Movie Review: Wall-E
Normally, this slot would be filled with some very concise and insightful writing on some tech nerdery. But a) it’s summer and no one’s reading this blog and b) Wall-E was so damn good. Also, it’s kinda it’s own brand of tech nerdery, no? I mean, sure I could talk about that dude who left google to go back to Microsoft and how I think it’s not right to equate usefulness to an amount paid. Would that make sendmail an incredibly un-useful bit of software? But no, I’m not talking about that, I’m talking about Wall-E.
Caught this late friday night and let me give you my executive summary, there was not 1 minute out of the 103 of them in which I was not thoroughly into it. I give it a 9.5 on the felix scale of 0-10. Ok, it’s possible there were a couple minutes, maybe 3 or 4. But really, it was great. There probably be some spoilers ahead, so if you haven’t seen it and care about such things, you have been warned.
Ok.
Here thar may be spoilers
First of all the short Pixar put in front of the movie was great, really old school bugs bunny style and pretty funny. I think it went on a touch too long although I suppose that’s also part of the joke. But really excellent. Oh, you Pixar people.
Then the movie arrives, to be honest I wasn’t sure what to expect, long ago I had certain expectations and then trailers came out and I was confused and slightly worried but still pretty sure it was going to be a great movie and it was, easily my favourite Pixar flick.
What was amazing to me was how effortlessly they seemed to tell the story where the main characters couldn’t speak except maybe to say each other’s names. It doesn’t seem contrived or like some film school exercise, it felt completely natural and immediately engrossing. I think they took some lesson’s straight from the South Park guys who noted that everything was in the eyes, that’s where everything is conveyed - Wall-E and Eve had very useful eyes on this front.
Second of all, any movie that can make a cockroach completely adorable, well you know they did a good job. I mean, c’mon, when he dives into the twinkie? Yeah.
Third of all the fact that it was a big Apple commercial? Didn’t bother me at all, from Eve’s flying iPod-ness, to Wall-E’s start-up sound and possibly my most very favourite Otto’s voice credit is Macintalk! It all just worked for me, although that’s probably because I’m an Apple fanboy. But it seemed to work for the crowd as they cracked up everytime Wall-E rebooted.
Ambiguous messages
I think the environmental themes of the movie while clearly present aren’t really pushed or explored, not really presented as a great evil but simply shown as the state of the universe. Obviously, a reasonable front to take as a movie being pushed by Disney which will make ever more money selling a metric crapload of Wall-E gear all destined for the garbage dumps. But, I’m totally ok with it too, I didn’t need any preaching about the evils of over consumption from my G rated movie.
I did love the fat people, though, with their little toes. Good times! But even here, it seemed ambiguous. Were they fat as a result of their sedentary life styles floating around on flying chairs and watching TV? Or was it a result of being in space for so long as the little video played to the Captain showed the evolution of people? Again, an ambiguous message from Disney who would like nothing more than for everyone to sit down and watch Disney flicks 24/7.
Lovin it
But really, the movie was awesome. It skirted potentially cheesy pitfalls with complete mastery. The potentially most cheesiest part at the end had, as Jeff noted when he told me that I should watch the movie as it would change my life, the entire audience pin drop quiet for at least several minutes. I only noticed this when I coughed towards the beginning of the scene and realized that not only was the movie silent but every last person in the theater was barely breathing, if not leaning forward and literally at the edge of their seat. It was something I can’t remember experiencing in a movie before.
I don’t know if it changed my life but I do know my wife said two things after the movie, she wanted to see it again and we should get it on DVD. Which probably for normal people isn’t that unusual, but she never wants to see movies again, she barely wants to even see movies in the theaters and she never wants to get DVD’s, ever. She’s the opposite of an accumulator, she’s a decumulator.
So there it is, go watch it if you haven’t. If you have, did you like it? Or did you love it?
