before, but never Presto/chips, so that is pretty interesting.
But yeah. WALL-E is a lot like steak in that it needs to be appreciated. There are other films which I would compare to cheeseburgers, in that they are very processed, cheap, no special care goes into making them, and they are not necessarily good for you. Steak, however, is carefully prepared and delicious as well as expensive. But those who are used to eating cheeseburgers all their lives don’t really like steak because it’s just too much pure goodness. And that’s how WALL-E is. It’s a work of art that really needs to be appreciated.
However, one thing still puzzles me. Since a steak is made at the expense of the live of a cow… does that mean the movie is made at the expense of someone else as well?
WALL-E was fine for me. I am no vegetarian who dislikes what WALL-E has to offer. I am not slothful nor fast-paced when it comes to movies, I can and will enjoy any movie at any rate they have to offer. Nevertheless, you can’t stake the claim that it was a movie of perfection. The resolution, after all, was too predictable, I knew that WALL-E would had gotten its memory back; I was just waiting for it to happen. If anything’s fast-paced, it’s Andrew Stanton who was impatient enough to finish the movie with an expected ending.
I hold no ill intentions towards Mr. Stanton nor the respective company, but when people starts to compare it to a flawless piece of art, someone needs to start talking.
I agree it’s not a flawless piece of art. I might have come across too strong in my comparison. I just mean that when comparing it to other films, a lot more work and thought and creativity has gone into it. So some people don’t understand it or appreciate it because it doesn’t have women in bikinis, fast cars, things blowing up (well, yes, actually it does have a little bit of that), dark humor, etc.
Not that it’s difficult to appreciate. I’ve heard it described as this great painting in an art museum that has to be looked at really hard in order for someone to see the beauty in it. And only really big art buffs can look at it and go, “WOW!” There are films like that, but that’s not WALL-E. It’s definitely really hard to be bored by this movie and very easy to be caught up in it’s message.
I’ll admit that there were some heartwarming scenes with WALL-E and EVE acting all cute together. Excluding that, the film does not really implicate any significant message to me.
If it is about the consequence of littering (you’ve got to be kidding me), the film has sure put the issue under a very mild light, shielding it with humor, too, hiding the elements of the message. Say that one has to look beyond that to see the great message behind the movie. What significance does the message carries? I mean, littering? Come on. That’s like warning people about the consequence of people insulting each other with foul language. Why don’t we hold each other’s hands around a campfire now. No offense.
My example might have been harsh, but as you can see, there isn’t really any ‘significant’ message behind this kiddie movie. It’s a great film with young elements - that’s it. Sure, it’s cute, but I’m feeling that people are blinded by its intoxicating appearance when they start complimenting it.
If you would like to compliment something, support the good word you put in it.
Well, according to Andrew Stanton, this movie does have a message and it does go far beyond littering. If you remember, he said that the theme about “littering” and consumerism and all the jazz is just there to fuel the rest of the story, which is about the two main characters. And IMO, a love story, particularly this one, has a lot of meaning. Basically, the theme of the film is that we need to take a look around and interact with people. We need to learn to care. We need to live our lives instead of just going through the same routines every day making no progress within ourselves and in the world around us. To me, this movie has such a basic message about people that has been so easily forgotten in modern society. It’s much more important than any theme about the environment or the end of the world. If we lose ourselves, what’s the point in saving the planet? So that’s why this movie is important.
Fanart on the way.