Wall-E

Alright, who doesn't love Pixar? Sure, all the little children yelling in the theater detracted from the movie a bit, but they were having fun. Anyway, this movie is spectacular; the art direction and 3D graphics are amazing. Has anyone else seen it yet?

We're going (with a yelling little child ) in twenty minutes. The Bean's first movie theatre experience, but it's at a small indie theatre that's promoting this as a kid-friendly showing.

The preview was as much as I wanted but the youngest will have to see it so...

I heard it got 4 stars out of 4... at least that's what I heard on the radio this morning. The wife and I are excited to see it when Netflix picks it up.

Isn't it the same critter from Short Circuit from the 80's?

hell yeah, thats what i'm saying. That's Short Circuit! I cant be fooled!

I went and saw it last night with the SWMBO. It's a really good movie, imo. It was kind of weird because it has been a while since I've felt empathy for a fictional movie character, and this character wasn't even human but rather a robot.

BigKahuna said:

Isn't it the same critter from Short Circuit from the 80's?

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Yeah, according to Wikipedia, the director said he had seen Short Circuit only once, but may have been influenced by that character. I don't care, I still thought it was great. I think I might go see it again too.

97% on rottentomatoes.com

My 5 year old loved it. Didn't catch it 'cause the grandparents took her.

Worth the ticket price... cute movie.

saw it this morning with my little one. thought it was very good, but not nearly as good as the rabbit/magician short that preceded it.

I just got back from it- I really enjoyed it. I think my kids were bored though

MikeFlynn74 said:

I just got back from it- I really enjoyed it. I think my kids were bored though

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I was afriad of that. I think I would like it, but my 5 year old pretty much only likes movies filled with princesses.

It's very, very good, and really interesting. It's a film that's much more driven by emotion than comedy. I've heard it decribed as almost aggressively non-commercial in a lot of ways, and being more similar to classic silent films than other Pixar movies. It's a great movie, and I love that Pixar had the balls to put out something that could so easily be a failure.

I think The Bean enjoyed it, although she *does* get fidgitty.

NY Times had a review that really got me interested and pointed out the darkness and insightfulness of the setting and story. Very post-apocalyptic and anti-consumerism yet told through the life of a cute little robot. Truly sounds for a film for all ages.

I've seen reviews and listened to art movie buffs saying that Wall-E could be the best animated movie ever.

Will have to be very good to get past the mind F that Fantasia was when I first saw that.

mmb said:

I've seen reviews and listened to art movie buffs saying that Wall-E could be the best animated movie ever.

Will have to be very good to get past the mind F that Fantasia was when I first saw that.

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I'm not sure how comparable it is to other classic animated movies. Part of what makes it so outstanding is that Pixar really has gone in a very fresh, interesting direction. I don't see this as being a kids movie at heart.

Is it better than some of Pixar's other stuff? Depends on how you define "better." Did The Bean enjoy this more than she enjoyed "Cars," for example? Probably not - but this isn't a movie necessarily aimed at 3 year olds. It's also interesting in that it's not talking down to the kids (not that Pixar really does anyway), they do things like the "space ballet" with the two robots dancing, letting it just happen kind of on its own pace. Anti-ADD, I think I heard it described as. Half the movie, there's no speaking - much less any silly jokes.

It's just so different from everything else in the animated arena, it's really, really hard for me to rank it. The criteria is wholly different.

I'm gonna watch cars tonight. Not seen it yet....no kids for an excuse.

This will be our third attempt at sitting through a movie with a 4 and a 2 year old. I'm not one those parents who will ruin someone else's movie experience and let the kids cry and yell if they aren't enjoying the movie. So they get one chance, second one we're gone.

bee movie.....made it ~45 minutes
kung fu panda.....just over an hour

Hopefully they will get into this one enough to maybe make it through the entire movie. They love all the other Pixar movies alot, so Im optimistic about this one

orfy said:

I'm gonna watch cars tonight. Not seen it yet....no kids for an excuse.

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Not sure if you can or not, but from what i hear Cars in HD is visually awesome

Honestly, it's probably one of the tougher Pixar movies for young kids to get into. The Bean was OK, not great; she needed to get up a few times (she didn't REALLY need to go potty twice ), but overall she was OK. Find a kid-friendly showing if you can (the small indie theatre we went to made it clear this was a showing that was very kid-friendly).

the_bird said:

Honestly, it's probably one of the tougher Pixar movies for young kids to get into.

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hrmm.....not what i was wanting to hear. Everytime they see a preview for Wall-E they go crazy so we were planning on this upcoming weekend. Well we'll pick a 12 noon matinee so if it turns out that they cant get into it we're not out too much.

And we will try and limit their sugar intake before the movie starts



I wish they served beer in theaters

I could be wrong, I don't know, it all depends on the kids. They could be mesmorized by it, or bored. 12:00 showing, if they get a little out of hand, well - anyone who goes to see a Pixar movie at a 12:00 matinee has no right to complain about the kids in the theatre!

Oh, and get yourself a flask .

Chimone said:

I wish they served beer in theaters

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My local theater actually does serve beer Delivered right to your seat!

You realize there is next to no dialog in the first 30 minutes of the movie right? The entire thing is done through music and sound effects, talk about skill....

I took my 4 and 2 year olds to the drive in to watch this one. I think they enjoyed the movie enough, but had a much better time with sleeping bags in the back of the minivan. Oh well. I really liked it though.

Did anyone else think it was weird that Fred Willard wasn't animated? Every time I saw him in one of his speeches my brain just kept insisting "Somethings not quite right here."

uwjester said:

I took my 4 and 2 year olds to the drive in to watch this one. I think they enjoyed the movie enough, but had a much better time with sleeping bags in the back of the minivan. Oh well. I really liked it though.

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You still have a drive-in in town??!?! I'm jealous, any within a 1000 miles dried up decades ago... .

I'm planning on "borrowing" the projector from work and showing some movies in my 1/2acre back yard.

As for wall-e, I think I'll go with the wife, it looks interesting.

uwjester said:

Did anyone else think it was weird that Fred Willard wasn't animated? Every time I saw him in one of his speeches my brain just kept insisting "Somethings not quite right here."

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I'm sure there was a reason for it - some artistic vision, the change in society going from live action to animated (ooh - "suspended animation"?) over time making some Big. Point. About. Our. Society's. Direction. I did think the movie was a LITTLE heavy-handed with the social commentary - not that I necessarily disagree with the message they were getting across, but it did feel sometimes like instead of poking us with a stick to look at ourselves, they were hitting us with a club.

Teh kiddo (nearly 6) and SWMBO both really liked it. I enjoyed it as well. The pixar crew showed just how much story and emotion you can show with little to no dialog. In the first ten minutes, I was afraid it was going to be a 90-minute anti-consumer rant, but in the final balance, it was really well done.

Yeah, we still have a drive in. I am pretty amazed myself, but they seem to do pretty good business, at least during the summer. Its great to take the family, especially the 2 year old and not worry about noise. If they start to get loud, we can close the door and watch through the windows.

i'm actually really interested to see this now. i've been interested since it came out...i love animations. glad to hear the good points on it.

An interesting experiment...

The Bean was watching "Cars" after dinner, so I called her over to see a scene from Wall-E on the 'puter.

"I don't have time to watch that right now! I'm watching my Cars movie!"

Incidentally, good review from James Lileks (who's always a good read) today.

Jester369 said:

My local theater actually does serve beer Delivered right to your seat!

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Beer and Red...............................it's not fair


Back to topic
The movie is wonderful.

fantastic movie from Pixar. I loved ratatouille, and this movie was even better, I think I laughed more than the kids at the matinee when i went with SWMBO!

GloHoppa said:

fantastic movie from Pixar. I loved ratatouille, and this movie was even better, I think I laughed more than the kids at the matinee when i went with SWMBO!

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With the kids laughing around you it really brings out the best in the movie. I can't wait to take mine this weekend.

The thing I liked the most about their anti-consumerism and political undertones was the fact that in the end it is such a hopeful movie. Without giving anything away, it seems that Pixar is saying that no matter how bad it gets for humanity, we can always come out on top and make things right again.

Saw it at a preview last week. I enjoyed it, though I actually liked the short at the beginning the most. I think there's a lot that will be going over little kids' heads, but might, just maybe, get their parents to think. Though if it takes dumbing things down to a Disney level to get people to recognize what's going on, that doesn't instill much hope in the first place.

I saw it with my girlfriend last night. We both thought it was great. I can see how everyone can get wrapped up in the anti-consumerism fat human social commentary. I think more than anything it was a simple love story portrayed in a somewhat hauntingly manner. I saw it more of a fictional look at a future than a "THIS IS WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF WE KEEP THIS UP". We can all probably take a lesson and slow down our lives a bit, like when the lady realized they had a pool, and how beautiful the stars were.

^^ very well said, and that is what I was thinking. I believe I was initially shocked by the portrayal, but it was a great movie. Wall-e was just a die hard with a great personality.