WALL-E: If Andrew Stanton keeps it up he’s going to start giving Brad Bird a run for his money as my favorite (And arguably the best) animated film director of all time. Stanton already created FINDING NEMO (One of the only movies that almost makes me cry every time I watch it) and now with the brilliant WALL-E he’s started to put together a body of work that rivals Bird’s filmography of THE IRON GIANT, THE INCREDIBLES and RATATOUILLE.
In one fail swoop WALL-E managed to be not only the best love story but also the best sci-fi film made within the last five to ten years. The fact that this was all done with a primarily mute cast via the medium of computer animation makes it all the more remarkable. Oh, and the film happened to be one of the best “message movies” ever made.
Of course I have a real hard time calling the movie that at all. I think first and foremost Stanton wanted to simply tell a great story, a story whose natural turns and sci-fi pedigree brought it to the point where speculative fiction kicked in, pointing us to a future that seems so ludicrously plausible that it’s scary.
I know a few people that didn’t respond to this movie as positively as others simply because they don’t like “message movies” and they felt this film was guilty of such a crime. THE HAPPENING was a message movie, and a pretty bad one at that. WALL-E however is something totally different it’s first a foremost a great story that just happens to have a message in it. And even if I did actually think it was an INCOVIENANT TRUTH, beat you over the head type of movie, is there really any more important message that could be brought to people of all ages than the idea that we are rapidly losing our need for human interaction and that by doing so we are destroying not only ourselves but our planet as well?
Great science fiction has always served as a tool for us to view the hard to swallow, bitter pills of the world through a prism that entertains yet subtly gnaws at our brain at the same time. This time it’s been done in a nearly silent family film featuring the most lovable characters of the year and the best animation ever produced. What’s so wrong with that?
Assuming he’s not really frozen and hidden somewhere under Disneyland I truly feel that every time Pixar releases a new film Walt Disney’s smiling somewhere. No other film company on earth has a better track record than they do at the moment and WALL-E is yet another in a seemingly never ending string of crown jewels. This film is an instant classic that truly has something for EVERYONE it’s an adorable, funny, touching, heart warming, moving, cautionary think piece that will stand the test of time. Guaranteed years from now this gets mentioned in the same breath as the likes of SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARVES, PINOCHIO and TOY STORY. Movies don’t get any better than this, simple as that.
Ok, because I don’t want to take up too much space so there will be one more post coming up in which I delve into a film that we’ve debated quite a bit here on the blog, my favorite film of 2008 and perhaps the best movie of the decade so far. It’s got lots of make-up and a guy with pointy ears so stay tuned.
In one fail swoop WALL-E managed to be not only the best love story but also the best sci-fi film made within the last five to ten years. The fact that this was all done with a primarily mute cast via the medium of computer animation makes it all the more remarkable. Oh, and the film happened to be one of the best “message movies” ever made.
Of course I have a real hard time calling the movie that at all. I think first and foremost Stanton wanted to simply tell a great story, a story whose natural turns and sci-fi pedigree brought it to the point where speculative fiction kicked in, pointing us to a future that seems so ludicrously plausible that it’s scary.
I know a few people that didn’t respond to this movie as positively as others simply because they don’t like “message movies” and they felt this film was guilty of such a crime. THE HAPPENING was a message movie, and a pretty bad one at that. WALL-E however is something totally different it’s first a foremost a great story that just happens to have a message in it. And even if I did actually think it was an INCOVIENANT TRUTH, beat you over the head type of movie, is there really any more important message that could be brought to people of all ages than the idea that we are rapidly losing our need for human interaction and that by doing so we are destroying not only ourselves but our planet as well?
Great science fiction has always served as a tool for us to view the hard to swallow, bitter pills of the world through a prism that entertains yet subtly gnaws at our brain at the same time. This time it’s been done in a nearly silent family film featuring the most lovable characters of the year and the best animation ever produced. What’s so wrong with that?
Assuming he’s not really frozen and hidden somewhere under Disneyland I truly feel that every time Pixar releases a new film Walt Disney’s smiling somewhere. No other film company on earth has a better track record than they do at the moment and WALL-E is yet another in a seemingly never ending string of crown jewels. This film is an instant classic that truly has something for EVERYONE it’s an adorable, funny, touching, heart warming, moving, cautionary think piece that will stand the test of time. Guaranteed years from now this gets mentioned in the same breath as the likes of SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARVES, PINOCHIO and TOY STORY. Movies don’t get any better than this, simple as that.
Ok, because I don’t want to take up too much space so there will be one more post coming up in which I delve into a film that we’ve debated quite a bit here on the blog, my favorite film of 2008 and perhaps the best movie of the decade so far. It’s got lots of make-up and a guy with pointy ears so stay tuned.
1 comment:
I'd like to see Adam's thoughts on this one, since he had a different view of it.
I can't comment on it myself yet since I still need to see it. The main criticism I've heard is that its two seperate films in one (which seems to be pretty common these days) and veers off in another direction towards the end.
It looks right up my alley from what I've heard of it so far, since the main character reminds me of a cross between E.T. and Johnny 5, two characters that are dear to me. I've also always wanted to see Pixar attempt a sci-fi film since CGI is so apt for that.
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