Wall-E (MiceChat Reviews)

[ChurroMan]

Originally Posted by Rex Dopey24

well guys I just came home from the movies and I thought the movie was kinda boring for the first 35 or 40 mins. however in the end it turned out to be a decent movie. its a good movie, I wish they would add more dialouge to the robot characters.

The first first 40 minutes were amongst the most mind-blowing in cinema history. The movie simply began with no goofy introduction or 80s pop songs.

[GothicManor]

Originally Posted by Monorail Man

Nah, BnL OS - BnL bought Microsoft and Apple, I'm sure.

I wish there was some BnL stickers for sale. Would love to stick them on all my 'un-branded' objects.

Did anyone notice the 'green' irony on the 'future earth'? Lamposts powered by the sun, buildings with solar panels on the side.

There are of course, you know disney doesnt miss a mass consumerism trick....

just go to http://buynlarge.com/

is this Disneys alter ego??

[GothicManor]

Originally Posted by pratt55

I liked the movie but there were parts in it where I was bored. I too wanted to know what was up with the storms, not when they sent out the probes but when the dust storms would all the sudden hit? Why is there only one bug left? If Wall-E can repair himself then why couldn't the other Wall-E machines do the same and wouldn't there be more? Why did the humans on the ship not know that there was a pool? How were there babies when it seemed like all the humans were all so self-involved and I did not see any couples until the two that met Wall-E took off their stereo sets?

Do I expect answers for these questions, Nope. I'll just have to watch the movie again to see if I can figure it out. IMO Toy Story was a much better movie but Wall-E was entertaining.

Maybe you got bored because you werent paying attention:

1. ever hear of the dust bowl of the 1930's? where due to over farming of the land the entire midwest became a desert and this caused huge sand storms?? Google it or better yet get a copy of the Grapes of Wrath and watch it.... on second thought dont bother...

2. There was nothing in the film to indicate that that was the last cockroach on earth, it was just "Wall-E's buddy" hence the focus on it, tho it may have been the last one we dont know, and how could that be if it was the last one? well if there was only one new plant sprouting after 700 years of a dead earth I would guess the cockroaches MAY HAVE RUN OUT OF THINGS TO EAT AND DIED.

3. There was every indication in the film that A. Wall-E was the last of his kind still working, why would that be? 700 yrs had passed and over time they all broke down, they may or may not have been able to repair themselves like Wall-E we just dont know there was indications that Wall-E was unique, go watch Short Circuit, and B. at some point in time there eventually would be only one left even if they could all repair themselves due to misfortune, they were too badly damaged or ran out of power or etc etc and that one just happened to be the hero of this story...

4. They didnt know there was a pool because there were totally oblivious to the outside existence beyond the video screens in front of their faces it was only when the screens got damaged AS IN THE MOVIE that they had nothing else to see in front of them but REALITY for the first time. (I thought they should have shown the infants in the nursery also already watching screens in front of them maybe showing Teletubies of the future or something equally vapid and disturbing but hey thats just me..)

5. This was not explained but one can assume as this is the year 2815 and that all life functions are taken care of by machines that humans are reproduced either by cloning or some other artificial means using an artificial womb as it is a Disney pic they didnt not go into this in detail..... go to Buy n Large's website and there if you search you will find a nanny bot for taking care of infants... http://buynlarge.com/

Yes Toy Story is very easy to understand...

http://www.johnpdugan.com/bnl_nanc-e.jpg

[GothicManor]

I just saw a shamelessly and deliberately misleading trailer on TV for Wall-E.

It ONLY showed the cutsey robot slapstick antic scenes ONLY and all to a very up beat pop song THAT WAS NOT IN THE MOVIE and completely bogus to give the impression that the film was just another Pixar / Disney summer family romp of frivolous fun....

Shame on Disney .....

I wonder how many parents will take their kids to see this thinking it as they are advertising it only to be shocked at what it is really about??!!

[MickeyMania]

Originally Posted by Mr Wiggins

But to me, the most entertaining part of the WALL-E phenomenon is yet to come: watching the mega-corps who made it, distributed it and market its merch, twist in the wind to dodge its message. (It's started already -- http://www.o-meon.com/pages/business..._Footprint.htm)

Artistic self importance? Directorial smugness? Audience sucker punches? Corporate hypocrisy? Nah.

Not that's worth arguing about, anyway... nor that'll make any difference to the bottom line.

It doesn't promote a strictly minimalist, anti-consumer lifestyle. WALL-E does have his shelves of toys, games, and trinkets after all. I'm pretty sure I even saw Pooh once on that shelf, though I may have been seeing things.

[Top Chef Remy]

Hey can someone tell me why Fred Willard was human and the humans were animated? That part kind of bugged me. Still liked the movie though.

[MickeyMania]

Originally Posted by GothicManor

http://www.johnpdugan.com/bnl_nanc-e.jpg

Fun Disney Fact: This robot, or something very close to it, appears in a 1940s Donald Duck cartoon titled Modern Inventions. It diapers him, gives him a bottle, and sings him a lullabye before he's interrupted by the Robotic Butler. "YOUR HAT, SIR!"

Originally Posted by Top Chef Remy

Hey can someone tell me why Fred Willard was human and the humans were animated? That part kind of bugged me. Still liked the movie though.

You know how people always complain about how Pixar can make the cities and the cars and the toys and the fish look so real, but can't make a person look real? That effect is called the uncanny valley, and it basically means that when presented with a recreation of a human, we will nitpick it to death to notice how it's not like us. So if you're looking at an AA in Pirates and immediately notice it's jerky arm animations, that's an example.

In the case of this film, Pixar used it to their advantage: 700 years ago, humans looked like Fred Willard. Now they've been hanging around space for generations, and long-term orbit has taken an effect on them.

[AE_Fan]

Just saw this again and I have to say it's really put itself into the list of my absolute favorites along with Finding Nemo and Princess Mononoke.

What Pixar did with the robots still knocks me flat on how much emotion we get from them, especially with on how limited they can speak. The first half is just stunning, and that's really all I can say about it.

Oh yes, I also had a massive geek-out from just the soundtrack today.
When I first heard it a few days ago I got the chills, then once I listened to the part again today it hit me.

In the first scene of the Axiom when the ship docks, parts of the soundtrack are similar to what was used in The ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter. Sure it may be just one rhythm, but it sure stuck out good enough for me to catch it.

[C-HOX]

3 stars. Meh, its a decent movie, nothing I'd ever want to watch again. I don't know, I liked Toy Story and A Bug's Life, but I have a hard time getting the big draw of Pixar.

[Coheteboy]

Saw it again. Just as interesting as it was the first time. I really do love this film now. Love EEEET.

[ashley solo]

Originally Posted by techskip

Clever references... clever references... Autopilot was Hal, right down to the attempt to kill the entire crew and needing to be "turned off". That's not even counting the detached politeness that made Hal famous to begin with. Wall-E had multiple rips on Johnny 5 including smashing a bug, loving music/dance, complete innocence, smashed battery, smashed eye (which looked identical I might add), ability to repair himself, loss of memory and then sudden attitude due to a "short circuit". Wall-E was a shorter, pudgier Johnny 5 complete with the same track design. Then we could go with the various Star Wars references including the Escape Pod and the Garbage Chute, or the whole docking procedure, I can keep going if you would like... And as for the whole "humans destroying the earth" Planet of the Apes did it best with their Statue of Liberty shot... but it's been done over, and over, and over, and over... humans destroy earth and earth is a wasteland we get it! Everything from Terminator to WaterWorld had us doing something that made good Earth become bad! Clever is not usually Obvious! Spaceballs was clever, Shreik was clever... Wall-E was plagiarism at it's finest. If this wasn't a Pixar film people would likely be tearing it apart specifically for that reason.

Wall-E brought amazing advances in cinematography and CGI annimation, as does any new cutting edge CGI flick... but that is where the creativity stopped for me.

Boy solo says:
While I will concede that the film did borrow a lot of themes etc. from previous films, that doesn't necessarily make it a bad film in its own right. I felt that all of the references were intentional, and served to enhance the film. The space pod was a clear homage to star wars, and yes, autopilot was clearly influenced by HAL. but does this make it a bad film? in my opinion No.

Hundreds of great films throughout cinema history are self reflexive, and I feel that they only serve to strengthen the medium as a whole. So Wall-E referencing these classic Sci-Fi films is intentionally making a connection to these films in order to A: be a fun tribute to them, and B: intentionally evoke the themes that these films focused on in order to make them poignant to the audience.

yes, a lot of the material in Wall-E has been covered by other films, but that doesn't mean its not important enough to cover again. How many films have been made about love in the history of cinema? Why can't that many films be made about protecting our planet.

I thought the film was a gutsy move for Pixar, and I feel that it paid off.

I thought it was a masterpiece. Sorry you didn't like it.

[ZeekSlider]

Originally Posted by Barbossa

One of the biggest ironies; the movie's message is about the amount of consumerism and its effects. Now here is the irony. I don't know if this was available in the states or if it was just here in Canada, but with every child's admission you got a free watch this opening weekend. Well after seeing the quality of the watch and walking out of the theater, I wondered: why give out a literal piece of garbage, probably made in China after subjecting kids and adults to a movie showing what could happen to us in the future? All the watch is is a rubber wrist band with a little digital display, but it's very very poorly constructed and won't exactly last that long. How many people will actually enjoy it? And how many will toss it out and have it end up in the landfill? Was it really worth spending money on wasting the amount of energy into the production of this piece of trash (the watch, not the movie )? I don't think so.

It was available in the states. It was a studio requirement that we give out one watch for every child's ticket during the opening weekend. Thank God it's Monday and we can stop that promotion, because, in the end, like you pointed out, it wasn't worth it. From what my usher friends have told me, none of the watches were thrown out during any of the shows, but most of them will end up in the trash as a few watches we were giving out already had dead batteries or broken parts.

And if you spill your movie-size soda on it? You can forget about it! The watch will be dead within seconds thanks to the non-water-proof construction.

[ZeekSlider]

Originally Posted by GothicManor

I just saw a shamelessly and deliberately misleading trailer on TV for Wall-E.

It ONLY showed the cutsey robot slapstick antic scenes ONLY and all to a very up beat pop song THAT WAS NOT IN THE MOVIE and completely bogus to give the impression that the film was just another Pixar / Disney summer family romp of frivolous fun....

Shame on Disney .....

Was it the "Love is in the Air" ad? I like that one.

Also, thanks for reminding me BnL has a Zazzle store. I may get a shirt from them once I deposit my check to wear around work when I'm off the clock.

[composerboy]

Well, since this is MiceChat, and I can't say that anyone who didn't like this movie is brain-dead, jaded, apathetic, mouth-breathing, moronic, non-creative, heartless garbage, suffice to say that you're simply off my Chrismahanukwanzaa card list.

[GothicManor]

Originally Posted by Top Chef Remy

Hey can someone tell me why Fred Willard was human and the humans were animated? That part kind of bugged me. Still liked the movie though.

One reason that came to my mind was if all the humans were animated (and the future ones ALL look like some people today but not most) it would not hit home as strong subconsciously people would think oh its just a cartoon, but if you have real people in it and he was not the only one, in the promo for Axiom you see real people too, then it clearly means that this could be OUR future when we see real humans.