guyy

I really disagree with this. The standard formula for stuff like this is to play to the kids while throwing their parents and/or grandparents enough bones to make sure they will take the kiddies. Adults are always part the equation in kids movies. The message is what got us to the theatre in the first place. Grandma read several overly-generous reviews touting it's anti-consumerist message, and she proposed the night at the theatre.

I didn't care about the heavy-handedness. The message to consume is itself pretty heavy-handed. It's just so pervasive that we bracket it mentally. I think Wall-E should be judged by other criteria, and that's where it flops.

I can tell when my kids really like something and when they are happy just to be out at night in a theatre with popcorn. They really liked the short, but Wall-E itself didn't impress them. They didn't talk about it much the next day. My daughter told me it was too long.

I don't think there's so much difference between adults and kids. My son loves "Man with a movie camera." It's what you'd call hi-brow, intello, adult stuff these days, but it's incredibly rich in good images which is why people like it. R's 6 year old daughter loves old musicals, and again, those are very rich visually.

Wall-E sucked visually. Just think of a Technicolor musical and compare that to the use of colour in Wall-E. No wonder we thought it was boring! Instead of showing something interesting -- and they could have done absolutely anything -- they show you a Rubik's cube. We adults are supposed to feel nostalgic or clever because we get the reference, but on its own, as image, it's really kind of boring. We only got to see hints of the storms, which could have made for some dramatic visuals. Instead, they are merely cues for Wall-E to hole up in its private space and peruse its collection of commodities. Many of Wall-E's visuals were borrowed from other films. I suppose this supposed to give adults frissons of recognition, but it's also rather unimaginative. Compare this to say, Tonari no Totoro. The cat bus blows away anything in Wall-E.

Not only that, but the environmentalism of Totoro was presented in such a way that kids can feel the loss. No woods, no more enchantment. Wall-E was very abstract, and the love story/adventure negates the message; the same things happen, despite extreme environmental degradation. Where's the loss?

vanblah

That's true ... but not with regard to the heavy-handedness of the message.

If you (as an adult) already subscribe to the train of thought that was "the message" in the movie then there is no need for you to see it. You might take your KIDS to see it, but then the message was intended for THEM.

If you (as an adult) DO NOT subscribe to the train of thought that was "the message" in the movie then you won't be swayed by it at all because of the way it was presented. You will probably still take your kids to see it, and again perhaps the message will reach them in some small way.

Modern animated films sometimes do throw in things for adults (especially Pixar), but it's usually in the form of some kind of covert innuendo, inside joke, or reference to our youth. It's rarely "the message" itself.

Redlemon

And that's where I think the Shrek movies, especially the sequels, fail: the references became the only jokes, not the asides.

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Death-inc

Would love to see it. Has not been released here by us yet

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mixedmedia

I don't feel the commitment needed to dissect this film so precisely. I liked the look of it. I liked the early scenes. I didn't need the message or the love story at all. I don't care what it was derivative of or where the sounds came from. I didn't think it was spectacular, nor did I think it was horrible. Meh. I'm just glad I didn't have to sit through something totally moronic like Shark Boy and Lava Girl.

And personally, I don't think Pixar has ever topped Toy Story with the exception of Monsters, Inc.

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jorgelito

Just saw it. Awesome awesome movie!! I loved it!! Fantastic animation as usual. There's even talk about a Best Picture (not Animation) nomination. Go see this film. It has a lot of heart.

Finally, a great little film with good ol' fashioned conservative values.

ratbastid

LOVED "Presto". LOVED.

He was playing Portal when he wrote it, wasn't he?

Redlemon

I had the same initial thought, but wouldn't they have had to start developing Presto long before Portal was known?

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Derwood

Presto seemed more like an homage to bugs bunny cartoons than anything

abaya

I liked "Presto," but nothing about it seemed terribly original. Definitely the ol' Warner Brothers' material, spiffed up with CG. Doesn't mean I appreciate it any less.

Loved WALL-E. Basically for the same reasons that MM gave. It took long enough to get to Iceland, and then we had to dig to find a place showing it in English (though if I had known that the first half of the film had no dialogue, I wouldn't have cared if the rest was dubbed in Icelandic.)

And I thought it was fantastic that the first half of the movie had no dialogue, that the story proceeded with visuals alone. I personally really enjoyed the visuals and the sounds... and I liked the message, even though the hypocrisy/irony of it was certainly not lost on me. I don't think it hurts to hit people on the head with that, because obviously people still don't get it (sitting behind our computers getting fat, conducting all of our social engagement via a screen). Go figure, it gets a thumbs up from me.

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Jetée

That was my first thought the moment I saw the first commercial... then it made ponder if those 'Short Circuit' films had anything to do with Disney in the first place. This was the only reason I haven't watched the film Wall-E as of yet, since I thought it was such an obvious copy of Number 5, yet nobody else mentioned it.

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jorgelito

Stop overthinking it and just go see it. Good grief!

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snowy

Seriously.

I liked it, but good God, it was depressing. But I still think everyone--and I mean everyone--should see it.

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anti fishstick

i wasn't as in to it. maybe it was just the mood I was in when I saw it but I thought it was too long. And the whole plot so simple and predictable that I found it boring. It could have been a 15 minute short film...

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