I saw the movie Saturday with three friends, but am finally getting around to commenting on it.
Seeing Wall-e was actually kind of a downer for me. Not because I didn’t like the movie. On the contrary, I was grinning ear to ear by the time the credits began to roll. But as soon as the movie was over I turned to look at my friend, and before I had a chance to say anything he turned to me and said, “That was the worst Pixar movie ever!” My other two friends were quick to agree with him.
I was baffled! I was completely speechless. I couldn’t believe that the four of us had just watched the same movie, and I was the only one who liked it. So all the energy and excitement I had coming out of the movie theater was spent trying to convince my friends that it was a good movie while they had nothing but criticism for it. By the time I went to bed that night, I was pretty confused myself about whether or not even I liked it!
My friends’ main complaints were that it was boring because there wasn’t nearly enough talking, and the pace was too slow. (Ironically, the friend who thought the pace was too slow also thinks that Cars is Pixar’s best movie, and – nothing against Cars, but – if Wall-e is too slow, than Cars is way too slow.) And personally, I didn’t even notice the lack of dialogue. The robots in this movie communicate so clearly that I could easily “hear” everything they were saying almost like they were speaking English. My friends also didn’t think it was entertaining because they didn’t think that anything the robots did was funny. I thought the robots were some of the funniest characters Pixar has ever created!
Anyway, I liked it very much, but was disappointed that I didn’t get to enjoy any of the post-movie excitement. I’ll have to see it again, with a different group of people, and hope they like it as much as I do. Or maybe I’ll go sometime by myself and see it.
Anyway, my initial thought for this movie was: “Not my personal favorite Pixar film, but probably their best”. Some quick Pros and Cons I wrote down:
Pros:
- Absolutely brilliant opening! Easily the best first five minutes Pixar has ever created for a movie!
- [spoil]Loved the Apple startup sound playing every time Wall-e charged.[/spoil]
- Easily some of the best visuals and character animation yet! Like I said before, I absolutely believed that the robots were talking, and could understand everything they “said”.
- [spoil]I loved how they didn’t wrap up the movie with an epilogue like most Pixar films, but instead used the animation in the credits to “silently” show the epilogue. This is the first time I’ve ever teared up while watching the credits to a movie![/spoil]
- [spoil]Also on the credits: fantastic use of the evolving art forms as they told the story of earth’s re-colonization. Starting with Caveman-like drawings to Egyptian symbols to impressionistic paintings to hippie colors and flower patterns, exactly like images you’d find in textbooks, only with robots in the pictures. I also liked the group of sea turtles swimming by and the individual characters reacting to the scroll credits as a call-back to Finding Nemo.[/spoil]
Cons:
- [spoil]One thing my friend said that I agreed with: the movie needed more humans. The stuff with the robots was fantastic! But I wish they had added a little more depth to the human’s part of the story. Like maybe having a few more speaking characters, or showing a little more of the human’s lives before Wall-e showed up and changed everything. Along the same lines, I really would have liked a protagonist human character. Not a villain, per se, but just a human who started to notice the way John, Mary, and the Captain were changing, and not liking it. After all, these people have lived cushy, responsibility-free lives for generations, and when we first see them they seem pretty content with things. Which is why it was rather surprising that everyone was so willing to take responsibility and change their lives by returning to a planet they no longer knew or cared anything about! I liked the Captain’s inner turmoil over the issue, but he still seemed genuinely willing to take a stand (no pun intended) no matter what it cost him. That’s why I wish there had been another character in the mix who would kind of mock them for changing and who liked things the way they were and didn’t want to return to earth. Then we could have seen his character progress over the course of the movie and by the end of the climax he would have changed his mind and done something heroic to help Wall-e and Eve. It would have made the movie a little longer, but I personally think it would have plussed the human story to the point of perfection that the robots’ story reached, and in the end given us more reason to care for the humans and realize just how big of a deal their change of heart was.[/spoil]
- [spoil]On a much more minor note, I was very disappointed that the film didn’t close with Luxo’s light going out and Wall-e coming out to fix him like the teaser trailer showed. I was positive that they were going to work that into the movie at the end![/spoil]
Okay, so this post turned out much longer than I had planned, but I do have to make one more comment before I go: Presto. Wow, was that ever a fantastic short! I’ve always loved Pixar’s short films and was looking forward to it. Yet at the same time, I was surprised at just how many Wall-e reviews raved about this cartoon. I thought, “There’s no way it can be that good!” Boy, was I wrong! The only thing my friends and I agreed on that night was that Presto is now our favorite Pixar short film!
