Go Back  DVD Talk Forum > Entertainment Discussions > Movie Talk
Reload this Page >

"Wall-E" ...(An Adventure Beyond the Ordinar-E) reviews thread.

Community
Search
Movie Talk A Discussion area for everything movie related including films In The Theaters

"Wall-E" ...(An Adventure Beyond the Ordinar-E) reviews thread.

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 06-26-08 | 10:14 PM
  #51  
Senior Member
 
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 632
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
From: Just South of Nowhere
Before posting my thought's on Brian's review I have to mention two things:

--I am an undying Disney fan boy and Cast Member.
--I have no problem if Brian, or ANYONE didn't like this or any other Pixar film. To each there own.

My one concern or question, and I actually wouldn't mention it normally but since Brian is on here and might be able to settle for me is this: It seems your opinion on the film is based on the context of its production, or really, who made it. To paraphrase you mentioned you would have liked basically the same film if done by and indy guy. So are you really basing your judgment on the film your witnessed, or your bias about who made it going in? Again, no disrespect or desire on my part to start a debate. Just curious on your thoughts. Thanks!
Old 06-26-08 | 11:31 PM
  #52  
PopcornTreeCt's Avatar
DVD Talk Hero
 
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 25,913
Likes: 0
Received 4 Likes on 4 Posts
That sucks dude. The blind Pixar loyalty is outrageous.
Old 06-27-08 | 12:09 AM
  #53  
DVD Talk Limited Edition
 
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 6,535
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
From: Minnesota
Well since The O reviewed the latest Indian Jones movie as "DVD Talk Collector Series" I definitely won't be taking their review of Wall-E seriously in any way.

I couldn't disagree with you more on Indiana Jones...and I'm guessing it'll be the same with Wall-E.

Last edited by FiveO; 06-27-08 at 12:18 AM. Reason: delete part of post
Old 06-27-08 | 12:18 AM
  #54  
DVD Talk Special Edition
 
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,429
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Originally Posted by JPRaup
After fully reading Orndorf's review it truly is awful. It seems as if he is reviewing Pixar/Disney as a company and not the film.

I agree. I absolutely HATE it when people aren't really reviewing the actual subject, instead choosing to rant about the people/company behind the product. When I see a review like that, I just take it with a grain of salt. It is not worth taking to heart, because their beef isn't really with the subject/product at all, but, with those who have created it. I imagine that if it weren't created by Pixar/Disney, Brian would have likely raved about the film.

However, to each their own, and no disrespect to anyone. I am so excited to see this film, that a bad review isn't going to disuade me. Never has, never will!

Last edited by MadonnasManOne; 06-27-08 at 12:23 AM.
Old 06-27-08 | 12:54 AM
  #55  
Member
 
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 67
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I can't in my life remember reading so many positive reviews for one film.

And it's not as if all the reviews are just saying "it's a great movie."

All the reviews are essentially saying the movie is beyond amazing.
Old 06-27-08 | 01:05 AM
  #56  
The Bus's Avatar
DVD Talk Godfather
 
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 54,920
Received 23 Likes on 18 Posts
From: New York
Just got back from this. The first half of the movie has absolutely no dialogue. One of the best Pixar movies ever, up there with Incredibles and TS2. I'll be seeing it again; it's nearly flawless.
Old 06-27-08 | 01:44 AM
  #57  
fumanstan's Avatar
DVD Talk Godfather
 
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 55,349
Received 27 Likes on 15 Posts
From: Irvine, CA
Originally Posted by The Bus
Just got back from this. The first half of the movie has absolutely no dialogue. One of the best Pixar movies ever, up there with Incredibles and TS2. I'll be seeing it again; it's nearly flawless.
So what would you grade it? Like a D+?
Old 06-27-08 | 02:29 AM
  #58  
nickdawgy's Avatar
DVD Talk Hero
 
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 37,463
Received 645 Likes on 488 Posts
From: Southern Cal-ee-for-nee
I'll be seeing it this weekend.
Old 06-27-08 | 03:07 AM
  #59  
Rogue588's Avatar
DVD Talk Reviewer
 
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 15,094
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
From: WAS looking for My Own Private Stuckeyville, but stuck in Liberty City (while missing Vice City)
Originally Posted by fumanstan
So what would you grade it? Like a D+?
I saw it tonight too. I'd give it a D++.

I wouldn't say it's for the youngins (like, say, 4 & under), but responsible parents should be discussing the flicks their kids see anyways..
Old 06-27-08 | 04:22 AM
  #60  
DVD Talk Limited Edition
 
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 7,071
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
From: So Cal
Heard from a friend that it was great, and they absolutely hated A Bug's Life, Cars, and Ratatouille.

I was surprised at the arrogance of that review.
Old 06-27-08 | 05:28 AM
  #61  
Member
 
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 111
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Originally Posted by FiveO
Well since The O reviewed the latest Indian Jones movie as "DVD Talk Collector Series" I definitely won't be taking their review of Wall-E seriously in any way.

I couldn't disagree with you more on Indiana Jones...and I'm guessing it'll be the same with Wall-E.
That's exactly what I thought when I read Brian's Wall*E review. "This from the guy who declared Crystal Skull a 'DVD Talk Collector Series' film."

I saw Wall*E tonight and have to say that, in my opinion, it is Pixar's best to date (and I'm not a Pixar groupie- Never saw Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, The Incredibles, or Cars in the theater, only later on DVD). Wall*E is a magnificent achievement in entertainment. The filmmakers found a way to create real, sustained emotion and characters that connect with the audience through no real dialog and no real facial expressions. They've somehow created this entirely through some truly amazing animation with less than fully articulated characters. That's where Brian's review misses the mark, I feel. He seems so busy reviewing Disney and Pixar as a corporation, that he doesn't have time for anything more than a simple dismissal of Wall*E as "cute." He never once mentions the absolutely breathtaking animation quality. At least if you don't like the story, you have to give it credit as a technical achievement, but that's not the review he wrote (which I should remind starts: "Pixar as a formidable storytelling machine is not an entity I'm entirely comfortable with.") I don't mind that he didn't like the film, buy I've yet to read his review of the film, only his overly intellectualized condemnation of the evil, toxic Disney/Pixar corporation.

But as for the film itself, it's was the kind of film that I knew halfway through I was watching a classic. Not that it's a classic today, but as someone earlier said, you just know this movie is special and that this movie is going to watched fondly for generations. As for the things Brian Orndorf is accused of eating, the only thing I can guarantee is that he'll be eating crow as the word on this film gets out.

And Brian, you also state that you were "agitated that Stanton doesn't take the character past infantilization or offer something more than pratfalls." Would you have preferred that Wall*E swing with CG monkeys or get hit in the balls with giant CG plant bulbs?
Old 06-27-08 | 06:22 AM
  #62  
Member
 
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 111
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Oh, and I forgot to mention that "Presto," the animated short that precedes Wall*E, is the funniest thing I've seen on screen in a long, long time. Just full of big, hearty laughs.
Old 06-27-08 | 06:48 AM
  #63  
riotinmyskull's Avatar
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
 
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 9,175
Likes: 0
Received 4 Likes on 4 Posts
From: portsmouth, va
like most brian orndorf reviews, i will ignore it.

just for reference: brian gave THE LOVE GURU and THE HAPPENING higher scores than WALL-E
Old 06-27-08 | 06:49 AM
  #64  
Vipper II's Avatar
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
 
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 3,806
Received 130 Likes on 101 Posts
From: Abingdon, MD
Originally Posted by PopcornTreeCt
The blind Pixar loyalty is outrageous.
With Pixar's track record I'd say they've more than earned that loyalty.
Old 06-27-08 | 07:27 AM
  #65  
OldBoy's Avatar
Thread Starter
TOTY Winner 2018 and Inane Thread Master
 
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 54,149
Received 1,731 Likes on 1,418 Posts
From: "Are any of us really anywhere?"
guys, enough with the O's review already. like it or hate it, it's an opinion.

see the movie, like it or hate it, and post your thoughts. that is all.

still 98%, 84/2...wow!

Last edited by OldBoy; 06-27-08 at 07:36 AM.
Old 06-27-08 | 08:17 AM
  #66  
DVD Talk Special Edition
 
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,429
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Don't read on if you are trying to be spoiler free!

CNN.com has reviewed Wall-E:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movi...lle/index.html

Review: 'Wall-E' is a classic

(CNN) -- The most consistent production unit in Hollywood just hit another home run.

Over the last decade, Pixar has become a byword for quality, combining cutting-edge digital animation with depth of character, slapstick comedy and rich, engrossing storytelling that appeals equally to kids and adults. "Wall-E" has all of that and more.

Written and directed by Andrew Stanton ("Finding Nemo"), it's Pixar's most ambitious movie and an instant classic.

Wall-E is a solar-powered garbage drone, the last one still operating on an abandoned toxic planet that looks an awful lot like -- well, is -- Earth. A rusty box sitting on caterpillar tracks, with a retractable binocular-shaped head, he compresses junk into building blocks and then piles them up into towers that are shadow-skyscrapers of waste in the ruins of an unidentified city.

Electronic billboards still plug defunct products and bring us up to speed handily: Having polluted the planet with more waste than it could handle, globo-corporation Buy N Large evacuated its customers on a five-year space cruise ("The final fun-tier," promises the president, played by Fred Willard), leaving the robots to clean up the mess. Only their calculations were a little off. It's been 700 years, and Wall-E is still at work.

The opening half-hour is a delectable demonstration of visual storytelling. Although his vocabulary is limited to a bare handful of words, Wall-E, we gather, has developed more than a trace of consciousness. He's a hoarder, curious enough to collect unusual bric-a-brac: a whisk, an electric light bulb, bubble wrap. His most treasured item is a VHS tape of "Hello, Dolly."

His systems are scrambled when he bumps into Eve, a gleaming research pod from the mother ship whose sleek, egg-like design and distinctive start-up chime must be a wink to Pixar (and Apple) boss Steve Jobs.

At any rate, Eve is the apple of Wall-E's eye. He's so smitten, he'd follow her anywhere -- even outer space.

There's something special about Wall-E and his pursuit. Robots have been routinely humanized in sci-fi movies: in "Blade Runner," "A.I." and "Metropolis," for example. And "Wall-E" also isn't alone in implying that human beings are becoming more mechanistic ourselves, though the obese overgrown babies Stanton imagines reclining in hover chairs -- pampered and cocooned from birth -- is a more scathing caricature of consumer over-dependency than we'd expect to find in a Hollywood family film.

Indeed, Stanton's most obvious touchstones are Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film "2001: A Space Odyssey" (at one point he treats us to a parodic blast of "Also Sprach Zarathustra" to signal a small baby step for man that's also a huge leap for mankind) and Douglas Trumbull's 1972 eco-parable "Silent Running": philosophical sci-fi films made only four years apart at another point of environmental sensitivity.

But the animating spirit here goes back much further, to the sentimental reveries and delightful improvisatory dexterity of Charlie Chaplin. In "Modern Times," made more than 70 years ago, Chaplin made play with the degrading effects of industrialized society. In "Wall-E," Stanton pitches us between a post-industrial wasteland embalmed in smog and the sterile, artificial atmosphere of a giant floating life-support system.

These aren't attractive prospects, but they are transformed by the little lovelorn robot, a lonely soul who seeks companionship anywhere he can get it ... in a cockroach, an old movie and a trigger-happy search robot.

"Wall-E" isn't a perfect movie; some business involving a team of rogue robots is unduly scrappy. But, mostly, this is a film filled with remarkable moments: a pas de deux in front of the Milky Way (with Wall-E propelled by a fire extinguisher), Eve's maternal glow as she carries out her primary directive, the fleeting moment when first-time space traveler Wall-E turns back, sees the Earth and tries to share his joy in the discovery.

Grace, beauty, joy, laughter and love. A wonderful combination for any movie. "Wall-E" is easily the best film of the year so far.

Last edited by MadonnasManOne; 06-27-08 at 08:19 AM.
Old 06-27-08 | 09:17 AM
  #67  
Mr. Cinema's Avatar
DVD Talk Legend
 
Joined: Oct 1999
Posts: 18,044
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
We have 1 theater here with DLP capability and they are smartly showing Wall-E. I may have to check it out sooner than later now.
Old 06-27-08 | 09:30 AM
  #68  
Banned
 
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 1,721
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
From: NY
Yeah, I think I'm going to see it in DLP tonight at 7, can't freaking wait....
Old 06-27-08 | 09:52 AM
  #69  
The Bus's Avatar
DVD Talk Godfather
 
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 54,920
Received 23 Likes on 18 Posts
From: New York
Originally Posted by CliffStephenson
The filmmakers found a way to create real, sustained emotion and characters that connect with the audience through no real dialog and no real facial expressions.
This is incredible to me as well. I'm a big fan of things that become anthropomorphised and this movie did it flawlessly. I don't want to hype it up too much, and it has its flaws (particularly near the end), but the things it does well it does so well that it's just astounding.
Old 06-27-08 | 10:13 AM
  #70  
Brent L's Avatar
DVD Talk Legend
 
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 13,617
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes on 2 Posts
From: Upstate, SC
I've never been to a DLP theater before, but just noticed that there's one over in Greenville. How much better should the quality for this flick be in DLP over a normal theater? If it's really a big deal, I'll likely go try and see it there tonight.
Old 06-27-08 | 10:19 AM
  #71  
Banned
 
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 1,721
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
From: NY
I would try to make it to a DLP, especially for an animated film like this. The only DLP show I've seen is Iron Man and the quality was astounding.
Old 06-27-08 | 10:21 AM
  #72  
DVD Talk Hero
 
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 46,671
Received 1,388 Likes on 1,090 Posts
Originally Posted by Brent L
I've never been to a DLP theater before, but just noticed that there's one over in Greenville. How much better should the quality for this flick be in DLP over a normal theater? If it's really a big deal, I'll likely go try and see it there tonight.
DLP on digital movies like Wall E looks fantastic, it literally looks like a gigantic high definition television scaled for size (It's hard to believe the image is being projected onto the screen and not coming from the back).

The big thing though, reel films lose quality everytime they are shown, I've heard pretty high figures over a lot being lost from the first showing alone. DLP will look the same no matter when you see it, which is great but doesn't really apply too too much since this is a brand new flick. But the lack of film flaws (no shakey image spots, no rough reel transfers from unskilled projectionists, no framing issues, no cigarette burns, etc; ), superior color and excellent sharpness make it worthwhile to seek out, IMO at least.
Old 06-27-08 | 10:26 AM
  #73  
Banned
 
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 5,628
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
From: Bellefontaine, Ohio
Can anyone whose seen the film tell me more about Peter Gabriel's work on the music or songs?
I myself dont watch these kinds of movies but I am curious to hear about Peter Gabriel's involvement since he's one of my favorite artists. Thanks.
Old 06-27-08 | 10:35 AM
  #74  
BDB
DVD Talk Legend
 
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 24,467
Received 259 Likes on 215 Posts
From: San Francisco
He has the closing song in the film. you can tell instantly it's Peter Gabriel.

And he co-wrote some of the score. The track/score is on iTunes.

Track is called Down to Earth.
Old 06-27-08 | 10:45 AM
  #75  
Brent L's Avatar
DVD Talk Legend
 
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 13,617
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes on 2 Posts
From: Upstate, SC
I've been looking over the reviews, and they're not only just positive, but they praise the film as being far more than simply a great animated picture. I'm starting to wonder if WALL•E could have a shot at a Best Picture Oscar nomination next year.


Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2026 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.