So it's only a masterpiece?

[coldjones]

Yes, WALL-E is as good as everyone says it is. The real question in my mind, though, far more important than merely larding it down with superlatives, is how does it compare with Pixar's other works of genius

Comments

[jstymie]

I haven't seen Wall-E yet, hopefully this week. I will say, though, that ranking Studio Ghibli and Pixar movies would be just about impossible to definitively -- which is a testament to the consistancy of quality of the product they put out. I would squeeze Monsters, Inc in on my list of top Pixar flicks in addition to the ones you have. For Ghibli, Princess Mononoke, Castle in The Sky, Spirited Away, and Porco Rosso would probably top my list.

Which, of course, isn't to say the other films from each studio I thought were 'bad' in any sense of the word. However, if you think of it in terms of Tiers, those would be the "Tier 1" films from each studio for me.

Also: Grave of the Fireflies is the most depressing movie ever made.

[jstymie]

OK, seen Wall-e now. Hot damn.

[coldjones]

Yeah, that was my take on it.

My issue with ranking Ghibli movies is that they're all great for entirely different reasons. As far as pure visual splendor goes, Howl's Moving Castle has just about everything else beat - some of the European cityscapes and mountain vistas are just eye popping. But some of my favorite Ghibli visual moments are in My Neighbor Totoro, which is a far subtler movie - it's just that there are certain things, like how the youngest daughter runs around, or how an empty street looks at night, in the rain, with a single electric light, that Miyazaki just nails. And neither of those two movies are as interesting to me from a story standpoint as Kiki's Delivery Service or Porco Rosso... so, yeah.

In comparison, although Ratatouille and WALL*E have some lovely scenic work in them, what really puts one Pixar movie above the other is purely the story and how well it's sold.