WALL-E
...*sniff*
Well, that was mightily worthwhile. It resonated with me on so many frequencies that, damn it, I started crying right at the beginning, and then again at the end -- cathartic. Not so much in the middle, which was mostly funny/action-y.
Don't know whether it would resonate so many different ways with other people. Probably not -- certainly my brother, who was watching it with me, didn't cry at all. Although I do have a couple certain people in mind who I think would react pretty strongly.
Highly, enthusiastically, unreservedly recommended. Pixar have outdone themselves even more than they usually do. (The movie is a lot less saccharine than the trailer implies.)
Extremely spoilery comments below the fold. Seriously, don't read them unless you've seen it.
The very first scenes, with the dead wasted world, hit me right in the nature appreciation. Ow, ow, ow.
The robots are amazingly expressive, even EVE, who looks about as expressive as an iPod, and can't do much body-language acting on account of her design (a disadvantage WALL-E doesn't share). I tell you, it's amazing what they're doing with eyes these days! And voices too, I suppose. (For a glimpse of what I mean, check out the expressiveness of the computer face in this video, and take note that EVE's eyes are much higher resolution!)
I'm calling fraud on the trailers, because none of them call your attention to the fact that WALL-E romances EVE while she's completely unresponsive. That adds a whole other dimension of bittersweet adorability. Plus, then, the scene where she finally watches all the footage her camera took of WALL-E doing such sweet things... so poignant.
I loved the scene where the Captain plays Wikipedia-chains with his super-advanced computer: "Define earth", "Define sea", ... [several scenes later] "Define hoe-down", "Define dance"... [cut to shot of two robots dancing]. Aww, wonder.
Plus, he has the best line ever: "I don't want to survive, I want to LIVE!!"
I'm going to find some crowded place and shout that as loudly as possible. Then start a flash dance mob or something.
Strangely enough, I felt kind of disappointed when WALL-E regained his personality after briefly 'dying'. Maybe I'm a horribly cruel bastard, but it would have been so much more powerful if EVE had saved his hardware only to destroy his soul by accident. I mourned him in those few moments when he was acting all empty, just as much as I mourned Mycroft when he died (The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress). That kind of return to soullessness, that Dementor's Kiss, is far more poignant than simple death/destruction. And adding EVE's love and anguish on top of it... maybe it would have been too much. There was already plenty enough darkness and horror for a G-rated movie -- not typical darkness and horror, but the perversely happy, Brave New World -y darkness and horror.
Well, that was mightily worthwhile. It resonated with me on so many frequencies that, damn it, I started crying right at the beginning, and then again at the end -- cathartic. Not so much in the middle, which was mostly funny/action-y.
Don't know whether it would resonate so many different ways with other people. Probably not -- certainly my brother, who was watching it with me, didn't cry at all. Although I do have a couple certain people in mind who I think would react pretty strongly.
Highly, enthusiastically, unreservedly recommended. Pixar have outdone themselves even more than they usually do. (The movie is a lot less saccharine than the trailer implies.)
Extremely spoilery comments below the fold. Seriously, don't read them unless you've seen it.
The very first scenes, with the dead wasted world, hit me right in the nature appreciation. Ow, ow, ow.
The robots are amazingly expressive, even EVE, who looks about as expressive as an iPod, and can't do much body-language acting on account of her design (a disadvantage WALL-E doesn't share). I tell you, it's amazing what they're doing with eyes these days! And voices too, I suppose. (For a glimpse of what I mean, check out the expressiveness of the computer face in this video, and take note that EVE's eyes are much higher resolution!)
I'm calling fraud on the trailers, because none of them call your attention to the fact that WALL-E romances EVE while she's completely unresponsive. That adds a whole other dimension of bittersweet adorability. Plus, then, the scene where she finally watches all the footage her camera took of WALL-E doing such sweet things... so poignant.
I loved the scene where the Captain plays Wikipedia-chains with his super-advanced computer: "Define earth", "Define sea", ... [several scenes later] "Define hoe-down", "Define dance"... [cut to shot of two robots dancing]. Aww, wonder.
Plus, he has the best line ever: "I don't want to survive, I want to LIVE!!"
I'm going to find some crowded place and shout that as loudly as possible. Then start a flash dance mob or something.
Strangely enough, I felt kind of disappointed when WALL-E regained his personality after briefly 'dying'. Maybe I'm a horribly cruel bastard, but it would have been so much more powerful if EVE had saved his hardware only to destroy his soul by accident. I mourned him in those few moments when he was acting all empty, just as much as I mourned Mycroft when he died (The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress). That kind of return to soullessness, that Dementor's Kiss, is far more poignant than simple death/destruction. And adding EVE's love and anguish on top of it... maybe it would have been too much. There was already plenty enough darkness and horror for a G-rated movie -- not typical darkness and horror, but the perversely happy, Brave New World -y darkness and horror.