Reviews - Wall-E

[HEXUS]

The latest animated adventure from Pixar Animation Studios tells the tale of a remarkable and lovable little robot. Is this one of Pixar's best?

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[LuckyNV]

Deserves more than 3 stars IMO.

[Kanoe]

I would defo agree with that asessment of the film. In terms of animation quality the earth scenes are some of the best work i think Pixar have done. Aboard the space ship it seems to drop a bit but that could be due to the "clean" nature given to the inside of the ship, whilst keeping inline with would u would expect from a futuristic spaceship it likes textural prescence.

Story wise it could have given a bit more.

[IBM]

Just been to see it this afternoon, and as long time fan of Pixar (let's forget about Cars for the moment) I'd have to say this was one of best, ranking up there (if not surpassing) Monsters Inc & Toy Story.

I get the feeling the reviewer was a little too occupied with the whole green issue, to the extent that it spoiled the film. Personally I just took it as a theme, one around which the whole movie was built, and without which the whole movie wouldn't have worked. It's fiction people, you should just sit back and enjoy.

Thought the characters were great, the sentimentality just right, moments of peril well timed, and all in all very very cute. Enjoyed it thoroughly, would have given it four - maybe even four and a half - stars.

[ACiD303]

Hmmm...I'd agree with the IBM.

When I came out the cinema, the most criticism I heard was about the green issue ... certainly who I was with at the time thought that. I took it onboard but didn't think much of it - I mentioned this in a previous Wall E thread:

http://forums.hexus.net/music-films/141781-wall-e.html

I think it was great. I gave it four and a half stars, but that was because I was expecting to be wow'ed by the visual animation and I wasn't. It wasn't bad, but I certainly don't think at any point, given a projected progression Pixar should be capable of by now, it had much wow factor.

It's one of the few movies I would probably go and watch again....except I kind of need to save my money for the Dark Knight!

[shiato storm]

I tend not to worry too much about reviews, ever. If I enjoy the movie and it entertains me for the evening then its a good penny's worth spent. In this case I enjoyed the movie.
Ended up seeing this by mistake as arrived too late to make the Jacky Chan movie Forbidden Kingdom, nevermind though, this was a superb alternative. Visually stunning, pixar have come on a long way from making cartoon looking movies to great spectacles for us to be absorbed by. The depiction of the earth as it becomes reminded me at times of I am Legend - only without the crazy zombie things! - and you really get the sense of Wall-e's life being quite content doing what he does each and every day (as we see from the piles and piles of stuff everywhere)...until he gets somewhat interrupted of course.
The story itself developed well and didn't seem to ever get bogged down, as some movies can. I think they've managed to do a great job of getting emotions across from what are essentially expressionless characters, instead using other methods to convey panic/excitement etc they've used sounds and character animation to great effect. the minor gripe is as mentioned that maybe there's too much going on/zipping round etc you fail to connect with certain characters perhaps, but then this does avoid stalling the movie so I suppose it works.
Whilst it perhaps isn't my favourite from the pixar group (I just love the incredibles) it is none too shabby either for what they've achieved. so, 4 stars, not quite 5 but better than 3.

as for dark knight next week...can't wait!

[Baggio18]

Would definitely put Wall-E up there with Finding Nemo as one of my favourite animation movies. As an all-round movie, there is really only that much character building and plot that can be included (think of the kids ...), so I am fairly happy with the ending. Perhaps a little abrupt, but what the heck, with some movies, you shouldn't be engaging the brain too much anyway.
Good mix of humour and ticks your sentiments, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, might even say this has been my favourite movie so far this year. Oh, and did I say the animation was amazing?

[Flibster]

As just one example, give Wall-E a full solar charge and he'll make a sound identical to that of the sound you'll hear when turning on an iMac.

Really?
Can't say I knew that. Havm't turned a mac on for a few months. Used one as a door stop - yes... actually turned one on, no.

Even worse, is the fact that Wall-E's love interest, EVE, frankly looks like an iPod from the future.

Not surprisingly because Eve was designed in collaboration with Johnny Ive, Apples design guy.

You did forget to mention the iPod he uses to watch the film 'Hello Dolly' on though.

I do think it's Pixar's bravest film to date. It's certainly a masterpiece of technology and I loved it.

Presto was fanstastic as well.

[Steven W]

Gonna go and see this shortly. Had high hopes for it. I've played the Xbox 360 game, review later this week (excuse the ad) and I have to say,if it's anything like the game I'll be bored. Still, game's are rarely like the movie, so still looking forward to it.

[Nick]

I'm gonna have to say that I think Parm has missed the point of WALL-E completely, sorry, but there it is.

This isn't an eco-film warning of doom and gloom a la The Day After Tomorrow, nor is it a love story like Brief Encounter... this a family film in the very best tradition of what Pixar do best, which is pitch a film on a variety of levels, knowing that adults would just as much like to be entertained as the kids who drag them to see films of this ilk.

And in that respect WALL-E does the job brilliantly. There's loads of slapstick humour for the kids to laugh at and for us older viewers to enjoy plus there's the not-so-subtle message of consumerism being a bad thing for older tweens to get a grip with.

WALL-E is actually a fairly damning commentary on the United States with it's rapidly increasing obesity population and it's thoroughly insular, ill-educated people. Even the name of the ark-ship, Axiom, has a meaning - a truth that doesn't require proof - showing no little irony in that it's full of lazy, obese, helpless humans with no wish to look beyond the borders of their own private world... ringing any bells here?

So the parallels are obvious but then, with a noted lack of any sense of irony, perhaps sledgehammering subtleties home is what's needed to make an entire nation question it's way of life... (The Kyoto Agreement is a good example of when American citizens could've made a difference but either didn't know or didn't care)

So whilst WALL-E neatly sidesteps the probably too tender issue of natural resources, it does slam into emissions, pollutants and consumer driven waste head on... Don't be fooled by the overt anti-multinational mega corporation message, WALL-E isn't about not buying Coca Cola or Nike, it's about being aware of your impact upon the planet... but that's still not the main thrust of the film.

No, the mian thrust of the film is about a robot, who, after 700 years of doing the job he was made for, has developed a personality and an inquisitiveness of a small child... and he's lonely. As such, you really feel for him and it's pleasing to see his innocence survives the film untarnished.. and WALL-E will be familiar to any parent who has watched their child discover something wondrous for the first time in objects we usually find mundane and take for granted.

There's plenty of other film references in here for the film fan, the most touching for me being the last 10 minutes where all I could think of was the end of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, but even then, Pixar have managed to avoid the overly sweet, syrupy sentiment of a Spielberg film, so you won't have to suffer an ET ending here.

Visually, WALL-E is easily the best CGI movies yet produced, with such a range of filmic effects that you will, especially in the Earth based scenes, forget you're watching CGI. There's depth of field, focal planes, crash zooming and loads of other effects that suggest that the whole idea is to have shot the movie as if there really was a camera on the ground with a robot in front of it... and the dust and flame effects are amazing.

On the Pixar scale, WALL-E, for me, just nudges ahead of Toy Story and Monsters Inc, for the sheer spectacle of the film itself. Toy Story never stopped feeling like a cartoon, Monsters Inc whilst imaginative and thoroughly enjoyable was a just a bit too treacly at the end whereas WALL-E hits it just right...

Oh, and as for product placement... one Mac sound and an iPod does not mean product placement... those are global icons that are easily recognisable and are there to show you that you're part of the same society being portrayed in the film.

But beside that, it's just a damn fun film to watch and enjoy... even if the space ship bit does feel a bit rushed and certainly had more scope for more action and fun.

All in all, this is certainly a 5 star movie and well worth a watch, more so than my last cinema visit, Indian Jones and the Boring As Hell Final Gasp.

[Parm]

Thanks for adding your thoughts Nick It's always interesting to hear how different people react to the same movie.

shiato storm makes a very valid point earlier in the thread; "If I enjoy the movie and it entertains me for the evening then its a good penny's worth spent. In this case I enjoyed the movie."

That's precisely it. A review is just a review, but ultimately for a movie it should boil down to what it means to you. For me, Wall-E just didn't quite hit the right notes.

[Crevan]

I've heard the movie was excellent for a while now (it's been out in Russia for a month or thereabouts), so I went to see it with high expectations - and rightly so. Enjoyed it from start to finish.

The visuals were excellent, the Earth scenes in particular, as mentioned before. The direction of some scenes was near perfect, like the one with exploding ships - it had stunning visuals, great sound direction, humour, romance, and explosions That's a crazy mix that worked surprisingly well.

The intro actually reminded me of Fallout games aesthetic, with all that ruined world environment and cheery optimistic music from 50s or so. Oh, and the overall sound and music was spot on.

I have a feeling I'll have to go to see it again

[Steven W]

Just watched this and I couldn't agree more with the review. I'd give it 3 stars. I'm not sure why people are saying this better than Toy Star and Monsters Inc. The laugh out loud moments were very few and far between and I didn't really empathise with the characters.

Half way through when they were dancing in space I was hoping it would end. Impressive visuals, some nice ideas, but a bit lifeless.

I found myself drifting off thinking about consumerism.

[Sybarite]

4 stars, competent as always with Pixar. Even if your not entirely bowled over you're unlikely to want to walk out of the film. Worst bit is having to watch the trailers for similar certificate films - such dross.

I did find it very odd that there's a switch between live action film and animation. The Axiom cruiseship idea is also one that Rightwing Libertarian nutters in the Sates are infatuated with every couple of years.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen....greenbuilding

Personally I think having them all on a big ship in the middle of the Atlantic may be the best place for them....