baracine

I'm probably even more surprised than you are that my allusion to a comic-book character, Alfred E. Newman (I try to keep it simple, you see), went right over whoopdido's head.

Here's something a little more advanced, perhaps, but that most of you should still grasp:

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fumanstan

You must be a pleasant fellow at dinners.

dimmuborgirman

I thought it was great, it resembled a Twilight Zone episode, only made by Pixar. And the MAC gag is awesome.

baracine

I'm also handy with a paintbrush around the nursery room:

Palaver

Just saw the film and this is my feeling as well. The film really lacked a good group of supporting characters. Walle himself was interesting and sympathetic, everybody else was just blah.

I didn't mind the message or the lack of dialogue and of course the animation was beautiful, but I think the story needed a little better fleshing out.

BravesMG

I just came back from this yesterday and was thoroughly disappointed.

It looked unbelievable, especially the cruise ship. I found myself pissed off when the scene changed because I couldn't take in all of the images that I couldn't believe my eyes were seeing. The holograms, the appearance of three dimensions, the speed and fluidity at which those chairs were flying around... it was all awesome, almost unbelievable.

But the actual movie was boring, heavy handed, hypocritical and most importantly, boring and not funny. I've stayed away from every review and had no idea where the story would go once Wall-E leaves Earth, but I haven't been this disappointed with a flick in a long, long time. Pixar was a constant for me, I think their low point for me was Cars, which I only greatly enjoyed. There were no jokes in this film, and the robot slapstick got old really freaking fast. Brian's review was spot on, especially the idea that Disney/Pixar could present this information as if it's a call to action or something.

There's a point where the message can't overwhelm a movie, and this crossed that line and beat it to death. If they release the DVD/BD with a score-only audio version, I'll be first in line, but on the merits of the film this was one of the bigger disappointments I can remember.

calhoun07

As I reflect on my experience with Wall-E all the more, and my previous experience with Cars, I think I really have grown to like Cars more than I did the first time I saw it.

Unfortunately, with Wall-E, I think I like it less the more I think about it. I can get on board with the message and all...none of that I had a problem with. It was the story execution. You brought up some good points I didn't before, but points that I certainly agree with nonetheless.

whoopdido

Way to make blanket assumptions about ALL Republicans.

I assume since you're a communist. As a liberal you should know this. All liberals are communists.

I'm not going to get into some idiotic war of words with you, but the poster that sarcastically said that you must be a treat at dinner parties hit the nail on the head. Calm down and take your political crap to the POLITICS board.

I just never understand it when people try to bring politics into movies and especially kids movies. It's just a movie. Don't you have anything better to do with your time?

And for the record I didn't watch the videos you posted, but if you want I'd be glad to find some Republican propaganda videos that make you liberals look bad.

FiveO

Not only did I watch them...I found them hilarious and true!

Great great vids!

Too bad you didn't watch them....you're missing out!

GeoffK

The first half was brilliant. The second more like a Disney film than Pixar.

Troy Stiffler

Hehe. Yep'. With your statement, I presume that you are just a little to the right. While the leftists and rightists get all red-faced and scream at each other in congress, the center is where stuff gets done. It goes along with my theory that 5% of crazy-ass radicals from one side are just battling with 5% of crazy-ass radicals from the other side - is destroying man's goodwill and the planet and stuff.

I'm all for being nice to the planet. And I really do care. And I really do what the ecoists tell me to do (bought a small condo, ride my bike, drive a small car, buy local products ... hell, I OWN a surplus/recycling business). Been doing it since I moved out of mom and dad's house a few years ago. And I think I set an example for the couple kids I'm around. But I know TWO CHILDREN. Instilling the messages in Wall-E into kids' heads is a big leap in reaching kids with positive messages. Can anyone really say that Wall-E's messages are negative?

Pixar has been delivering good, apparent messages in all of their movies. You have Toy Story and it's lessons about identity, friendship, growing apart, etc. You have The Incredibles, which has obvious family/teamwork messages. Cars was a bit heavy on the 'heritage' theme.

Doh'. Please watch the videos. Do you know how bad that statement looks? Especially after criticizing baracine for making a "blanketed assumption". I presume your mentality is, 'erm, I didn't actually look at the details, but I know what it's about'.

...

To talk about Wall-E... Still a really good movie. My four-year old neice really enjoyed it too. An entertaining movie with a statement is 'it' for me. I love that stuff. I'm okay with the ecoist messages in Wall-E. I'm okay with the 'helpless drug war' messages in Traffic. And I'm okay with Bad Boys II ignoring civillians to catch the bad guys (obviously Bay's enlightened, tongue-in-cheek criticism of America's well-intentioned, lazily executed, blindly monitored war in Iraq - a true story of an exercise in escapism, hehe).

Maybe Wall-E will make some average parent stop shoping at Buy-O-Large. It's all just good entertainment that might spark some good conversation and a little change. If you actually object to the messages in Wall-E (the actual message, not that fact that it's a message in a family movie) - I am just too inarticulate to say how I feel about that. 'It was a good movie, but I didn't like how it makes obese people and Wal-Mart look bad'.

Troy Stiffler

I kind of agree. Though I thought the second half was highlighted by the "Hello, Dolly" stuff. Those scenes were really moving. And the cat-and-mouse chasing/tracking stuff was pretty neat too. The 'human' stuff was all too short and sweet to dislike.

If my neice had to sit through a second half that played just like the first half (a 'silent narrative', I guess you could call it), I think her mind would have wondered too much. I think the timing and pacing of introducing the humans was really good. Just as the kid (and maybe me) got a little bored with the first half's narrative, we were introduced to something new.

baracine

Too bad you didn't watch it because video number 3 was created specifically for people like you...

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Dead

Guys, some of these posts belong in the political forum instead of here. Heck, some of them aren't even appropriate there. So, please stop the insults and blanket attacks.

whoopdido

How is my statement any worse than his implication that just because I said I'm a Republican I'm one of the, as you say, 5% radicals? That was why I said he's a communist since he's a liberal. I was being sarcastic, but unfortunately I don't think baracine was. Unfortunately it seems like he believes that anybody that doesn't think exactly the way he does is 100% wrong.

I did watch about 30 seconds of each video and each one started the same way. Republicans are rude, selfish, egotisitical and will destroy the planet within 90 days. No thanks. I'm not a bad guy and don't appreciate being lumped in with the wackos out there.

Like I said, I could find some videos of some drug using, flag burning, America hating, radical, violent liberals spouting their propoganda, but nah.

OldBoy

finally got around to seeing this and on a whim no less. very endearing. i liked it a lot. didn't know it was a "message" movie. very very different from all other Pixar movies and this one really worked for me. got better as it went a long and really made me think throughout.

very enjoyable characters and story development. worked well for me!

hardercore

I know Pixar is in the business of pleasing crowds, but

Michael Corvin

That would have been interesting. It would have worked great as an ending if they stuck with the direction of the first half of the film.

calhoun07

If anybody was going to give us a gut-wrenching ending to an animated movie, I'd put money on a Japanese director or Pixar before any of the other studios.

Perhaps if Pixar was independent...but I don't know if the Disney suits would go for an ending like that.

If the movie ended like that, I may have softened my harsh criticisms of the movie. I can't say I would have liked the in between stuff better, but an ending like that would have redeemed the movie for me.

dhmac

I would've liked it better if it went that route, but know that there's no way the filmmakers would've taken on such an ending.

It kind of reminds me of The Iron Giant in that way with...

calhoun07

Now you could say the same thing about CJ7 (though I realize that many people here have probably never seen that movie) but the thing about Iron Giant is that it sets up that ending WAY early in the movie.

Drop

Thematically I don't think it would've worked. The film is about hope and that love conquers all. You'd have to drastically rewrite parts of the film for that ending to make sense.

It's like saying AI should've ended with David in the amphibacopter.

fumanstan

I would have hated it if it ended like that

tanman

Wow baracine causing trouble in another pixar thread. How did I miss that.

Yeah we get it. You don't live in America so you are superior to us and Finding Nemo was stolen from the French.

Supermallet

I'm a fan of dark and depressing endings, and if any studio was going to release an animated film like that, it would be Pixar. But while I was watching the film, I was hoping that they wouldn't end it in such a dark fashion. It just doesn't fit.