In a day or two, WALL¬∑E will overtake Kung Fu Panda as the 5th biggest hit of the summer. While all eyes have been transfixed on the rise of the Batman, tireless little WALL¬∑E has been diligently chugging away, scooping up a million a day and stacking compressed bricks of bucks in neat piles for Pixar. Maybe now’s a good time to back up a few days to something Peter Bart wrote on his blog, August 3, expressing his surprise that WALL¬∑E would ever have the legs traction.
It’s a message movie. It has an absurd title. Compared with the big animated hits of the past, “WALL-E” is neither that funny nor that entertaining. There’s no real heavy and hence no jeopardy.
You would think the kids would text-message each other that “WALL-E” is too preachy and that it’s even a bit of a downer. All those fat people stuck on a space ship. That’s no fun.
Somebody remind me again why this guy’s considered such an expert? (The producer who thought Fun With Dick and Jane was such a great title he re-made the same movie twice — with diminishing results). In related news, Larry King had as his guest a few nights ago the brilliant visionary T. Boone Pickens. And Larry repeated referred to him as T-Bone Pickens. *sigh*
elessar, I dunno I thought they did a brilliant job on Snydrome, a synthesis of Golden Age comic book dynamics.
I mean consider back when DC Comics had “Superboy” in Smallville, and him and scientific whiz kid Lex Luthor(before he was written as a billionaire) good friends until Supes inadvertedly caused Luthor to go bald, and instead of using his scientific brains to help humanity by saying finding a cure for cancer, he spends his time and energy on getting petty revenge on Supes.
Just think, imagine how many of those masked heroes had lived if Mr. Incredible had not so harshly told him to fuck off? Yeah you can’t blame the guy in context, but still….its something to think about.
Looks like WALL-E just surpassed Kung Fu Panda yesterday. Yay! 🙂
Was thinking back on Disney’s traditional animation, and I began to wonder when Pixar is going to start developing iconic villains. I kinda liked Syndrome (voiced excellently by Jason Lee) and Stinky Pete (thanks to Kelsey Grammer’s slyness), but none of them can match up to the likes of Scar, Malificent, Frollo, or Ursula.
OH!!!! and yay Wall-e that movie was brilliant, I thought it was a better movie than Dark Knight and I am in love with Dark Knight (seen it 4 times, once on IMAX, which wasn’t that much better).
I heard the Pixar Story will be released on the Wall-E DVD, and I heard it was supposed to be released with our Pixar boxset but it wasn’t. So hopefully it will be with Wall-e but thats a good 3 or 4 months away.
The Pixar story is available in the UK. In a Pixar boxset with all their films (except Wall-e), all single disc editions. And it cost a lot of money. £44.98. Which means around $100 including P&P
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pixar-Ultimate-Collection-Tom-Hanks/dp/B001AP2BDS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1218661524&sr=8-1
Don’t bother.
Yay for Wall-e
Were you being facetious about T.Boone Pickens being a visionary? I mean I know he’s going to build some windmills on his land to get tax breaks, but this guy was the primary funder of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
Also, what Bart wrote makes me never want to text message again.
The Pixar Story is a really fine documentary about the genesis and evolution of Pixar, rob. It goes back to the very beginnings — the sample CG shorts Disney commissioned. The resistance of many old-style animators, and the enthusiasm of many others. It traces the entire history of Pixar right up to Ratatouille, and features great profiles of all the principal players. Brad Bird, Andrew Stanton, John Lassiter.
You can find more about it here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1059955/
But it’s not available on DVD. I have a copy that somebody got from a StarzHD TV broadcast. I wish there were some way I could share it with anybody who’s interested.
It’s only a year old, so maybe it’ll be on DVD eventually.
(We don’t need no stinkin MENSA badge.)
(oops, I just realized I used “genesis” and “evolution” in the same sentence. Lightning did not strike me dead. So there.)
Ryan, what’s with the film The Pixar Story? What’s with the DVD versus film you alluded to?
BTW, MENSA is for wusses. I was invited as a youngster, and I turned it down, saying, “I cannot be as good as they think they are.” It floored the counselor who suggested it to me, while making my mom bust out laughing.
RRA, very funny. We can thank the Russians for putting Georgia on the map (the country, not the state).
But, I am with John. My “clinically” gifted niece and “mensa-members-in-making” friends didn’t care much for the movie either.
RRA, very good point. I love my siblings, and they are very intelligent. But you’re right. God knows what constitutes straight A’s nowadays. And I agree, maybe one day they’ll look back as adults and appreciate it more.
Ryan, thanks for your response. I agree, ‘good animation’ means Jack to kids, lol. Hope I can see ‘Pixar Story’ one day.
ouch, Pierre, and RRA too.
see? this is what happens when the economy tanks and Starbucks close around the country, and people can’t readily get their smooth Breakfast Blend. Bitter brew and anarchy and sniper attacks! 😉
I appreciate that Peter Bart is wary of Jon Voight’s “mental equipment” in an adjacent post, so he’s not all bad.
I’m sure John’s a good judge of his siblings’ intelligence — they’d have to be bright with a big brother like him.
(** I clicked Google Maps to find a route through Georgia for a road-trip last month, and it flew me all the way to Western Asia before I could put on the brakes.)
John McCain is pretty sure Georgia is close to Czechoslovakia.
Great point John. And Bart does bring up this factor, in a quote from The Simpson’s creator, Matt Groening:
“Good animation is written for adults, not for children,” Groening stated in the summer issue of Written By, the magazine of the Writers Guild. “The secret of our success is that the show was written for a smart audience.”
This is what elevates all Pixar’s films, but it seems an elusive concept to Bart and one he grudgingly concedes.
A terrific film, if you ever get a chance to see it, is The Pixar Story. Not on DVD for some reason, but it’s a film course in itself.
John, considering our current educational standards, does being “a straight-A student” mean much anymore? I mean you could just have to correctly place Georgia* and be called a whiz kid these days.
Anyway, I wonder if those kids who found this boring will later look back in a reviewing and like it better as adults.
*=The state, not the country.
You know what? I think ‘Wall-E’ is a technical masterpiece. Beautiful, mysterious, haunting, full of precision, etc. But a kids animated film, it is not.
My 11 yr. old brother and 13 yr. old sister (straight A students) found ‘Wall-E’ to be pretty, but pretty boring. And I have to say, I’m 28, but I can absolutely see it being boring to a lot of kids.
Many children in my theater were not into it. And I see ‘Wall-E’ as more of a ‘Persepolis’ for adults to appreciate, than an animated movie for kids (this, of course, is not to say that all kids won’t love it. I’m sure there are droves). I ‘still’ think it should/could win Best Animated feature … because it IS exceptional.
But you can’t compare it to such BELOVED films such as ‘Beauty & the Beast’, ‘Lion King’, ‘Toy Story’, ‘Spirited Away’, ‘Finding Nemo’, etc. You can’t. It’s at a similar, if not superior technical level as those movies, but not as emotionally satisfying (for the kids).
I was just thinking about this, Ryan. Thanks for pointing it out ;-). I think our little robot friend still has another 10M in him before his theatrical run is done.
As for Bart, well. when was the last time he was ever really with it? 1990? 1980?
LOL Pierre!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am delighted that WALL-E is chugging away, Ryan. Foe me it is a greater film than THE DARK KNIGHT, within the pantheon of 2008 cinema, in fact it ranks with EDGE OF HEAVEN, MAN ON WIRE, THE VISITOR, THE LAST MISTRESS, ALEXANDRE, REPRISE, and THE DUTCHESS OF LANGLEIOS as the very best the year has had to offer.
Somebody remind me again why this guy’s considered such an expert?
I think it’s a little phenomenon called “peer review” — I think Bart is representative of where the Hollywood “Beltway” has been for years.
Oops — I woke up bitchy this morning. It’s not nice to speak ill of the dead.
What? . . . He’s still alive?
Oops — sorry Peter. You’re a nice guy, just a bit confused is all.
Oops — sorry Peter. Must be the caffeine.