Sunday, June 29, 2008

Wall·E



On Friday night I saw Wall·E. I don't need to tell you that it's Pixar's latest in their brilliant portfolio of mind-blowing movies, because you've already seen the ads, the trailers, and the cross-merchandising. All I want you to take from this blog is that you MUST see this movie.

As you most likely know by now, the movie follows the events of a small robot, Wall·E, whose function is to compact trash into tidy little cubes. He does this without fail - doing his part to clean up the Earth, which sits in the apocalyptic wake of post-mass-consumerism and is entirely covered with filth. His adventure begins, though, when he meets EVE - a more advanced, girl robot - and falls in love.

I was sure, coming into the movie, that the messages of "go green" and "save our planet" would become too overbearing and turn what could be a brilliant story into a fancy political statement. I was completely wrong. The message is there, and is easiest to see, but is subtle enough (except for one scene where it's literally shouted at you) that the finer points of story, character development, and visual effects never take back-stage. The more meaningful messages of the movie are buried deeper, making them harder to find, but more valuable. I'll go into more detail about them in a few weeks, by which time you will have seen the movie and I won't risk spoiling anything for you. There. You have two weeks to see the movie. :)

Let me close with boldness. Pixar is the greatest story-telling production house of all time. They make Dreamworks look like a cheap knock-off. When Pixar gives us a perfectly cooked filet of succulent Kobe beef, other companies bring us a Big Mac.

You deserve something tasty, and Pixar's put it on a silver platter for you.

Go feast.

-Barry

6 comments:

  1. Can't wait!! also forgot to saqy yesterday.. the Hummingbirds!! that's so neat, they used to get after me as I was gardening. sound like little whiring electric enginges!

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  2. oh my heck! i loved this movie SO much. Pixar is so much my favorite.

    and from an animation perspective, holy cow. no one can animate like pixar. and robots! haha, i should just write up my own review on my blog and stop wasting space. :D

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  3. Barry that last paragraph was stunning. Good work.

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  4. We took the fam. To see it Friday as well.
    We all really enjoyed it, and the hippie in me was singing. But I must say it was geared a little more to the adults.
    It saddens me a bit that Pixar used to make movies like Toy Story and Monsters Inc, that were very much on the kids level and the parents level at the same time. I think it's time for Toy story 3!

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  5. Ever since I heard about this movie months ago I have wanted to see but we don't have a theater in Evanston! I'm going to have to wait until I'm in town again to see it. :(

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  6. Barry, we saw this Friday night too and we LOVED it! So cute and the animation was awesome!

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